Especially for LDS and Friends!

I agree with Duchess. Don't pass. As you pointed out, you are his target audience (so he claims) more so than anyone else in that group. He needs to know that ex-members are NOT a good resource to understand most LDS readers. Nor are they a good source for understanding our doctrine. He needs to seriously do some research and researching ANTI stuff is not the way to go unless you just want to anger most LDS and only interest anti-LDS, which is a vastly different market. He needs to know that you feel uncomfortable with his portrayals of major religious figures because it contradicts with fundamental beliefs of the LDS religion. Sorry, but he needs to know his target audience better or pick one that he knows. LDS is a niche group with comparatively low numbers and very specific povs. Trying to tap into a specific niche like that without enough knowledge of them is asking to flop.

It's highly possible that what he's actually trying to pull is a conversion book - ie sneak into the fold in order to show the blind fools the truth of their errors... BAD idea. That's tricky for someone who knows their target audience and very risky. No one wants to be told they are "wrong." Now, I wouldn't bring that part of it up, but you might ask why he has decided to target a group so different from himself or the realm of his experience. He needs to really think about that. He might be far better off in a different genre and if he does want to pull a bait and switch book, it's probably not a good idea for a first timer (which he sounds like if he has skipped the research part). But suggesting that build a platform on familiar ground and hold off on such foreign audiences might go over better "dump it and move on".

I actually had a similar issue in a college workshop. It was a short story and to be honest, I was extremely confused by the story and didn't find out for sure that she was trying to portray a Mormon community until I was back in the class, in the middle of the discussion. There were just a couple of us LDS in the group but we assured the author that she was mistaken on several points. In the end the teacher circumvented that one, pointing out that the story was actually an attempt to show a social oppression of the small town as opposed to a religious thing and suggested a different approach and focus. That may be the same here, but from just a prologue...

If the guy doesn't believe you, offer to share it with a few fellow LDS members and record personal feedback from them to share with him. To be blunt, I've seen those types of stories in the Christian genre I've been wandering through in the last couple years. It might actually fly in general Christian, (others seem to like that stuff) but for me, as soon as I see such hinting, I walk away from the book and keep a generous distance from the book and that author forthwith.

Perhaps it is because of a clearer, more precise view of the gospel (and even studies have shown that in general Mormons are more familiar with what their Church's beliefs than most other religions) and thus we just don't go for the fudging. Like I said, that same book might sell just fine in a general Christian market (or sounds more like Christian Speculative Fiction, which is fighting to emerge), but to them, doctrines are just more flexible because they're still in debate. For us, because of the restoration, they are NOT in debate. We don't wing doctrines and it's not up for local groups or popularity contests to pick and choose. Most Mormons know better and he's not gonna fool them with that junk.

Even readers aside, no true "Mormon" publisher will touch that.

If he warms to the idea of the general market, he might check out a book called "The Calling" and the author runs a blog he calls "Jacob's Ladder"... and if he shows any interest in the Christian Speculative Fiction, tell him to check out The New Authors Fellowship Blog at http://newauthors.wordpress.com/ where a diverse group of writers are pushing that niche. They can give links to publishers and fellow authors in the niche too. Like I said, depending on why he chose to write for LDS, the book might work fine in the main market. I would definitely see if he bites and gets inspired by that and gives up any sites on the LDS market. The amount of research needed to actually target the Mormon market from his background sounds like a lot. But if he insists on the LDS market and hopefully can explain why he chose it, then encourage him to do the research and direct him toward Mormon.org (starting him there would probably be better than LDS.org), but... that much research just might convert him, and then where would he be, lol. (I probably wouldn't tell him the latter though - serves him right if he's trying to "open our eyes".

But please, do tell us how it turns out. He almost has enough of my curiosity for me to ask for a synopsis to see his angle. If he has one, I might look it over and give some better advice. Plus, as I said, I've been mingling with other Christian writers. Who knows, they might really like his idea.

-Renegade
aka Ren Black