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Underused historical fiction settings

CaptainCanada

CaptainCanada

Admiral
Admiral
I was recently reading Guy Gavriel Kay's "Sarantine Mosaic" duology, a low fantasy set in an AU version of the Byzantine Empire (oh, and incidentally, if you like low fantasy/historical novels and haven't read any Guy Gavriel Kay, you should give him a shot). It made me think about how underused the Byzantine Empire is as a setting for historical fiction. The Byzantines after about Justinian tend to be overlooked in popular history, so I'm not surprised, to an extent, but there's so much fascinating stuff there. Surely Elizabethan England has been strip-mined by now. The reign of Heraclius, for instance, would be dynamite for all kinds of stories.

Any other suggestions for underused settings?
 
Pre-Columbian North America. See the current issue of National Geographic for a really interesting article about the mound builder culture of middle-America and the lost city of Cahokia.
 
CaptainCanada said:
I was recently reading Guy Gavriel Kay's "Sarantine Mosaic" duology, a low fantasy set in an AU version of the Byzantine Empire (oh, and incidentally, if you like low fantasy/historical novels and haven't read any Guy Gavriel Kay, you should give him a shot). It made me think about how underused the Byzantine Empire is as a setting for historical fiction. The Byzantines after about Justinian tend to be overlooked in popular history, so I'm not surprised, to an extent, but there's so much fascinating stuff there. Surely Elizabethan England has been strip-mined by now. The reign of Heraclius, for instance, would be dynamite for all kinds of stories.

Any other suggestions for underused settings?
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Interesting. I just read the book, "Up the Line" by Robert Silverberg which was set in Byzantium. Being a time travel story you get a taste of several different eras.

I read a lot of Bernard Cornwell's books which are spread out over a large swath of British history. His most popular books are the Sharpe series set during the Napoleonic Wars and the Warlord Chronicles set in Arthurian times, but I've enjoy his other books set in less "popular" eras like the rise and reign of Alfred the Great.
 
Mysterion said:
Pre-Columbian North America. See the current issue of National Geographic for a really interesting article about the mound builder culture of middle-America and the lost city of Cahokia.
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That is fascinating and ripe for use in fiction.:vulcan:
 
Nerys Myk said:
but I've enjoy his other books set in less "popular" eras like the rise and reign of Alfred the Great.
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The Kay novel I'm reading at the moment (The Last Light of the Sun) is set in an approximation of Alfred the Great's era, with characters from analogues of England, Wales, and Denmark.
 
Temis the Vorta said:
On TV, all eras before 1950 are underused. It's like history didn't exist before TV did.
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Not here, you can't move on British TV for period drama. Victorian, the World Wars, and Tudor times tend to dominate, with the occasional appearance of Medieval Britain.
 
Nerys Myk said:
I read a lot of Bernard Cornwell's books which are spread out over a large swath of British history. His most popular books are the Sharpe series set during the Napoleonic Wars and the Warlord Chronicles set in Arthurian times, but I've enjoy his other books set in less "popular" eras like the rise and reign of Alfred the Great.
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I'm reading Sharpe's Sword now, to be followed by Sharpe's Fortress. I've read The Grail Quest series too. I plan to start reading the Starbuck Chronicles eventually...
 
I've read the Starbuck Chronicles. Didn't enjoy them as much as Sharpe. Mostly because the hero is a Confederate officer. (A Northerner who fights for the South, to accurate). The character just doent ring true for me, even though he's similar to Sharpe and other Cornwell heroes.
 
We've done Rome over and over, what about Greece? Earlier time period, more politics, blood and sex, higher stakes (Persian invasion), more science and art. Aside from 300, I can't think of any other, and definitely no TV series.

And if you have the budget, the Hittites, because we know so little we can put in whatever, plus they were apparently the first to smelt iron, or the Hyksos, who invaded Egypt and ruled it for a while.

There werre plans to bring the Flashman Papers to the screen, that'd be awesome with the right actor.
 
Turtledove handles Byzantium in his Kryspos Cycle. (Spelling?)

I always thought that th e pre-Revolutionary War era US would be interesting.
Also, Saladin, and the era of Charlemagne, possibly the Hundred Years War and maybe the pre-Depression Twenties dealt with as a slice of life sort of thing.
 
I'd like to do a story in an AU where the Native Americans were much more technologically and socially advanced when Columbus arrived (greeted by their coast guard....)
 
Nerys Myk said:
Temis the Vorta said:
On TV, all eras before 1950 are underused. It's like history didn't exist before TV did.
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Except for the occasional Western.
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That genre died from TV a long time ago, but there's a new show that might change things, and it's not about cowboys and gunfighters, which makes it all the more interesting:

AMC Greenlights Hell on Wheels to full series order.

"Hell on Wheels" tells the epic story of post-Civil War America, focusing on a Confederate soldier (Anson Mount) who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who have killed his wife. His journey takes him west to 'Hell on Wheels,' a dangerous, raucous, lawless melting pot of a town that travels with and services the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, an engineering feat unprecedented for its time. The series examines the railroad's institutionalized greed and corruption, the immigrant experience, and the plight of the newly emancipated African-Americans during reconstruction. Over time, "Hell on Wheels" chronicles this potent turning point in our nation's history, and how uncivilized the business of civilization can be.
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Dare I hope for a mobile Deadwood (without the swearing)? :D I am really looking forward to this one. AMC's on a roll!
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