Pagan Themed Historical Fiction

Divia · Postby **Divia** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 3:33 am

Um, I dunno it was a thread over on the other forum and I found some of the titles.

Pagan means country dweller. So throw that into your definition

I think it all depends on what people want to read. I like to read the pre christian stuff or the Pagan Vs Christian stuff like Mists. But some people like the ancient gods/goddesses

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Postby **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 3:43 am

Country-dweller? Okay, I'm pagan!
Seriously, you would enjoy Evangeline Walton's books. Margaret and I were just discussing them over on the Arthurian fiction thread (tho they aren't about Arthur.) They can be found used, and I recommend starting with the first one she published, Island of the Mighty. If you do them in the order now given, you end up starting with Prince of Annwn, the slapped-together afterthought book written in a hurry to complete the set.

Divia · Postby **Divia** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 3:45 am

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Postby **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 3:55 am

Now that I'm on this writer, her last book, the Sword is Forged, dealt with Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. I recall you prefer female protagonists, which this one definitely is.

Divia · Postby **Divia** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 4:13 am

OH! That soundst interesting.

Do I have to read them in order? Can they be stand alone books?

Margaret · Postby **Margaret** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 4:24 am

By Pagan, do you mean all of the ancient god/goddess systems? The Roman pantheon, the Greek gods, the Druidic system in its many forms, the Nordic Gods? Does it refer to books based on the great mythic cycles, such as the Ramayana, the Kalevala, the Tain, the Mabinogion, Gilgamesh, the Homeric Epics? Does it include the Sumerian and Egyptiona gods and goddesses? How about pre-Columbian America and native Shamanistic reliegions? Is Hinduism Pagan? (by the technical philosophical definition of non-monotheistic, it would be, but I'm not sure it is for this category.) Does that extend to Asian cults, or is there a geographic component, like Northern Europe? A time component, like before AD 800? Modern-day voodoo and animism, or just older stuff?

In short, yes.

A pretty broad category, isn't it? I don't think "pagan" fiction has to be anti-Christian, although a lot of it is. It's interesting that the word "pagan" was originally just a word that meant country-dwellers, in other words, the unsophisticated people out in the sticks who were still following the old ways.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Postby **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 6:40 am

"Divia" wrote:OH! That soundst interesting.

Do I have to read them in order? Can they be stand alone books?

The Hippolyta book is a stand-alone. I suspect that she was going to do more than one, but she was getting on in years and never got further than the one. But it was good enough that I still remember it, and I've forgotten lots of more recent books.

Of the Welsh foursome, the only two that are better in order and The Children of Llyr which covers events before the Song of Rhiannon. Island of the Mighty is completely stand-alone, centers around the struggle between Gwydion and his sister Arianrhod, both far to clever for their own good and neither one any too ethical, to influence their Uncle King Math of Gwynedd.

Divia · Postby **Divia** » Fri August 29th, 2008, 1:32 pm

I'm going to check out the Sword is Forged and see if i can get it on amazon. Sounds like something I would like.

Margaret · Postby **Margaret** » Sun August 31st, 2008, 11:27 pm

I actually rather liked Prince of Annwn, though it might appear quite strange and disjointed to someone unfamiliar with Celtic myths and legends. I loved the way the boundaries between the world of the living and the afterworld were so indistinct. Very Celtic.

LCW · Postby **LCW** » Tue September 2nd, 2008, 4:43 pm

Great thread! For myself, I'm very interested in books that contrast Pagan beliefs with Christian views. Also books about the time when Christianity began to spread into Europe and the conflicts it caused with the belief systems of the time.

And yes, "Paganism" is so different from the mono-thiestic religions that it's hard to wrap my brain around it. I remember back in college when I took a world religions course, the section on Judaism, Islam, and Christianity was easy as I was used to that way thinking but then when we focused on the eastern religions and the multi-theistic religions like Shinotism, Hnduism, etc. they were just so different it was hard to even recognize them as religion at all.