Mod post: theme suggestions

[damned_colonial]

Please suggest themes you'd like to see covered here! Cut and paste the following into a comment:

ETA: please put your theme in the subject of your comment!

Theme:
Are you prepared to run it? Yes/No
Suggested books, if you have them already:


What does it mean to run the theme?

1. At least one month in advance, you'll let everyone know about the theme and your suggested reading for it. You need to suggest at least 3 works of fiction.
2. On the first of the month, you will post a welcome/introduction/kickoff for the theme.
3. Throughout the month, you'll take an active part in discussion of the theme.

You do not have to be an expert on the theme to run it. You just need to have an interest in it.

Comments

[beckyzoole]

Theme: Ur Doin It Rong
Are you prepared to run it? Yes
Suggested books: Not sure -- this would be done only after the community had been going for a year or two, and we'd probably take suggestions and run a poll for examples of historical fiction that gets the period in question all wrong.

The books would have to be otherwise-well-written and/or popular books, to make them particularly egregious.

We'd read them and discuss what makes a book "WRONG", and what mistakes are forgivable. Is a mention of potatoes in Roman Britain enough to condemn a book? Etc.

Re: Gold Rushes

[damned_colonial]

Yeah, I was thinking Jack London in general for the Yukon. Not sure which would be best, but he's got plenty to choose from.

[damned_colonial]

Hmmm. I think the problem is actually that 20th century stuff is hard to find "historical" novels for. So much of what's available are actually contemporary novels. And then, the problem in this case is probably compounded by trying to work with a period that, as you point out, actively suppressed writers.

It's a pity, as revolutionary/communist China is a very interesting period. Let's keep thinking about it.

Re: Industrial Revolution in Britain

[damned_colonial]

Wow, um, yeah, maybe? I know we have historical fantasy elsewhere in the book lists but that would probably be the first one that's not set on earth and doesn't have any human characters :)

Re: Stolen Generations (Australia)

[damned_colonial]

Yeah, I was thinking of the Billabong books and stuff like that.

"My Place" and "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence" are both fiction but based on true stories.

I'm just skimming through "We of the Never-Never" on Gutenberg and although it has a lot of stuff about Aboriginal people, they're not technically stolen generations.

Re: Regency Romances

[hl]

Late, but I've a suggestion for this discussion.

There's Emily Eden's The Semi-Attached Couple. It was published in 1860 but written and set in 1820 (if I'm not mistaken), and I remember that when reading, not only I found the style very much like Austen's (probably influenced by it!) but very curious in terms of the social and romantic dynamics. It's fun, too. :)

Re: Regency Romances

[hl]

I should say the 1820s--I'm not exactly sure which one was the actual year.

Medieval Central Eurasia

[nonniemous]

Theme: Medieval Central Eurasia, aka Silk Road, 12 - 16th centuries

Are you prepared to run it? Yes, as long as it is during the summer when I'm not in school. (Generally mid-June-Oct. 1)

Suggested books, if you have them already:

YA, Book of a Thousand Days, retelling of a fairy tale with nomads.
There is a graphic novel retelling of The Secret History of the Mongols which I could track down, and other materials. I don't recommend the recent novelization of the Secret History; I tried to read it and it was absolutely awful. Better off reading the prose translation by Paul Kahn.

This area encompasses Mongolia, Afganistan, the ancient kingdoms of Sogdiana, Bactria, The Uighur lands, Persia/Iran, and so on. I can come up with a much firmer geographical area if people are interested. I will also happily hunt up more books, when/if the time comes.

Re: Regency Romances

[naraht]

A great choice!

WW2 alternate histories

[damned_colonial]

Theme: WW2 alternate histories
Prepared to run it: sure
Suggested books:

I'm thinking of focussing on the European theatre.

Jo Walton, "Farthing"
Len Deighton, "SS-GB" (recced by a co-worker)
Stephen Fry, "Making History"

These three by Harry Turtledove look interesting (via Wikipedia):

* The Man with the Iron Heart (2008) - Reinhard Heydrich survives an assassination in Czechoslovakia by partisans and later goes on to lead an insurgent movement against the allied occupation of Germany. This is another historical transplant, in this case the Iraqi insurgency of 2003 is transplanted to postwar Germany.
* After the Downfall (2008) - A Wehrmacht officer is transported into a fantasy world during the Russian invasion of Germany at the end of World War II.
* Hitler's War (2009)-At the 1938 Munich meeting, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain refuses to grant Germany more land, thus pushing Hitler's plans for war earlier.

Since this is a 20th century period I don't think anything will be gutenbergable, but some publishers like Baen have free books online, so perhaps we could find a freebie there?

Elizabethan SFF and alternate history

[damned_colonial]

Theme: Elizabethan SFF and alternate history
Prepared to run it: yes
Suggested books:

I was going to just say AHs but I couldn't find three good ones. So adding in SFF should help. I'm thinking anything speculative set in/around the Elizabethan period.

Kage Baker, "In the Garden of Iden"
Time-travelling cyborgs in Elizabethan England

Harry Turtledove, "Ruled Britannia"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruled_Britannia
(The Spanish Armada wins.)

Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett, "Armor of Light"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0915368293/
(Fixit: Sidney and Marlowe don't die. Also, magic works.)

Keith Roberts, "Pavane"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavane_(novel)
(Queen Elizabeth assassinated, protestant church in England destroyed)

Neil Gaiman, "1602"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785110739/
(Marvel superheroes in 1602. Graphic novel.)


More here: http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/ElizSFF.htm

Re: Stolen Generations (Australia)

[adelheid]

Having looked up cataloging data, I'll accept "Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence" as fictionalised but I'm really rather... iffy about saying My Place is fiction. It's classified as Biography, it's won prizes as biography, it's studied as biography.

I don't want to be troublesome, I just ... yeah. Sally Morgan's My Place is in NO WAY fictionalised. (Nadia Wheatley's My Place, published the same year, *is* fiction, but has no link to the Stolen Generations.)

Re: Stolen Generations (Australia)

[damned_colonial]

Oh, interesting! I bought a copy a while ago from the fiction shelves of a bookstore, not that that's definitive of course.

Looks like this might be a hard theme to find books for. That's a pity :(

[sarlania]

I've been thinking... maybe instead of limiting it to just China, make the theme more broad, something like Communism in general, or revolutions in the 20th/19th century? Maybe then we'll get more books to choose from.

[tegels]

Hi there,

Just putting my oar in :-)

I would contest that Jack Whyte is 'solidly Roman' - he's more fantasy. He makes seemingly historical stuff up, so fits into the Arthurian fantasies quite neatly.

I also got bored with him after a couple of books :-)

[tegels]

Rosemary Sutcliff's 'Sword at Sunset' has just been re-issued. It is Arthurian, but has a pretty good realistic setting. Other Roman books could include Simon Scarrow's 'Eagle ...' books (not sure how available they are in the US, though) I could dig up some more, if you want.

[holyschist]

I think I read a couple of the more Roman ones, actually, and it's not my period of obsession. I also got bored after a couple books.