Jerry B. Jenkins' and Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series has taken the world of Christian fiction by storm, its titles appearing on the New York Times best-seller list with the predictability of church doors opening on Sunday morning.

So it doesn't seem much of a stretch to ask: Can Jenkins do the same on his own?

This month, Tyndale House, publisher of the Left Behind series, releases Jenkins' solo effort. Titled Soon: The Beginning of the End ($24.99), Jenkins' book is actually not much of a departure from his blockbuster hits. The cover has a similar look to the Left Behind books, and the plot is based on Christian themes that will appeal to the same audience.

The story is set in the future, in the aftermath of WWIII. The world is resolved to eliminate war, and everything that fosters it.

"To ensure that global conflict never occurs again," says a press release, "international government agencies have agreed that the surest way to abolish the threat to humanity is to institute a worldwide ban on religion...

"But people of faith cannot be eradicated. They are merely pushed underground. And history shows they can't be held down for long."

Jenkins, who lives in Colorado Springs, may be taking a small risk hitting the shelves without his partner, but Tyndale has plenty of faith.

"From the minute we laid eyes on this proposal we knew Jerry Jenkins had come up with another winner," said Ron Beers, senior vice president and publisher.

Proposal, shmoposal. With Jenkins' track record, any publisher would have been crazy to turn him down. With mega profits at stake, there's a rule of business as unshakeable as the Ten Commandments: Let no publisher be left behind.

Patti Thorn, books editor