Historical Fiction Genre
Websites | Readers' Advisory Books | Definition | Keywords for Searching
Websites
ARRT Historical Fiction Booklist - From the Adult Reading Round Table. Includes: action-packed adventure stories, timeless tales of love, intimate portraits of fascinating people and richly detailed depictions of days gone by. From the Ice Age to the early 20th Century, the story of mankind is played out in the pages of these well-researched, well-written novels.
-- Review from -- http://www.arrtreads.org
HistFiction.net - Includes historical fiction current bestsellers, author database, links to forums, other webs sites, a book search, resources for writers, a message board, and a guide to historical fiction reference resources. -- Review from http://www.histfiction.net
Historical Novel Society - The Historical Novel Society was founded in 1997 and promotes all aspects of historical fiction. They provide support and opportunities for new writers, information for students, booksellers, and librarians, and a community for authors, readers, agents, and publishers. -- Review from http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org
Readers' Advisory Books
Historical Fiction
Johnson, Sarah L. (2005). Historical fiction: a guide to the genre. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.
For Johnson, historical fiction must take place prior to 1950 and be written from research, not personal experience. Since historical fiction is such a large genre, she focuses her coverage on books published between 1995 and mid-2004.
Following a chapter that discusses appeal factors such as time period, setting, historical content, level of realism, pacing, characterization, subject, and dialogue, titles are organized by 13 subgenres: traditional historical novels, multiperiod epics, romance, sagas, westerns, mysteries, adventure, thrillers, literary fiction, Christian fiction, time-slip stories, alternate history, and fantasy. Each subgenre is broken down by time, place, or subject. The listings for books give author, title, publisher, publication date, number of pages, keyword subject headings, and an annotation summarizing the story and the appeal factors, thus showing librarians how each title relates to readers' interests. Symbols identify award winners, biographical stories, and classics and indicate whether a title is appropriate for reading groups and young adults. -- Review from http://www.amazon.com
Read On--Historical Fiction
Hooper, Brad. (2006). Read on--historical fiction: reading lists for every taste. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.
"Hundreds of popular historical fiction titles are described and categorized according to their underlying appear features, and under topics and themes you'll probably not find in the library catalog--women with true grit, greatest war stories, royalty rules, quick reads, humor, and many others. Historical fiction readers and fans looking for new reading material will enjoy browsing through this book and using it for checklists or reading plans." -- From the book cover
What Historical Novel Do I Read Next?
Burt, Daniel S. (1997). What historical novel do I read next? Detroit: Gale Research.
Most entries include brief information about the novel's author, and all include details about each novel's characters, time period, subject, locale, and plot. Only books easily available in libraries or bookstores are included. The indexes--by time period, historical character, place, and subject--are particularly useful, but there are also listings by author, title, fictional character name, and profession/occupation. Looking for novels set in the 1850s? There are 264 listed. Novels set in Detroit? Ten can be found here. Translations of works first written in languages other than English are also included." - Library Journal -- Review from http://newfirstsearch.oclc.org
Definition
To be deemed historical, a novel must have been written at least fifty years after the events described, or have been written by someone who was not alive at the time of those events (who therefore approaches them only by research).
-- From http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/
Keywords for Searching
Historical
Historical fiction
Historical novels
Historical romances
-- From http://authorities.loc.gov
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