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Medieval News
Fiction Archive
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Broken April and Albanian Blood Feud
Posted on June 8, 2013 | No CommentsTheir tribal codes are recorded in a Medieval text known as the Kanun. The Kanun dictates many facets of life, one of which is the custom known as 'blood feud.' -
Politics, Hidden Agendas and a Game of Thrones
Posted on June 4, 2013 | No CommentsThe novel is analyzed from an intersectional perspective, and focuses on women’s positions in the power hierarchy, and in what ways they use their sexuality to access power. -
Androgynes, Crossdressers, and Rebel Queens: Modern Representations of Medieval Women Warriors from Tolkien to Martin
Posted on May 15, 2013 | No CommentsThis was another stellar paper given at the Tales after Tolkien session. It was an intriguing look at the women of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones and how each author portrays the mother and warrior characters of Galadriel/Cersi/Daenerys and Eowyn/Arya/Brienne. The paper examined the differences and problems posed by the portrayal of women in theses fantasy novels. -
George R. R. Martin’s Quest for Realism in A Song of Ice and Fire
Posted on May 14, 2013 | No CommentsThis was my last session of KZOO this year and it was the perfect way to end a great conference. This series was dedicated to examining medievalism in fantasy literature with the dominant topic being George R. R. Martin and Tolkien. -
Book Review: Shadow on the Crown
Posted on May 4, 2013 | No CommentsA review of Patricia Bracewell's book: Shadow on the Crown. -
Game of Thrones – Review of Season 3, Episode 1: Valar Dohaeris
Posted on April 1, 2013 | No CommentsAfter what seemed like an eternity, we're back with an exciting third season of Game of Thrones. Another season of plotting, scheming, sex, violence and dragons! -
Under the Greenwood Tree : Outlaws in Medieval England and modern medievalist crime novels
Posted on January 27, 2013 | No CommentsA recurring theme in several medievalist crime novels is the subject of outlaws. They are used to create ambience, they can be the adversary and main threat to the protagonists, they can be cast in somewhat more heroic roles, and they are sometimes essential to the plot. -
Is truth more interesting than fiction? The conflict between veracity and dramatic impact in historical fiction
Posted on January 15, 2013 | No CommentsI do not wish to enlist, on either side, in the battle between historians and novelists. What I would like is to suggest a foray which may at first glance seem a minor skirmish, but which may significantly affect the way in which a writer portrays people who once lived, particularly famous people. -
A Perfect Reign of Queen and King?: An Analysis of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere in their Leadership Roles
Posted on January 4, 2013 | No CommentsAs a literary couple that has stood the test of time, their roles as leaders, and roles in their relationship with each other reflects society’s understanding and belief of where gender roles belong in respect to leadership roles. -
Interview with Jeri Westerson, author
Posted on January 4, 2013 | No CommentsI took the tropes of your typical hard-boiled detective series—the lone detective with a chip on his shoulder--who is hard drinking, tough-talking, tough fighting character--the dark streets and dark doings of crime and subculture of criminals and intrigue, the femme fatale—and let them slide into the medieval era. -
The Half-Hanged Man
Posted on December 18, 2012 | No CommentsI've wanted to write a novel set during the latter half of the 14th century for a long time. Even by medieval standards, this was a brutal and bloody era, with much of Europe plunged into dynastic wars. -
INTERVIEW: Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths
Posted on December 13, 2012 | No CommentsAn interview with author Nancy Brown on her latest medieval offering: "Song of the Vikings: Snorri and the Making of Norse Myths". -
Language and Legend in the Fantasy Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien
Posted on December 12, 2012 | No CommentsThere was something so real in the languages that he created, and critics wanted to find the inspirations behind Tolkien‘s worlds. Elves, dwarves, men, hobbits, and various other creatures occupied the pages of his books, but the languages he created were complex and had real elements in them. Examples of his invented languages were those spoken by the Elves, Sindarin and Quenya. -
Horses of Agency, Element, and Godliness in Tolkien and the Germanic Sagas
Posted on December 12, 2012 | No CommentsWhat is the contract between man and equine that allows a beast ten times our size and one hundred times our strength to willingly serve in our ambitions? What magnetism (and who placed it) is it that draws humanity and horses together? -
“Far-off gleams of evangelium” : a study of how J. R. R. Tolkien’s The lord of the rings reflects the biblical “Kingdom of Heaven”
Posted on December 11, 2012 | No CommentsThe findings of this thesis confirm that the values of LOTR and the Kingdom are notably similar, and that the reader of LOTR does indeed derive from it an experience of what the Kingdom ideally is. But all this is “under the surface”, and Tolkien did not impose his Christianity. -
Kerry, Ireland A.D. 800 – medieval children’s book
Posted on November 6, 2012 | No CommentsSet in Ireland's majestic Ring of Kerry in the year 800, the tale is an inspiring coming-of-age adventure that deals with life lessons on the backdrop of an educational and entertaining plot -
Author looking to crowdfund novel set in the aftermath of the Norman invasion of 1066
Posted on October 24, 2012 | No CommentsA British author is using the innovative crowdfunding publisher Unbound to raise fund to create a new novel set in eleventh-century England. -
Character-Assassination: Conrad de Monferrat in English-language Fiction and Popular Histories
Posted on October 7, 2012 | No CommentsIt is a story will all the ingredients of epic tragedy: a brilliant, courageous and handsome nobleman travels to distant lands, fights battles, marries princesses, is elected King but is slain by treachery, still relatively young, just before he is crowned. -
Interview with Sarah Gristwood, author of Blood Sisters: The Hidden Lives of the Women Behind the Wars of the Roses
Posted on October 5, 2012 | No CommentsIt was really Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI's wife, with her ambition and determination - her refusal to let the Duke of York assume control, after her husband had fallen into a catatonic stupor - that kickstarted the civil war. -
BOOK REVIEW: Edric the Wild
Posted on October 2, 2012 | No CommentsA book review of the new release "Edric the Wild", by Jayden Woods -
Interview with James Forrester, author of Sacred Treason
Posted on October 1, 2012 | No Comments'The whole plot becomes so much more sensational when set in the Elizabethan period, and the struggle the conscientious individual to ‘do the right thing’ becomes a battle in itself.' -
Crime Fiction Set in the Middle Ages: Historical Novel and Detective Story
Posted on September 2, 2012 | No CommentsEllis Peters’ Brother Cadfael Chronicles, however, were no instant success. They did not make the New York Times best-seller list, as Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose did, which was published in 1980 in Italian and translated into English in 1983. The first Brother Cadfael novel had a modest run of 5,000 hard-cover copies, largely for library sales. -
The Treatment of Mythology in Children’s Fantasy
Posted on June 26, 2012 | No CommentsFantasy stories trace their roots back to far older tales: the myths and legends of various cultures, which grew from oral storytelling in the days when myths were the only explanation for the mysterious workings of the real world. -
No Game for Knights: The Arthurian Legend in Hardboiled Detective Fiction
Posted on May 22, 2012 | No CommentsIn America, novels ranging from The Great Gatsby to John Steinbeck’s Cup of Gold borrowed Arthurian conventions to discuss contemporary American life. -
The Mythology of Magic in The Hobbit: Tolkien and Andrew Lang’s Red Fairy Book “Story of Sigurd”
Posted on May 16, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper was part of the Tolkien at Kalamazoo sessions.