Three very different historical fantasy authors
History is a large inspiration for many fantasy authors. Many cultures from previous times already seem like different worlds to uswhat’s to stop an imaginative author from adding dragons or magic to one of these worlds? Historical fantasy fiction has been published for well over a century in different cultures. However, there are varied divisions within this broad genre, and one author’s work often looks very different from another’s. These three authors will hopefully show you just how disparate this field can be.Katharine Kerr: Kerr’s Deverry Cycle is a (currently) 15-volume series based on Celtic mythology. The first book, Daggerspell, was released in 1986, while the 15th book The Silver Mage was released in 2009. These books include both fantastical creatures like elves and dwarves as well as belief systems based off of actual Celtic culture. One of the impressive things about the series is its immense time period, covering hundreds of years. The product description for the first book says, “Four hundred yearsand many lifetimesago, one selfish young lord caused the death of two innocent lovers. Then and there he vowed never to rest until he’d righted that wrongand laid the foundation for the lives of Jill and all those whom she would hold dear.”Dan Simmons: Simmons has set several of his books in historical eras and added just a dose of fantasy or horror to set them apart. In 2007′s The Terror, he tackles the famous lost expedition to the Arctic that set out in 1845-1848, led by Captain Sir John Franklin. The book imagines the lost sailors being stalked by a mythological monster. In 2009′s Drood, the final years of the author Charles Dickens are narrated by one of Dickens’s contemporaries, Wilkie Collins. This book also features various horrific elements. Drood is set to be turned into a film by director Guillermo del Toro.Tim Powers: Powers is a well-known “secret histories” novelist who strictly adheres to recorded facts and comes up with a “momentous but unrecorded fact to explain them all.” One of his earliest best-known works is The Drawing of the Dark (1979), which suggests the siege of Vienna was actually motivated by a secret war between magicians. Other time periods that Powers has tackled include the 18th century Caribbean (On Stranger Tides), the age of the English Romantic poets (The Stress of Her Regard), and the Cold War (Declare).