tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post4440508108966621880..comments2024-03-26T11:03:45.486+00:00Comments on Let us Talk of Many Things; of Books and Queens and Pirates, of Mystery and Kings...: History vs Fantasy: East meets WestHelen Hollickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04292983846350273039noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-6733751390303566382017-02-10T14:16:28.535+00:002017-02-10T14:16:28.535+00:00Oh yes - horse people can see the connection!Oh yes - horse people can see the connection!Helen Hollickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292983846350273039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-11075354258571227262017-02-10T00:04:58.865+00:002017-02-10T00:04:58.865+00:00I'm also an Anne McCaffrey fan and used to hav...I'm also an Anne McCaffrey fan and used to have all the Pern books - favourite was The White Dragon. It was only later, when I was an equestrian journalist, that I discovered that she bred event horses and that was possibly why her dragons had aspects of the equine temperament.Roland Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03302133565980901397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-9850445862059924572017-02-09T15:57:10.415+00:002017-02-09T15:57:10.415+00:00Well you could always content yourself with my Art...Well you could always content yourself with my Arthurian Trilogy Joanna *laugh*. I wrote it with no fantasy, no Lancelot, no holy grail - no Merlin. It's set from the mid 450's to early 500s. Took me ten years to write what turned out to be part one and two (Kingmaking, Pendragon's Banner) It could probably do with a re-write now as I wrote it over 20 years ago, but you can't keep going back over things.Helen Hollickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292983846350273039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-68611511592822466622017-02-09T15:48:26.798+00:002017-02-09T15:48:26.798+00:00I'm with you on Arthur Helen. One of my specia...I'm with you on Arthur Helen. One of my specialisms at university was Arthurian literature and it all fascinates me but if I was ever to write about him myself (which I probably won't because there is just so much out there already) it would be to try and put him in a true historical context, whenever and wherever that might be (so many possibilities from Cornwall to Scotland and pretty much everywhere in between).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06482164949574974431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-9967677006870073912017-02-09T15:46:07.260+00:002017-02-09T15:46:07.260+00:00When I'm teaching creative writing people ofte...When I'm teaching creative writing people often submit science fiction stories and only occasionally are they really good. Students think the Open University is biased against the genre which just isn't true. I think it's simply that it's easy to write science fiction badly because people get so lost in the worlds they have created (understandably as they are often amazing) that they forget to people them effectively. Setting is wonderful but it is just that - setting. It is people who drive plot. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06482164949574974431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-35903695286881188292017-02-09T15:45:39.827+00:002017-02-09T15:45:39.827+00:00I started with pony stories as a child but then we...I started with pony stories as a child but then went to Sci Fi and fantasy, the latter of which, I must be honest, is still among my favourite. Game of Thrones. for instance, I adore because it has a comparison with HF (my only 'complaint' with the TV version is the overdone sex and violence). My favourite series though?Anne McCaffrey's Dragons of Pern. On the dexter side - I can't stand the majority of fantasy books about King Arthur - I prefer him in a pure historical context.Helen Hollickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292983846350273039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-39543589673239227772017-02-09T15:43:39.555+00:002017-02-09T15:43:39.555+00:00I love Cadfael Roland. And I'm very keen on th...I love Cadfael Roland. And I'm very keen on the idea of an 'alternative history rabbit hole' - very Lewis Carroll!! Bagsie the Mad Hatter....Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06482164949574974431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-46884518037443035182017-02-09T15:41:51.061+00:002017-02-09T15:41:51.061+00:00Fab. Will get stuck in ASAP.Fab. Will get stuck in ASAP.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06482164949574974431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-4716647403527152232017-02-09T15:41:29.349+00:002017-02-09T15:41:29.349+00:00I think the 1066 authors and Alison Morton are Ok...I think the 1066 authors and Alison Morton are Ok with taking the blame Roland! *laugh*Helen Hollickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292983846350273039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-37797439147540389592017-02-09T14:49:53.906+00:002017-02-09T14:49:53.906+00:00Absolutely right, Joanna. World building is key to...Absolutely right, Joanna. World building is key to history, fantasy and every shade in between. If readers trust where an author is taking them, they will follow whether to the stews of Southwark or the red plains of Mars. <br /><br />I grew up reading science fiction and historical fiction and, when not reading crime and thrillers, alternated(!) between the two. Asimov, Heinlein ad McCaffery give us vibrant worlds, Plaidy, Graves and Forester exciting, dangerous ones, but they are peopled by the same types of characters – human beings. Flawed, heroic, shifty, noble, caught in impossible dilemmas and places, often courting ruin and death or reward and fame, they entrance us. As you say, ultimately it's the story that grabs us by the heart.Alison Mortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12638794898163576730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-33259931770314279072017-02-08T00:48:00.728+00:002017-02-08T00:48:00.728+00:00I enjoy historical and fantasy as a reader, so fin...I enjoy historical and fantasy as a reader, so find myself reading one and then the other, plus a lot of mysteries, including books like the Cadfael series. My writing does the same, although I am being sucked down the alternative history rabbit hole - blame 1066 Turned Upside Down and Roma Nova...or was it Ward Moore's Bring the Jubilee. As you so rightly say, "Both depend on their readers’ willing imaginations to travel through time. Both are world-building and both should be cherished as such." That can apply to mysteries as well, if the 'world' is taken as the crime scene and its setting. Only difference is the lack of time-travel - unless it's not present day.Roland Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03302133565980901397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-72552622423865797422017-02-07T19:40:57.092+00:002017-02-07T19:40:57.092+00:00Joanna - I can thoroughly recommend the two author...Joanna - I can thoroughly recommend the two authors I mentioned: with David Gemmell, start with Legend - but any of his are good! Joe Abercrombie is relatively new and The First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before they are hanged and Last argument of kings) - though beare as he has also just produced a trilogy of YA fantasy fiction, beginning with Half a King. Gemmel has a series called The Rigante which are also excellent and he has also done some hstorical fact and fiction books where he mixes real people and events with some magic thrown in!!!Richard Tearlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13593521217135620570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-49694184423210731682017-02-07T19:02:09.561+00:002017-02-07T19:02:09.561+00:00Great to hear from someone who likes both. And lik...Great to hear from someone who likes both. And like you say Annie as long as the world is real whilst you're reading then it's as it should be. I'm starting to read more fantasy and loving it. Will check out the authors mentioned.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06482164949574974431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-51105881649693156162017-02-07T15:09:47.503+00:002017-02-07T15:09:47.503+00:00Enjoyed the blog. I love both historical fiction (...Enjoyed the blog. I love both historical fiction (ok it's the swords/battles/mighty blows and derring-do as opposed to the 'headless-women-from-the-back, Edwardian 'romance' type!) and fantasy fiction. With the former, yes, I do like the facts set out clearly and can accept those small variations that authors sometimes needs must 'manipulate' but at the same time I admire an author who can invent his/her own histories in a fantasy world. Again, with fantasy fiction, I really love the worlds created by David Gemmell and Joe Abercrombie - swords and sandals, basically - not to mention Tolkien! the fantasy writer has more scope in that he/she can duplicate a real historical situation but doesn't have to follow the facts as closely as the true historical writer. But I also think that fantasy writers are also somewhat hampered by having to make their world pretty much a human world that we recognise and, usually, the only difference is the introduction of 'magic'. (Or should that be 'magick')?Richard Tearlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13593521217135620570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-39688615261718932512017-02-07T14:51:23.312+00:002017-02-07T14:51:23.312+00:00Totally agree Annie!Totally agree Annie!Helen Hollickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04292983846350273039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6132364668526714411.post-43655584141201010642017-02-07T13:37:06.435+00:002017-02-07T13:37:06.435+00:00Great post. Ultimately it boils down, I think, to ...Great post. Ultimately it boils down, I think, to whether the reader can suspend their disbelief and inhabit the world which has been created. If so, then the author has done their job :)Annie Whiteheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11028691371545306450noreply@blogger.com