Historical fantasy

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The Accolade by British painter Edmund Blair Leighton exhibits an idealized view of history common in historical fantasy.

Historical fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy, related to historical fiction. It includes stories set in a specified historical period but with some element of fantasy added to the world, such as magic or a mythical creature hidden in the cracks. Often the magic retreats from the world so as to allow history to continue unaltered, as in Lord Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow, which takes place in Spain, but which ends with the magician in it removing himself, and all creatures of romance, from the world, thereby ending the Golden Age. Such fantasies, if they do not have the magic carefully hidden from history, shade into alternate history.

Alternatively the story may be set in a purely fictional world which either strongly resembles a specific historical period or contains elements of history evident in its characters, settings or story, for example George R. R. Martin's acclaimed series "A Song of Ice and Fire", inspired by the Wars of the Roses, and R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing books which draw on ancient Middle Eastern civilizations such as the Persian Empire, Scythia, Hellenistic Greece, and the Crusades yet is set in a purely fictional location. Unlike alternate history, the history contains many elements that are not derived from a specific historical period.

Many if not most works by fantasy authors derive ideas and inspiration from real events, making the borders of this subgenre fuzzy.

[edit] Subgenres

When a specific era of history is popular with writers, a subgenre may spring up, such as Celtic fantasy, which includes such works as Katharine Kerr's Deverry series, or Teresa Edgerton's Green Lion Trilogy. These works are (loosely) based on Dark Ages Celtic cultures. The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately, sometimes with great effect; other writers have distinguished to use a single source.^[1]

The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, owing to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work, the epic Mabinogion.^[1] One influential retelling of this was the fantasy work of Evangeline Walton: The Island of the Mighty, The Children of Llyr, The Song of Rhiannon, and Prince of Annwn. A notable amount of fiction has been written in the area of Celtic fantasy.^[2]

[edit] Examples of historical fantasy

The era listed is the location, or source for the setting, for these works.

• R. Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing: Hellenistic Greece, Ancient Persia, Crusades
• Gillian Bradshaw's Down the Long Wind trilogy, Hawk of May, Kingdom of Summer, and In Winter's Shadow: Sub-Roman Britain
• C. J. Cherryh's The Russian Stories: Medieval Kievan Rus'
• Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Napoleonic England
• Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead
• Kara Dalkey's Genpei: Medieval Japan
• Sara Douglass' The Crucible Trilogy: Medieval Europe
• David Gemmel's Lion of Macedon: Ancient Greece
• Sarah Hoyt's Shakespearean Fantasy Series
• Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana: Renaissance Italy
• Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song for Arbonne: Medieval Occitania
• Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan: Moorish Spain
• Guy Gavriel Kay's The Sarantine Mosaic: Byzantine Greece
• Guy Gavriel Kay's The Last Light of the Sun: Viking England
• Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series: Celtic Middle Ages
• Stephen Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle: Pre-Arthurian and Arthurian Britain (also Atlantis)
• Nathalie Mallet's The Princes of the Golden Cage: Arabia
• Fiona Patton's Branion Realm series: Celtic Middle Ages
• Mary Stewart's Merlin series and The Wicked Day: Post-Roman Britain
• Judith Tarr's The Hound and the Falcon: Medieval England, Byzantium and Rome
• Harry Turtledove's Thessalonica (Byzantine Greece) and War Between the Provinces (American Civil War)
• Tim Powers's The Anubis Gates: Victorian England
• Tim Powers's The Drawing of the Dark: Renaissance Europe
• Tim Powers's On Stranger Tides: Early Nineteenth Century Caribbean
• Tim Powers's The Stress of Her Regard: Early Nineteenth Century Italy
• Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Tomoe Gozen Trilogy: Feudal Japan
• Delia Sherman's The Porcelain Dove: Revolutionary France
• Josepha Sherman's Prince of the Sidhe series: Dark Ages Ireland & England
• Gene Wolfe's Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete: Ancient Greece
• Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's The Saint-Germain novels: Various eras
• Naomi Novik's Temeraire series: England during the Napoleonic Wars
• Adam McCune & Keith McCune's The Rats of Hamelin: Medieval Germany
• Justin Allen's Slaves of the Shinar: Ancient Mesopotamia
• Juliet Marillier's The Sevenwaters Trilogy: Ninth Century Ireland

[edit] See also

• alternate history

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Historical fantasy Book recommendations at RealityEnds