Bittercon: Historical Eras and Genre

[sartorias]

This is off Readercon's Saturday panel list. I don't know how much interest this one will raise--but.

Their title and info is: Why Don't We Do It in the Reformation? Underutilized Historical Eras in Spec Fic. Oooh! A conflated version of their descriptor: There have been many alternate histories of WW II and the Civil War, but almost none of

Comments

[cedunkley]

I will second Judith Tarr's dancinghorse works. Besides her wonderful fantasies set in her own second world settings she has a series of stories set during the Crusades. The Hound and the Falcon trilogy and the Alamut duology (where Saladin makes an appearance) are excellent fantasy stories.

If there are other fantasy stories set in such areas I'm not aware of them. While I do prefer the western European, British medieval setting it's always nice to branch out into other areas.

Personally, I'd like to see an epic fantasy set in very early Japan. That would be interesting.

[sartorias]

Early Japan--and all the powerful female gods!

[cedunkley]

Some day I'd like to give it a shot. I'd have to start my research with reading translated copies of the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki and then dive even more than I already have into the Kotodama, elements of which I've already incorporated into a couple of characters I have in my fantasy stories.

Early Japan with its gods and goddesses is a treasure trove waiting to be plundered and shaped into many great stories.

As I said above, I would love to get around to it eventually. I imagine someone, somewhere probably already is.

[affreca]

I would like to see some well done early Japan fantasy. Especially if they realize Japan at that time was not homogeneous (something it took me taking a class to learn about), and there's more than just the court.

[marycatelli]

Many books would be improved by the writer's realization that the era they were set in was not homogeneous.

[jonquil]

Susan Shwartz has done good work in the Byzantine era. Note that Shwartz is also a Ph.D in medieval literature.

[asakiyume]

That's a great idea--a story set in Byzantine times, and it would be good knowing I was reading something written by someone who knows what they're talking about. I just now searched on her name--is the book called Byzantium's Crown?

[april_art]

Guy Gavriel Kay wrote some Byzantine-ish books.

[asakiyume]

Thanks! (This is a great entry for getting reading ideas from...)

[marycatelli]

So did Harry Turtledove. Which I find better, actually.

[criada]

I once heard someone (either Anna Genoese or Beth Meacham) say that Japanese fantasy tended to get rave reviews, win lots of awards, but didn't sell, especially if it was a writer's first novel. Hopefully, that will change someday.

[sartorias]

Maybe with the enormous popularity of manga, that has changed. I hope so!

[criada]

Could be! It was back in 2005 that I heard it. A lot's changed since then.