Fantasy and Historical Fiction? The Same Thing, Really.
Bold statement – writing Historical Fiction and writing Fantasy (of certain sorts) are almost identical undertakings. A Game of Thrones and Wolf Hall? The same thing, really. Think about it. Writers of both have to introduce and explain an unfamiliar world. Writers of Historical Fiction and writers of Fantasy can’t...
Behold the Art Deco glory of the Padua Theatre, Brunswick!
I’ve been doing some research on the great picture palaces of 1930s/1940s Melbourne. Recently, I stumbled across the wonderful Harold Paynting Collection at the State Library of Victoria and discovered these images of the long lost Padua Theatre, Brunswick, Victoria. Thanks to people like photographer Lyle Fowler, we can gaze...
1920 Style and Elegance
Apropos of nothing in particular, here’s a selection from the glorious 1920 editions of La Gazette du Bon Ton. Style, elegance, grace, panache and whimsy. ...
Using Real, Historical People in Fiction
Writers have many challenges. Getting a pencil to a perfect sharp point. Coming up with alternatives to ‘Once upon a time’ to start a story. Finding time to count our enormous sacks of money. Things like that. With The Extraordinaires, my most recently released series I encountered a challenge...
Five Top Alternate History Books
After my last post on Historical Fantasy was enjoyed by so many, I thought I’d walk across the line and look at Alternate History, especially seeing as I made the distinction between it and historical fantasy. And just a word on the Alternate/Alternative debate. Frankly, I think ‘Alternate’ doesn’t...
Five Great Historical Fantasy Novels
I’m happy enough with my Extraordinaires series being called Steampunk, but I’m more and more coming to think of it as Historical Fantasy. And by Historical Fantasy, I don’t mean Alternate History (stories in a world like our own that has taken a different historical path) or standard Fantasy...
Names, names, names
If you’re writing Fantasy, names can be a real headache. You want names that are distinctive, evocative and resonant, without sounding ‘just made up’, and that put a real strain on the old creative gland. The answer lies, as it almost always does when writing Fantasy, in History. For ...
Gentle Flower Children and Petrol
Ah, the Internet and its wondrous offerings! I stumbled across some archival video and the memories came back. Believe it or not, younlings, there was a time when petrol companies successfully linked themselves with the back to nature movement, all in the days before unleaded fuel, too. Driving and...
The Empire Annual for Girls
Oh, how I love history. And books. And books from history. Here’s a real gem: the contents of the 1911 edition of The Empire Annual for Girls, which should tell you a thing or two from the title alone. THE CHRISTMAS CHILD — MRS G. DE HORNE VAIZEY...
La Gazette du Bon Ton 1
I’ve been promising this for a while. It’s one of the things I stumbled across in my researching. How I love serendipity. La Gazette du Bon Ton was essentially what we’d call today a fashion/lifestyle magazine. It was published in Paris from 1912 to 1925, and offered a limpid...