igeon Rebuttal
Dear Editor, When I wrote a letter to your magazine a few months ago, I was under the impression that the historical fiction writer wastes much of his/her life researching meaningless minutiae for material that few read. (How many works of historical fiction ever reach the bestseller lists, with the notable exception of the biggest waste of all time—Cold Mountain?) In that letter, I provided an example of a writer accumulating data regarding pigeons walking by a storefront on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Randolph in Chicago, circa 1866. (I was shocked, by the way, when none of your fellow-writers provided this statistic. Whats the matter, folks? Isnt this bit of trivia worth your time to research?) After reading the responses to my letter, I realize that not only do fiction writers waste their time with anal-retentive research, they are mean-spirited as well. One writer used a expletive—#?%!—to describe the load I provided in my letter. Goodness! Is this an example of sophisticated writing craft as employed by the average historical fiction wordsmith? Another respondent called me a crazy woman offering nonsense. I do forgive her rudeness because she went on to prove my point. She claimed that writers who count pigeons require psychiatric help. EXACTLY!!!!!! The time and effort employed to count these imbecilic squabs is no less than what the average fiction writer spends composing voluminous tomes no one reads. Another reader substantiates this by describing the hours she spends in front of a microfilm viewer unearthing pieces of history. Perhaps she should let them rest in peace. Finally, one letter-writer illustrates the overbearing self-importance that permeates your genre like the spray of skunk overwhelms the unfortunate dog. This person begins the letter by explaining how he/she spends 95% of the time thinking how to keep historical facts out. (I ask you, is this anyway to spend ones day?) The coup de grace is delivered at the end of the missive: ...if something is relevant, Ill tell you... Goodness! What did I do before I could turn to P.M. to tell me what is relevant in my life? I closed my first letter by suggesting that historical fiction writers get a life. I stand by these words. We live in a world begging for cancer and AIDS cures, preserved rainforests, and a legitimate contender for the American presidency. Its time you writers spent a fraction of your underused brainpower working toward a noble cause. As always, Sarah Emma Edmonds |
ecommended Reading List
Great initiative! I just found your webpage and it was almost exactly what I was looking for. I love history but most reference books are just too dull to read through. I am currently trying to read all the way from ancient to contemporary history through accurate historical novels. Of course finding these books is no easy task. Through fiction and non-fiction books I have found two outstanding historical fictions: Gates of Fire from Steven Pressfield—an account of the unbelievable battle at Thermopilae during the Persian Wars—and Creation from Gore Vidal, which tells the tale of Cirus Spitame, a persian ambassator on its travels to the east—India and Catai (China). One regard to the webpage, if you allow me: If titles on your Recommended Reading page could be somehow sorted by content or historical period it would be great (I know its probably not an easy undertaking, but anyway...). Well, thanks and congratulations, Sincerely, Ricardo Josua
To Of Ages Past Magazine, WHY not have the A-Z Recommended Reading list by author? I feel it would be much more use, especially to me! M. Froggatt
Editors Note: Both terrific suggestions, ones that I have received multiple times in the past few months, therefore I have decided to address this issue in open forum.
Originally, the Recommended Reading page was going to be divided by content and historical time period. This, however, soon posed a major problem, since numerous books Ive personally read covered many locations, time periods, etc. (Multi-generational family sagas of 100+ years, for example, where individual characters seem to be everywhere in the world but at home.) These books, then, would have to be listed multiple times, depending on the categories. Additionally, most of the books Ive added to the list came from contributors, who normally supply nothing more than the title and author. Therefore, at least 60-75% of the books would remain uncategorized until that information could be sent to me. A difficult undertaking to say the least.
As to the second suggestion, to sort the books by Author...though, in the overall scheme of things, this is a much easier task to accomplish, there is one major drawback on my end—the hours needed to do so. With so many books on the list (and many more that have yet to be added, if the pile of email beside my computer is any indication), this would require dozens of hours to not only compile, but to do all of the HTML programming involved as well. Perhaps one day I will find a chunk of time in which to create this new page, but with my schedule I know, unfortunately, it wont be anytime soon. |
omance Rekindled
Dear Editor, Id like to address several good questions regarding Historical Romance posed by Mr. Boris Raymond in your last letters column... He asked...Why is its authorship and readership so completely skewed to women writers and women readers? Is it an accident or does the sub-genre contain elements that appeal primarily to one gender? And if the latter, can these elements be identified? I believe its the latter...I dont know any male readers who rush out to purchase the latest romance, historical or otherwise, because, in my opinion, the romance element in the stories takes center stage. (As all of us women know, men, in general, certainly have a difficult time talking about their feelings toward romance. With this said, I cant imagine these men craving to read about male/female relationships and the heartbreak that normally accompanies these stories either.) I do know that my husband would be mortified if I asked him to stand at the checkout line at the bookstore holding my copies of romance novels, especially when some of the covers feature flowers in pink pastels or bare-chested men with long hair. Therefore, I believe its no accident...many women love a good romance, a good cry, even a dashing hero in the books they purchase, so women writers know their market and male writers, interested in more manly pursuits, tend to avoid the romance elements in their stories. Mr. Raymond also asked...What are the specific different rules that apply to the writing of Historical Romance that do not apply to mainstream Historical Fiction, Alternate Historical Fiction, and Detective Historical Fiction? Again, in a word—romance. The love story takes center stage, whereas in the other subgenres, other elements come to the fore, stronger than the love story, if a love story is even included as a plot or subplot. The only rule I can see is that, in Historical Romance, there seem to be a required amount of pages devoted to love scenes, and that is all. In other Historical novels, the love scene may appear, but it normally takes only a paragraph or two; in Historical Romance, the love scenes appear often and generally last longer than several pages. As for the other questions posed, maybe I think on those and tackle them another day. Thanks, Trace, for giving us a place to discuss these issues and read some great stories. (Even my husband visits...LOL) Keep up the good work with the magazine. Gloriana S. Burke
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