According to the November issue of Locus, author J. F. Lewis was "excommunicated from his church in response to his debut vampire novel Staked." Over on the Asimov's forum, Lewis writes that excommunicated isn't the correct term, because the non-denominational church instead "withdrew fellowship from rather than 'excommunicated' me." Lewis adds that the elders of his church believe that "by writing the book, I committed the sins contained within it. They also felt that I'd aimed the novel at young children (which boggles the mind) and that it teaches and encourages the use of vulgar language.Though I disagree wholeheartedly with their decision, I can't really say they took the action they took in order to be mean... they appear to have been acting out of genuine concern."

As a fellow SF/F writer from Alabama who grew up in a similar sounding church, I want to publicly say Lewis has my full support on this. Just because one writes a story about something doesn't mean that story is a true reflection of who the author is inside.