Behind the Book: Reincarnation
September 2, 2026
I have landed on Iwo Jima. I have died in the mud of the Western Front. Not as belief exactly, but as memory that does not belong to this life and will not leave. This novel began there.
Tag: historical fiction
Historical fiction has to satisfy two masters: the record and the story. These articles cover researching a period, keeping the details honest, and writing characters who belong to their own time, not ours.
historical fictionBehind the Book: Eurydice
September 1, 2026
Jules Verne gave Tom Ayrton about thirty pages and never went inside him. Twelve years alone on Tabor Island, marooned as punishment, rescued and reformed and killed off as machinery for somebody else’s adventure. This is his account.
historical fictionBehind the Book: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
September 1, 2026
Verne wrote political manifestos with a plot wrapped around them. The situation is strong and there is nobody inside it, so this version hands the narration to the harpooner who wants off the ship.
historical fictionBehind the Book: The Mysterious Island
September 1, 2026
Verne gave Neb one job and no interior life. He is on almost every page of the original and never once in a sentence that matters. This version is the correspondent’s private record, and it exists to correct that.
historical fictionBehind the Book: A Treachery of Legions
August 27, 2026
The general who won 69 AD for Vespasian and then disappeared from history. Here is the story behind my Roman novel about Marcus Antonius Primus.
historical fictionBehind the Book: Family on Ice
August 21, 2026
I wanted to write prehistoric people as they were, not as primitives. Here is how the real Toba supervolcano and a single family became Family on Ice.
historical fictionRichard III, Aaron Burr, and a Book on the Wrong Shelf: Diana Rubino on Writing Biographical Historical Fiction
October 25, 2024
Historical novelist Diana Rubino on the misplaced library book that launched her career, writing biographical fiction about Richard III, Hamilton, and Aaron Burr, and why research is the best part.
AmericaJohn Lynch: A Ghostwriter and Historical Novelist Who Writes the People at the Bottom
November 15, 2018
Ghostwriter and historical novelist John Lynch joins Author Talks to discuss writing about common people, professionalism, and no writer's block.
Author TalksCatherine Meyrick: Historical Fiction, Real Research, and Characters Who Take Over
November 11, 2018
Catherine Meyrick joins Author Talks to discuss Forsaking All Other, self-publishing historical fiction, research, and letting characters lead.
Author TalksAlison Morton: Building the Roma Nova Thriller Series From an Alternate Rome
October 14, 2018
Alison Morton joins Author Talks to discuss the Roma Nova series, treating writing as a profession, research, and marketing.
AgingDavid Penny: From Trade-Published Sci-Fi to Indie Historical Mysteries in Retirement
August 6, 2018
David Penny joins Author Talks to discuss returning to writing in retirement, indie historical mysteries, and cracking Facebook and Amazon ads.
Author TalksClare Flynn: A Marketing Director Turned Prolific Historical Novelist
July 20, 2018
Clare Flynn joins Author Talks to discuss going indie, the Alliance of Independent Authors, immersive research, and marketing her historical novels.