Terry Dickson: Jacksonville novelist Charles Martin writes clean, hopeful and often

ST. SIMONS ISLAND | Charles Martin warns that his books aren't shelved in the Christian fiction section, that the genre doesn't fit his writing.

He's a Christian who writes fiction that appeals to Christians and, given sales, apparently to a lot of those who like good, suspenseful reads.

Martin was in the Colorado Rockies last Saturday in the Collegiate Peaks, as they call Mount Yale, Mount Harvard and Mount Oxford. He and his wife, Christy, delivered on a Christmas promise that their three sons would get to visit some friends there.

He sometimes uses obscure place names in his novel, but Buena Vista, where his family was staying, may be too well known. Try naming a state that doesn't have a Buena Vista. But Leadville, the old mining town 34 miles away by asphalt and nearly 2,000 feet by altitude, could work.

Martin grew up near sea level on River Road in Jacksonville. His novel "Chasing Fireflies" was set in Brunswick and in Zuta's swampy woods in western Glynn County. More recently, "A Life Intercepted" is set in Gardi, 10 miles south of Jesup.

He knows about Zuta because he used to hunt in Paulk's Pasture with a couple of brothers - by blood and the practice of law - Ernest and Jim Gilbert. Jim was married to his aunt.

"You can still find Zuta Branch,'' he says, and he crosses it on his way to his new hunting grounds at Gardi.

Martin will have a near literary homecoming March 31 when he speaks at the Table of Contents, the Friends of the Brunswick Library's annual fundraising dinner on St. Simons Island. It's in the King & Prince Hotel's Delegal dining room, a place with a view that inspires.

No matter where he sets them, his novels are PG-rated at worst, even to a Pentecostal preacher's wife. He remembers Flannery O'Connor's statement that it's harder to keep it clean.

Not that he hasn't had opportunities. For example, Tommye, a main character in "Chasing Fireflies," was dying from the wages of porn stardom. It would have been easier to write about Tommye in a way that would have turned book talk audiences 50 shades of red.

If ever Martin wanted to take the easier, dirtier route, a couple of kids kept him on the harder road.

"I wrote that when my sons were 8 or 9,'' he said of "Chasing Fireflies." "I was looking at them and thought, 'What's the impact on my children?' ''

It's not as if he could write any differently, at least if his fiction remains true to the real Charles Martin.

He takes Jesus' words in saying, ''From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." The full verse says an evil heart brings forth evil words, and from a good heart comes good words.

That good comes through in his writing.

"If I start speaking, I hope some reflection of Him comes out of my mouth,'' he said.

Many of his characters, however, are flawed and some pay dearly for doing things the right way. The real hero from "Chasing Fireflies'' is Unc, a man who takes a lot and dishes abundant kindness. Unc also shows a level of resolve, the ability to just keep going, that Martin needed himself 15 years ago.

Martin says he took a "big leap" in 1999, when he decided to use his English degree to write rather than keep selling insurance. He finished "The Dead Don't Dance'' and sent it to publishers.

"I have 86 rejection letters at home in a folder,'' but one publisher bought it and a string of novels followed. He's working on his 14th now.

"The thing I like about telling stories is starting with someone who's broken and moving in that arc to unbroken,'' he said. "At the end of the day, what you have is something hopeful."

And you also have a good story, and possibly a good movie.

He made the New York Times bestseller list, drawing the attention of Hollywood. 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights to "The Mountain Between Us'' due for release in February 2017.

Those who want to buy tickets to the Table of Contents dinner can consult the website www.folbwk.org/events.html or call the library at (912) 267-1212.

Dinner starts at 6 p.m., and then Martin will speak.

Expect something clean and hopeful.

terry.dickson@jacksonville.com,

(912) 264-0405