Sorry, I was not here yesterday. I finally watched the three-hour version-cut-down from-four-hours of my mini series HERCULES that airs Monday night. My exec had warned me I would be shocked by the severity of the cuts. An understatement. I needed all yesterday to recuperate
Historical fiction is one of the genres I collect. I've seen many of my favs already here on the rolls. JULIAN; HERCULES, MY SHIPMATE; The Mary Renault books like THE KING MUST DIE, BULL FROM THE SEA,THE MASK OF APOLLO. Vixmom, you didn't list the last of the McCullough Rome series...THE OCTOBER HORSE. Have you read it yet? The is a terrific series!
I'm quite fond of Rafael Sabatini's historical novels and have one of the best collections I know in America. A few years ago, I was asked advice on certain editions for FIRSTS magazine. The dust-jacket that is in the booklet of Rudy Behlmer's notes for THE BLACK SWAN soundtrack is a xerox of mine that I made for Rudy.
My new historical fiction god of the last 10 years is British writer, Henry Treece. He wrote some excellent novels about ancient Greece: The Amber Princess(about Electra); The Eagle King (Oedipus); and Jason. He also wrote a series of great books about early Britain...Red Queen, White Queen (about Boudicca); The Great Captains (about a very primtive Arthur & Merlin); The Dark Island (about Caratacus); The Green Man (taking Hamlet back to its origins); and a play about Edward II, The Carnival King. He also wrote many wonderful historicals for young readers, which I also collect, because Treece does not at all write down to children and his books for them are just as dark and brooding and violent as his more mature work. He loves to deal with "the dying fall". He was also poet; so his prose is quite wonderful. Great forgotten writer.
I have several historical novels by Edison Marshall...notably The Earth Giant (about Hercules); The Pagan King (Arthur); and The Vikings (on which the Kirk Douglas movies was based).
I have a large selection of purely Arthurian literature which includes much fiction and the same for Richard III, which includes many novels on the subject.
The same is true of my Jack the Ripper collection, many fiction volumes on the subject.
I've lots of Harold Lamb...both fcition and non. I like his Curved Saber, stories of Khlit the Cossack and his DURANDEL...about Roland's sword and the knight who comes to possess it.
I have a signed 1st edition of SPARTACUS by Howard Fast, but haven't read it yet.
The best historical I've read in the last couple of years is THE EAGLE & THE RAVEN by Pauline Gedge, huge thick saga of the Roman occupation of Britain and the resistance by Caractacus and Boudicca.
Jose, on the recommendation of a friend I bought Pillars of The Earth. I haven't read it yet.
I've also got a few Frank Yerby that I've never read.
I also like historical mysteris...The Roman Blood series by Steven Saylor; the Roman series about Marcus Falco Didius by Lindsay Davis; a series about Nicholas Bracewell, a prompter for an Eliizabethan theatre company, who solves mysteries, the Sir John Fielding mysteries; Bernard Cornwell just wrote a good one called GALLOWS THIEF about a man who solves crimes in Regency England; and T.F. Banks has started a series about a Bow-Street Runner which looks promising, the first book is called THE THIEF-TAKER.
