May is historical fiction on JPC Allen Writes. Along with having guest authors share their process for writing historical fiction, I’ll have prompts to relating this genre. If you like history, what time periods do you like to read about in fiction? Because my mind seems bent on crime, I like my historical fiction to revolve around a mystery. Some of my favorites are:
- “The Price of Light”. This Christmas short story features medieval monk and detective Brother Cadfael. Not only is it a fun mystery, but author Ellis Peters gives you a real sense of living in the setting with the characters.
- Dr. Sam Hawthorne short stories. These stories feature a doctor who runs into impossible crimes in and around his small Connecticut town. The series begin in the 1920’s and follows Dr. Sam into the 1940’s.
- Uncle Abner short stories. These mysteries take place in West Virginia when it was still western Virginia. Since there’s no police force, Uncle Abner helps Squire Randolph to solve mysteries and right wrongs before the Civil War.
So what time periods do you like to read about in fiction?
This month I’ve been reading about the Culper spy ring during the Revolutionary War.
My older sister did a paper on spying during the Revolutionary War.
Some historians believe Washington wouldn’t have won the war without the crucial information on British troops and plans that were provided by the Culper spy ring. (There’s a TV series about the spies that is fairly accurate. It’s called TURN)
I enjoy the Oregon Trail and pioneer era stories.
I grew up on the historical middle grade novels by Sid Fleischman, most of them set out West after the Civil War. One of my favorites was “Mr. Mysterious and Company” about a family who traveled from town to town in the West because their father was a stage magician.