Genre question - historical fiction/fantasy

[Auralius]

Nathan,
Hey! I'm working on a MS based on Genesis 1-9. I posted in the query forums, and we had a discussion on the appropriate genre for the story. Long story short, whether one would consider this historical fiction or fantasy depends entirely on one's view of Genesis. According to a series of Gallup polls, in the US the breakdown is about 45/35/20 for creation/theistic evolution/materialistic evolution - http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publi.htm. So what genre do I query under without alienating agents/publishers/readers on either side of the spectrum?

Thanks for the excellent blog and forums.

[Nathan Bransford]

I wouldn't get hung up on the questions of religious/historical fact - a novel can be based on true events and still be a novel, so personal belief about the historicity of events in a religious text needn't influence what genre it's in. Whether it's historical fiction or fantasy is really more about style and emphasis.

But if it's a straight retelling of Genesis, it sounds to me more like inspirational/spiritual fiction than historical or fantasy.