Welcome to the Historical Fiction Online forums: a friendly place to discuss, review and discover historical fiction.
If this is your first visit, please be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above.
You will have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.
To start viewing posts, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Anyone else tired of Tudor HF?

A place to debate issues or to rant about what's on your mind. In addition to discussions about historical fiction, books, the publishing industry, and history, discussions about current political, social, and religious issues and other topics are allowed, so those who are easily offended by certain topics may want to avoid such threads. Members are expected to keep the discussions friendly and polite and to avoid personal attacks on other members. The moderators reserve the right to shut down a thread without warning if they believe it necessary.
User avatar
EC2
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 3661
Joined: August 2008
Location: Nottingham UK
Contact:

Post by EC2 » Wed November 21st, 2012, 11:19 pm

[quote=""MLE""]Sorry, 20th C doesn't do it for me at all. I refuse to be labeled a living history exhibit unless I'm actually re-enacting something. :cool: [/quote]

I just thought it interesting when I received the Review - it's downstairs so I can't quote chapter and verse, that despite us all thinking the Tudors are rampaging all over everywhere, it only seems like it. Actually they're not according the HNS Review, where the majority of the reviews are for 19th and 20thC subjects. Earlier periods get a lot less of a look in.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

User avatar
Mythica
Bibliophile
Posts: 1095
Joined: November 2010
Preferred HF: European and American (mostly pre-20th century)
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Post by Mythica » Thu November 22nd, 2012, 10:23 am

[quote=""MLE""]Sorry, 20th C doesn't do it for me at all. I refuse to be labeled a living history exhibit unless I'm actually re-enacting something. :cool: [/quote]

Early 20th century interests me, pre-WWI and around the turn of the century. So much was happening during that period, it must have a very exciting time to be alive. Unless you're more than a 100 years old, I doubt that you need to worry about being a living history exhibit from that time period, LOL :)

From a genealogical point of view though, I am interested in more recent history - just not as HF.

User avatar
Divia
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4435
Joined: August 2008
Location: Always Cloudy, Central New York

Post by Divia » Thu November 22nd, 2012, 5:33 pm

[quote=""EC2""]I just thought it interesting when I received the Review - it's downstairs so I can't quote chapter and verse, that despite us all thinking the Tudors are rampaging all over everywhere, it only seems like it. Actually they're not according the HNS Review, where the majority of the reviews are for 19th and 20thC subjects. Earlier periods get a lot less of a look in.[/quote]

Interesting.

Right after Phillipa Gregory burst onto the scene thats pretty much all we were subjected to. TOBG and stuff like that. I'm all for reading different time periods, if those time periods can be found. I had a hell of a time trying to find Victorian Era novels, and the few I did find were pretty blah. Most everything right after TOBG was Tudor nonsense. And a lot of it. I think after my 10th tudor novel I protested and could read no more. Its been eh, three years maybe two since I read one. I just refuse. But because of that I've read less and less adult novels and more YA stuff, which seems to have a variety. Is sad, but I can't remember the last adult novel I read.

20th cent has never interested me save the 1920s. But I wonder if the turn of events has happened cause of Downton Abbey. Pure speculation on my part, of course.

I'm all for the Victorian Era though. Bring it on. Eh, let me say, bring it on without the mystery though. There are a lot of those books. Not a fan of the mystery novel.
Last edited by Divia on Thu November 22nd, 2012, 5:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
News, views, and reviews on books and graphic novels for young adult.
http://yabookmarks.blogspot.com/

Helen_Davis

Post by Helen_Davis » Fri November 23rd, 2012, 4:44 am

[quote=""Mythica""]Do it! I'd buy it. :) [/quote]

Ok-- she's under consideration! :D

Helen_Davis

Post by Helen_Davis » Fri November 23rd, 2012, 4:46 am

[quote=""Rowan""]Why do you think I've got my head stuck so far back in Ancient History? :p [/quote]

YES! I'm not alone!

annis
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 4585
Joined: August 2008

Post by annis » Wed November 28th, 2012, 4:25 am

I'd say the late 19th and early 20th centuries are definitely this year's "it" setting, and I'm quite sure that Downton Abbey is the reason- why miss a good bandwagon when you see one passing by?

Ariadne posted a great listing of new and forthcoming DA-themed fiction on her Reading the Past blog recently:
http://readingthepast.blogspot.co.nz/20 ... eason.html

I'd add to the list Martin Davies The Year Afterwhich actually was published in the year past and preceded the current trend by a bit. Davies always writes well, but this one didn't quite tug at my heartstrings like the haunting Unicorn Road, which is on my all-time favourites list.

And on the Tudor theme, I thought I was over all things Tudor, but I have to give a big thumbs up to Elizabeth Loupas' The Flower Reader, set during the early years of Mary QOS's reign. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Last edited by annis on Wed November 28th, 2012, 5:11 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
Lisa
Bibliophile
Posts: 1153
Joined: August 2012
Favourite HF book: Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman
Preferred HF: Any time period/location. Timeslip, usually prefer female POV. Also love Gothic melodrama.
Location: Northeast Scotland

Post by Lisa » Wed November 28th, 2012, 4:43 pm

I agree there does seem to be a shift happening just now towards late 19th and early 20th century-based novels. I like to read all time period settings depending on my mood, so would prefer to see more of a mix out on the market, but I do think a focus on the late 19th-20th centuries could be an improvement on the recent Tudor fixation, simply because there will be more variety.

Most of the recent Tudor novels (or popular NF) that I've seen have been either based on Henry VIII's wives or Elizabeth I, again and again. I'm fed up with reading the same story, even with a slightly different theory on why things happened. There are plenty of other interesting personalities from that period that don't have much written about them, such as Henry's sister Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, Penelope Devereux, and so on - although as pointed out in the Forthcoming Books 2013 thread, we are getting one about Bess of Hardwick at last!

Anyway, I think if there is now a big focus on the late 19th/early 20th centuries, there will certainly be a much wider range of subjects and settings and little overlap, unless everyone sticks to the "upstairs/downstairs" theme!

And I, for one, will welcome any new Tudor fiction that doesn't focus on a king or queen :)

User avatar
Misfit
Bibliomaniac
Posts: 9581
Joined: August 2008
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Misfit » Wed November 28th, 2012, 6:33 pm

[quote=""annis""]I'd say the late 19th and early 20th centuries are definitely this year's "it" setting, and I'm quite sure that Downton Abbey is the reason- why miss a good bandwagon when you see one passing by?

Ariadne posted a great listing of new and forthcoming DA-themed fiction on her Reading the Past blog recently:
http://readingthepast.blogspot.co.nz/20 ... eason.html

I'd add to the list Martin Davies The Year Afterwhich actually was published in the year past and preceded the current trend by a bit. Davies always writes well, but this one didn't quite tug at my heartstrings like the haunting Unicorn Road, which is on my all-time favourites list.

And on the Tudor theme, I thought I was over all things Tudor, but I have to give a big thumbs up to Elizabeth Loupas' The Flower Reader, set during the early years of Mary QOS's reign. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.[/quote]

I'm looking forward to reading some of them, hopefully it won't become a glut. I did start Habits of the House yesterday (nice large font). It's not terribly *deep*, but an easy read. From looking at the promo stuff on the ARC I'm guessing this came about because the publisher wanted something, and not just happened to come about because the author had a story (hope that makes sense). The author bio says she wrote the first episode (or pilot episode) of Upstairs Downstairs. It does read a lot like a TV mini series on paper.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

User avatar
Antoine Vanner
Reader
Posts: 70
Joined: October 2012
Location: South-East England

By What Authority?

Post by Antoine Vanner » Wed November 28th, 2012, 9:03 pm

[quote=""Lady of Bennachie""]...

Most of the recent Tudor novels (or popular NF) that I've seen have been either based on Henry VIII's wives or Elizabeth I, again and again. I'm fed up with reading the same story, even with a slightly different theory on why things happened. There are plenty of other interesting personalities from that period that don't have much written about them...

... And I, for one, will welcome any new Tudor fiction that doesn't focus on a king or queen :) [/quote]

In line with the above comment I recommend "By What Authority?" by R.H. Benson, a superb and challenging novel dealing with the challenges facing two families, one Catholic, one Protestant, in the reign of Elizabeth I. The moral dilemmas involved are terrifying as regards their potential consequences and there are no easy solutions, no black and white divisions into good and bad. I found it a splendid and exciting read and though written a century ago has all the immediacy and pace one would expect from a good historical novel today.

User avatar
DianeL
Bibliophile
Posts: 1029
Joined: May 2011
Location: Midatlantic east coast, United States
Contact:

Post by DianeL » Thu November 29th, 2012, 1:10 am

[quote=""Lady of Bennachie""]There are plenty of other interesting personalities from that period that don't have much written about them, such as Henry's sister Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, Penelope Devereux, and so on -

...

And I, for one, will welcome any new Tudor fiction that doesn't focus on a king or queen :) [/quote]

I happen to share a surname with the author Charles Major, who wrote a charming romance about Brandon and Mary, "When Knighthood Was In Flower." The novel was a blockbuster in its day, and was made into a movie vehicle for Marion Davies, paramour of Hurst, charming comedienne, and not-quite-Hollywood's brightest early star. I read an illustrated edition on Gutenberg and actually enjoyed it very much! Sure, it's a bit steeped in some outmoded ideas about women and love, but part of any entertainment is to meet its terms, right? :)
"To be the queen, she agreed to be the widow!"

***

The pre-modern world was willing to attribute charisma to women well before it was willing to attribute sustained rationality to them.
---Medieval Kingship, Henry A. Myers

***

http://dianelmajor.blogspot.com/
I'm a Twit: @DianeLMajor

Post Reply

Return to “Debate/Rant Forum”