New Medieval Books: In the Shadow of the Beast, by C.J. Adrien
Read an excerpt from Book 2 of The Saga of Hasting the Avenger
New Medieval Books: Historical Fiction in 2020
Taking a look at what’s new this year with historical fiction set in the Middle Ages. Here are seven (plus one) novels for medievalists.
Medieval Reads: Creating stories with Mary Stewart and Geoffrey of Monmouth
Mary Stewart’s rather well known Arthurian trilogy-with-extra-volumes used a sub-Roman British setting, and placed an entirely twelfth century story of Arthur into it.
Medieval Reads: Raymond E Feist and Dungeon Masters
When a game is based on any period of history, the rules for the game may be based on the designer’s knowledge of history, or they may be drawn from popular history books.
Medieval Reads: The Rebel Angels, by Robertson Davies
Today, I want to talk about Robertson Davies. His academic world is permeated by the Middle Ages, but the setting is in Canada.
A Quest for Medieval Romance Novelists
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle reaches out to romance writers, giving both information and resources for those who want to write their very own medieval novels.
Medieval Reads: Susan Cooper and positioning oneself in relation to the past
Novels like The Dark is Rising call upon the Middle Ages in the way someone might hum a bit of a favourite tune as they walk along the street.
Medieval Reads: Ivanhoe, by Walter Scott
Right near the beginning of Ivanhoe, Scott gives a description of the Norman in England and the Saxon. His description sets the Normans in England up very clearly as the evil colonisers and Anglo-Norman as the imposed language of colonisers.
New Medieval Books: Historical Fiction in 2019
Here are five novels published in 2019 to take you back to the Middle Ages.
Medieval Reads: The Nine Tailors, by Dorothy L Sayers
So many elements of this novel link to the Middle Ages and yet, if you read it as a whodunit, it looks as if it’s contemporary for the time it was written.
Medieval Reads: The Thirteen Hallows, by Michael Scott and Colette Freedman
Arthurian horror is a thing.
Medieval Reads: The Hound and the Falcon Trilogy, by Judith Tarr
What is so special about the Medievalist trilogy?
The Complicated Case of Medieval Crime Fiction
What makes the job of being a medieval detective so difficult, and also makes the medieval crime fiction genre so good?
Medieval Reads: Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe and John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice Series
The interesting thing about the invented Middle Ages is that it carries over the aspects we enjoy from history and dumps the things that are less fun.
New Medieval Books: The Lords of the Winds, by C.J. Adrien
The story of a boy who was a slave, who became a warlord, and who helped topple an empire. Read an excerpt from C.J. Adrien’s latest novel.
The First Battle of Lindisfarne: Where History and Legend Meet
Long before Lindisfarne became known as one of the most isolated holy islands in Britain — second perhaps only to Iona — it was an area of great strategic importance.
Medieval Reads: The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander
There are many varieties of fantasy Middle Ages, but they all have this path in common. The nature of those works and the genre of those works give us different visions of the Middle Ages.
Medieval Reads: Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey is rather important in showing us how people responded in the early nineteenth century to the making of history into the mysterious and the dangerous. It shows us the mirror through which many young people viewed the Middle Ages.
Medieval Reads: The Owl Service, by Alan Garner
The Owl Service is one of the books that dragged me into becoming a medieval historian and also persuaded me that understanding who people are in relation to their culture is so very important.
Medieval Reads: Evangeline Walton and the Mabinogion
Many, many fantasy readers and writers begin their fascination with Medieval Wales with the Mabinogion.
Medieval Elements in Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Published in 1831, the classic historical Gothic romance The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is representative for narratology, since the plot is majestically set in medieval Paris and Victor Hugo manages to create a specific Middle-Ages atmosphere
Game of Thrones, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Roots of Modern Fantasy
With the coming of the final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the mainstreaming of the medieval-fantasy genre that began with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies is complete.
Medieval mystery novels with Candace Robb
Everyone loves a medieval mystery novel, but just how does an author go about creating one that’s true to the period?
Medieval Reads: Van Loon’s Lives by Hendrik Van Loon
My personal label for it is this-is-fantasy-fiction-but-it’s-acting-as-fact. Or I could call it a novel about dinner parties with dead people.
Medieval Reads: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Once in a generation, a writer comes along and, in making fun of his generation and in creating fun using the Middle Ages brings together a new set of stories for people to tell. This is what Mark Twain did in 1889.