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ewein2412almost equally ridiculous, but a little less difficult:
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Why do I write these things down at half past midnight?
Incidentally, thank you, o my flist, for your stellar responses of support to that interesting review I linked to yesterday. I was rather more shaken by the politics of that review than anything else--way down at the bottom of his rant the guy did say "she writes well" or something like that. Interesting issues got raised in comments to my post, on the subject "Historical Fiction or Fantasy or What?" with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
estara weighing in on my books as alternative history rather than historical fiction. Which raises the question--when you head that far back in time, and the knowns are very vague, what exactly is the difference?
When I was in Aksum in 2004 I had a guide who took us to see some 2nd-4th century CE ruins which he told us were the remains of the Queen of Sheba's palace and were 3000-4000 years old. I did not contradict him (what authority do I have?), but I remember thinking at the time: It is more likely that Telemakos lived here than that the Queen of Sheba lived here. Which doesn't actually make either theory true.
In the book I'm working on now, the WWII flying-and-spying travesty (which I now think of as Code Name Plausible), I have made up all the names of the British airfields. Almost all of them, anyway. Then I started making up names of British towns. Then I started making up names of French towns (harder to do). AT WHAT POINT does this become an "alternate" Europe--and therefore a fantasy novel--rather than a historical one?
+ Fish
+ Skis
+ Check train light
Why do I write these things down at half past midnight?
Incidentally, thank you, o my flist, for your stellar responses of support to that interesting review I linked to yesterday. I was rather more shaken by the politics of that review than anything else--way down at the bottom of his rant the guy did say "she writes well" or something like that. Interesting issues got raised in comments to my post, on the subject "Historical Fiction or Fantasy or What?" with
estara weighing in on my books as alternative history rather than historical fiction. Which raises the question--when you head that far back in time, and the knowns are very vague, what exactly is the difference?When I was in Aksum in 2004 I had a guide who took us to see some 2nd-4th century CE ruins which he told us were the remains of the Queen of Sheba's palace and were 3000-4000 years old. I did not contradict him (what authority do I have?), but I remember thinking at the time: It is more likely that Telemakos lived here than that the Queen of Sheba lived here. Which doesn't actually make either theory true.
In the book I'm working on now, the WWII flying-and-spying travesty (which I now think of as Code Name Plausible), I have made up all the names of the British airfields. Almost all of them, anyway. Then I started making up names of British towns. Then I started making up names of French towns (harder to do). AT WHAT POINT does this become an "alternate" Europe--and therefore a fantasy novel--rather than a historical one?
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Date: 2010-03-03 04:07 am (UTC)Anyway, I recognized your name when you left the first comment, and because you did I tracked down all of your books -- I think I'd thought I'd read The Winter Prince already, but I hadn't. Now I am an enormous fan of yours, so everyone wins. :)