Non-Western European Historical Fiction

I'm going to apologize in advance for stereotyping. As a history major, I know that Western European countries have their nuances and flavors and wonderful histories, but I would like to see who out there specializes or has interests in non-Western European traditions.

Many of my fellow roleplayers and writers over at Elliquiy Role Playing Forums seem to follow a certain trend when it comes to writing fantasy (that is usually aped off of a historical period) and historical fiction: the setting is a generic medieval Western European country (usually England or France), the characters are similar to those I've read in Regency or Victorian-era romance novels (a lordling of some sort, princes or princesses, and courtesans, once in a while pirates or disowned sons of powerful families), or the culture is based off the generic Western European tradition.

I know I can't be the only person who is interested in historical fiction that is NOT set in a Western European country in the 18th/19th centuries (to be honest, I don't think any other centuries are as popular; I don't see them often as requests), but it sometimes feels that way. I have nothing against the period, or writers who prefer that period - but there is definitely a shortage of historical fiction that explores other eras, and other cultures.

I wanted to create a thread where writers could share their ideas, research, novel synopses, interests and areas of specialization, and favorite authors. Researchers and historical fiction writers, unite!

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My areas of specialization are medieval and late imperial China, and Japanese history in the 19th and 20th centuries onward; and my hobby is war history (World War II, Pacific theater) and a bit of Cold War. I don't have a particular favorite author when it comes to historical fiction, but Lisa See's titles (Peony in Love and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan are my two favorites) are excellent if you're at all interested in the role of women in mid-to-late imperial China.

This year, my NaNo is a fantasy novel set in a setting based off of the Byzantine empire during its last years before conquest by the Ottomans. But, I'm wondering if I shouldn't switch back to my strength in Chinese history; in the past several years, I've put together some great potential historical fiction and historical fantasy settings in imperial China, including this one:

Quote:The first scholarly art is qin. Mastery of the instrument of the literati allows the musician to express emotion through the fingers, dexterous and agile as she plays and manipulates the string to her bidding. There are hidden messages in music, in the elegant notes and plucks, decipherable by those gifted with the talent in music.

The second scholarly art is qi. This board game is but a pasttime for scholar-officials in the imperial court, but the greatest military strategists in the history of the Middle Kingdom were masters of masters of this game of entrapment and capture, their genius as unparalleled as their feats on the blood-soaked fields of war. It is no mere idle game, more a battle of wits and cunning.

The third scholarly art is shu. Writing and literacy are among the greatest treasures in the Middle Kingdom, but to combine it with poetry is both an art and a skill that speaks of learndedness and complexity, of creativity and intelligence.

The fourth scholarly art is hua. Painting, the expression of the ephemeral beauty of nature through the gentle strokes of a brush, with faint colors that are at once delicate and bold on a parchment scroll. Mountains and water, bamboo and the unfurling flower - but there are also those who dare to capture the majesty of the Great Mythical Beasts, who preside from the heavens.

It is the fifteenth year during the reign of the fourth Zhang dynasty emperor, Jiang Ru. He is the most progressive and arguably the most clever of his family, both dead and alive; he has been able to court conservative opinion among his advisers, while pushing for legal and education reforms that have transformed the country from a peaceful kingdom into on that is also prosperous. Every year, more and more young men attempt the examinations that would allow them to try their hand at the Imperial Civil Service Examinations; every year, the standard has been rising higher and higher. The crops prosper in the fertile deltas of the kingdom's greatest rivers, Gongxe and Qinghu. Trade has expanded; the nobility, peasantry, and city dwellers are all happier for the prosperity that Emperor Zhang has brought them.

Lord Xia is a rising star of one of the Seven Great Families. He is no scholar-official, but the leader of the Emperor's Imperial Guard, in charge of security within the Forbidden Palace. Through a chance meeting, he learns that the estate of the Liu family living in the capital is falling apart from a lack of funds and neglect. With no money, Lord Liu cannot have his daughter join the imperial court; meanwhile, she is struggling to make ends meet through menial means;

And so Lord Xia and Lord Liu discreetly set up a trade: Lord Liu is to receive a sum of money and workers to rebuild his home, and Lord Xia will foster the daughter, Liu Qilin, in a compact of double-honor, sponsoring her in Court and allowing her to take her rightful place in imperial society. At first, Lord Xia is skeptical that this is a fair bargain, though he accepts it (it is not a bad thing, to be in the good graces of the eldest son of the Liu family); Lord Liu assures him that he will not find it a bad bargain to be her sponsor.

And so it is done. True to form, Lady Qilin is no burden to her sponsor, for fostering the eldest Liu heiress in his home game him even more prestige... and her rare mastery in the four scholarly arts made officials want to spend time in her company, and attempt to garner her interest for a favorable marriage. Lord Zhou soon realizes that her skills brought many of these officials - both corrupt and upstanding - to Lord Xia's home, allowing him to listen and learn, and keep information he could use later. He was the emperor's confidant, after all.

When he catches whispers in the wind of a conspiracy, of rebellion and of assassination, he decides to teach his willing pupil the secret fifth art: covertcy.

I agree that Western European history is atrociously overexposed. My NaNo will feature a confrontation between the ancient Egyptian and Olmec civilizations; while the Egyptians are admittedly a relatively popular civilization (albeit a horribly misrepresented one), I don't think most people have heard of the Olmecs (they were a Mesoamerican culture that influenced the Aztecs and Maya).

Here's my synopsis:

Quote:Akhom, a proud and adventurous Egyptian diplomat and explorer, is sent by Pharaoh Amenhotep III to investigate Phoenician rumors of a land of red-skinned people living across the great western ocean. Bringing along with him the resourceful Phoenician interpreter Kanmi, Akhom crosses the ocean and stumbles upon the Olmec civilization. Akhom finds the Olmec culture fascinating at first, but both the Egyptians and Olmecs will discover each other's darker sides soon enough...

I've never found that particular time period interesting history-wise, though I now realize some of my favourite novels were written and are set in that time period. Still, there are so many other interesting parts to explore! Personally, my interests lie in the Finnish Winter War during WWII (my grandmother lived through it and I, as often as I can, get her to talk about it with me), but also ancient Greece and Rome (particularly the cultural aspect). In general I tend to trace things back through a novel I read (wishing to understand more about the author) or around a specific person, such as Gustav III of Sweden, the Borgia family or Hypatia of Alexandria. In general though I have an obsession with finding out as much as possible about the "losers" of history: the civilizations lost, those painted in a negative manner by historians...

I myself am planning to have my novel set in 400 BCE in the Achaemenid Empire (ancient Persia), and it's an odd jump because normally I write contemporary stories, but I think changing it up is a good albeit terrifying experience. Try something new, challenge yourself, I think you'll grow from it.

Oh my goodness, I love Lisa See! Her books are amazing.

I also love Japanese culture. One of my WiPs is set in Meiji Japan, specifically 1890, and my MC is a young woman of mixed ancestry.

This year's book though will be a complete rewrite (AKA starting from scratch) on a novel idea I did a few years ago. It's set in Edo Japan, sometime in the early 1700s, in a rural farming village. It follows one of the many legends about the Yuki-onna, or snow woman.

Mughal India. My gosh, so much going on there that is ripe to ruse for books. :D

Colonial Cape Town. So partly western history, western attitudes but also a lot of Africa.

The bulk of my novel this year will take place in India (probably the south, likely Bangalore) in the last years of the 19th century. It will involve a young woman brought up in England by her sickly mother going to India with her father, a captain in the army, after her mother's death. Instead of writing a novel about a couple of wealthy English people going to India and doing English things, trying to lord it over the landscape and culture, I'll be writing about a couple of not-so-psychologically-healthy English people going to India and encountering characters and intrigues more compelling than their own, with the ultimate result of the girl falling in love with an Indian man with a militant mind for independence, and the father being slain by his own daughter's hand. I am not sure whether I shall have the girl escape and carve out a new life for herself in her new country, or if she will be caught and punished for her murder. We'll have to see how I'm feeling at the end of the month.

It's really overwhelming to see so many people on this forum so well versed in history, and I especially like the abundance of East Asian historical fiction. Biased as I may be (I'm Japanese), I find that Asian history has so much to offer that a lot of people don't notice, swamped as fiction generally is with knights, crusades and the Industrial Revolution. :)

Strictly speaking I'm generally a fantasy writer, but I base my worlds on historical periods, so I enjoy lurking on this forum. I find that fantasy also tends to be based on Western European, particularly medieval society, and so the world in which I've written all my novels to date is a fantastic version of Egypt under Hellenic occupation. The social context involves the interplay of the dissatisfied Egyptian population, the nomadic Berbers and the ruling Greeks, or rather their equivalents in my particular world, plus werewolves (jackals, technically) and some Persians. This year though, I'm trying to find new avenues to explore; perhaps I'll zoom into the Berbers operating this world's equivalent of the Trans-Saharan trade caravans.

I'm very well versed in European history, as that was what I majored in, and two of my other interests in school (German and classical music) revolved around Western Europe as well.

However, I was an interpreter in a living history museum in New England a few summers ago, and that gave me a beyond intimate knowledge of that time and place, leading me to set my first historical fiction piece in 1838 in Massachusetts. Yes, a very English culture. And this year's NaNo novel is a journey from Tennessee to Wyoming in 1870. Also a very European culture.

Although certain places, times, and cultures inspire me at different times, what really catches me are ideas. Right now I'm set on knocking down myths and legends of the West -- from Manifest Destiny to Frederick Jackson Turner to the myth of solidarity and independence settlers had. And having characters whose lives directly counteract those ideas that have been so clung to for years by Hollywood, and by real people.

I'm writing a historical fantasy set shortly after the Three Kingdoms period in China...I love Chinese history and literature, but it's kind of a recent interest of mine and I feel woefully under-researched. I've been devouring all the translated primary sources I can get my hands on, but I'd sorta welcome some history recommendations if anybody's got them XD

I'm going to continue, or rather rewrite, a story from the previous year, set in Japan in the middle of the Meiji era. Compared to the Edo era I'm much more familiar with, it's not all that popular in Japan because it's perceived as not romantic enough, I guess XD There are a lot of books about politics and international relations in Meiji, but when it comes to daily life (which interests me most) it becomes hard to find anything sufficiently detailed. So I'm also trying to read modern fiction about Meiji, and it's funny because sometimes I can tell the author used the same sources XD

I, too, embrace the notion that Western civilization gets a lot of attention, particularly British history, such as the Tudor, Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian eras; American history, such as the Revolutionary War, Industrial Revolution, Civil War, and the World Wars. And, of course, the Holocaust. We see a lot of books on the Holocaust.

My Nano novel focuses mostly on the Jewish religion and Roman influence. In a sense, I'll be focusing on Western history with the Romans, but I get off the hook with Jewish history. xD

I'm also working on a novel about the Sumerians. Ancient Mesopotamia greatly intrigues me! Anyone else interested in Mesopotamia? Did you know the Sumerians had irrigation systems, indoor plumbing, and flushing toilets? Wow!

I'm trying to do something I almost never see in fantasy: base the setting on a sub-Saharan African culture, specifically that of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a unique place, having a long history of civilization and literacy in Africa going all the way back to the Aksumite Empire, although I'm a bit biased, being of Ethiopian descent myself.

This is fantasy, so I'm not trying to make a strict analogue of the country, but instead channel the things unique to it into a great setting: the ancient living with the present, the deep mysticism, the isolation, etc. But it's a bit hard finding books and documents that detail day-to-day life back then. I'm managing though, and it's a lot of fun planning this story out!

I'm doing an Alternate Historical take on the Anglo-Zulu War, starting with the events that lead up to it. My main characters are all Zulu, with cameos from the major players on the British/Boer side. I won't have to create too many characters, because it is all very well documented in a variety of places.

Still, it's my first NaNo, and my first foray into Steampunk. We shall see how the two work together :D

Mine's based in medieval China but I'm finding it really hard to find out what daily life was really like for ordinary people, if any of you have any ideas I would really appreciate it.
And you are completely right how western Europe gets way to much attention.

Mine is sort of Western European historical fiction, but not, it is set in the Viking settlement of Vinland, which is in Modern day Newfoundland, Canada. Most of my main characters are Norse, but there is a signifact impact of First Nations and I'm going to try and show them off quite a bit, particularly because my protaganist is Half & Half.

I dont know if this really counts since it is in the American Revolution but anyways, my main character is a Mohawk warrior on the side of the British and follows him all the way through the War of 1812. Im trying to write a deconstruction of American Revolution and Native American (especially the cliches about the savage indian, etc.) cliches as well as tell a good story. Being part Oneida helps with writing this too and im trying to set the record straight, but ironically my MC is killing Oneida in the Iroquois Civil War.

I do tend to research and write a lot about Western European history, but recently I've been very interested in a lot of steppe-nomadic peoples, like the Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Magyars, Tatars, and Mongols, etc. Horse archery has been my latest obsession to read up about, absolutely fascinating, not to mention incredibly romantic, in my opinion (romantic as in the exciting story/drama sense). Eastern European and Central Asian history doesn't get talked about much, usually, which is a shame, as it's always been dynamic and exciting, like the Wild West of Eurasia.

My recent NaNo is a fantasy taking place in a locales with cultures inspired from Persians (ancient and medieval), different Turkish tribes, Arabian Bedouins, Himalayan cultures, Incan culture, as well as Ancient Greek/pre-Islam near East. Technology, I'm rather fuzzy, and I do have "guns" mixed in there (though they are a super-secret weapon that only certain people know how to use; not widespread at all).

I've wanted to write a historical fiction story about someone close to Genghis Khan, like say, a novel from Subutai's perspective (Subutai was one of Genghis Khan's most formidable generals). Or maybe that one archer who was one of his relatives, who was able to hit a target at about 500 metres (still an incredible feat today with modern bows and light arrows). And I've always been inspired by reading about the incredible character and strength of the first Mongol queen, Borte, and the actions some of the other Mongol queens and matriarchs did to basically save the Empire from collapse.

Or perhaps I could make a fantasy setting inspired by the incredible events leading to the Mongol Empire with a fascinating cast of men and women. Anyone know of any good authors that have done such a thing already? (historical fiction or fantasy)

Mine is set in Australia, circa 1870's