Maass: "What We're Looking For This Month"

annis · Post by **annis** » Fri December 17th, 2010, 8:39 pm

Posted by Love History

I was thinking more of a story that takes place in the real world, in a time past, in a fictional country with its own culture, but contains no elements of traditional fantasy and poses no questions about altering actual history. Doesn't fit neatly into any of the above categories.

I have this problem in trying to categorize the work of Guy Gavriel Kay, which pretty much fits your above description.

Gabriele Campbell · Post by **Gabriele Campbell** » Fri December 17th, 2010, 10:53 pm

I have that problem with Kings and Rebels. I just call it Epic Alternate Historical Fantasy.

Well, at home I call it the Tentacled Subplot Monster, but I don't think that would ever fly in a query.

fljustice · Post by **fljustice** » Fri December 17th, 2010, 11:08 pm

[quote=""LoveHistory""]
I was thinking more of a story that takes place in the real world, in a time past, in a fictional country with its own culture, but contains no elements of traditional fantasy and poses no questions about altering actual history. Doesn't fit neatly into any of the above categories.[/quote]

Ursula K. Le Guin had some early stories that fit this category...no magic, no SF, but stories set in a fictional eastern European country, a century or two ago. I read them years ago, but don't remember the title.

michellemoran · Post by **michellemoran** » Sat December 18th, 2010, 12:05 am

Alisha,

I would definitely mention that, and maybe even query some of the places that have recently taken historical fantasies. Stephanie Dray is coming out with an historical fantasy novel about Cleopatra Selene (I also wrote about her as the subject for my third book). Berkley Trade is putting that out in January, so maybe that's a good publishing house to query.

Alisha Marie Klapheke · Post by **Alisha Marie Klapheke** » Sat December 18th, 2010, 3:52 am

[quote=""michellemoran""]Alisha,

I would definitely mention that, and maybe even query some of the places that have recently taken historical fantasies. Stephanie Dray is coming out with an historical fantasy novel about Cleopatra Selene (I also wrote about her as the subject for my third book). Berkley Trade is putting that out in January, so maybe that's a good publishing house to query.[/quote]

Thanks, Michelle. You are so kind to take the time to give me advice. I will check out Stephanie Dray and Berkley Trade.

Thanks to everyone else for chipping in as well. This genre stuff can get confusing. After all, historical fiction sometimes has a great deal of the paranormal in it. And not only wise women and so forth. I'm thinking of Jeanne Kalogridis' novel The Burning Times and also Phillipa Gregory's The White Queen.