The Historical Novel Society
http://historicalnovelsociety.org/
The Historical Novel Society describes itself as a literary society that is dedicated to promoting works of historical fiction to the reading public for their benefit and enjoyment. Through a series of outlets such as print magazines, social media, conferences, and websites, the Historical Novel Society works to promote historical fiction to the widest audience possible.
The authors of the HNS are very upfront about their identity, especially on their “Who’s Who” page and seem very proud of their creation, as well they should be. The site is easy to navigate, attractive, comprehensive, and professional. Reviews of historical novels are plentiful and can be browsed according to author, genre, period, century, or publisher. They even address problems with pinning down the genre of historical fiction on their page “Defining the Genre.”
All in all, I found the Historical Novel Society to be an excellent site that I would highly recommend to readers’ advisors, librarians of every stripe, as well as readers who are interested in the genre of historical fiction.
Reading the Past
http://readingthepast.blogspot.com
Reading the Past is a surprisingly large site completely devoted to everything historical fiction novel related and has a number of pages of information for users to access. Created by Sarah L. Johnson, author of Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre, the site projects the same level of excellence that I found in her book. The site, however, allows Johnson more leeway in exploring her historical novel interests and reviewing novels she has read. The audience for the Reading the Past website seems to be anyone who is even remotely interested in historical fiction, although I feel it would be a decent readers’ advisory site as well as a great site to recommend to patrons who are interested in historical fiction.
I found myself to be very impressed with the Reading the Past website. It contained vast amounts of relatively well organized information and the author of the site seems very proud of her creation, as she should be. The site contained large amounts of information related to the genre of historical fiction, everything from reviews of books to analysis of books covers. I was also impressed with the transparency of the site.
Historical-Fiction.com: Reviews, Articles, and Book Club Guides
http://historical-fiction.com
Authored by Historical Novel Society Member Arleigh Johnson, Historical-Fiction.com is an excellent resource for both readers’ advisors and lovers of historical fiction. Johnson posts a number of reviews of historical novels, articles, author interviews, and book club guides. Although she professes not to be an expert on the genre of historical fiction, Johnson is an official reviewer for the Historical Novel Society and freely lists books she has read which can give readers an idea of her background in the genre. Her inclusion as a member of the Historical Novel Society I believe gives her a certain credibility where historical novels are concerned.
Though not an enormous site, I felt that Johnson’s blog gives the reader a great taste of historical fiction from 12th Century to Victorian and mostly set in England, Ireland, France or Italy. For readers who enjoy this time period of historical fiction, Johnson’s is an excellent resource, for both readers and librarians.
A
Guide for Historical Fiction Lovers- Providence Public Library
Authored
by librarians at the 135 year old Providence Public Library, this site offers
readers and librarians a quick, at-a-glance description and guide to historical
fiction. Using Sarah L. Johnson’s Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre
as a general guide, this site describes the subgenre’s associated with
historical fiction, contains links that describe historical fiction in an
understandable way, provides titles and authors for historical mysteries,
historical romances, nautical fiction, and even provides recommendations, lists
of bestsellers, and award-winning historical novels for the general public.
This
is a great at-a-glance style website that would be beneficial for a readers’ advisor looking to get familiar with the
genre in a hurry, as well as a great site for readers who either want to know
more about historical fiction or are looking for their next good read. The ability to explore the various subgenres
associated with historical fiction is unique to this site, as many historical
fiction sites tend to focus on one or maybe two genres at most.
Historical Novels Info
http://www.historicalnovels.info
This deceptively simple website is a great wealth of information for anyone interested in historical novels, be they a librarian or avid reader. Boasting over 5,000 historical novels listed by time and place, and including more than 600 reviews of historical fiction works, Historical Novels is helmed by one Margaret Donsbach, an enthusiast for historical fiction. Utilizing her skills as a reader and lover of history, and employing several other reviewers, the Donsbach covers books from prehistoric and ancient history through the medieval period, the Renaissance, the 17th, 18th, 19th, and early 20th century and span the globe in terms of location. The site also lists dozens of interviews with authors of historical novels, several articles concerning the genre, and links to other sites that are related to historical fiction.
While perhaps not the most visually appealing website, it is hard to argue with a site that lists reviews of so many historical fiction works. I would recommend the site relatively highly, but perhaps even more so if there was more information regarding Donsbach’s background.
Historical Fiction Online
http://www.historicalfictiononline.com
This is a forum designed for lovers of historical fiction to discuss their passion online. Membership to the site is free and members can post regarding their favorite works and authors, all the while reading about what other enthusiasts have to say about the genre. While perhaps not an idea site for readers’ advisory, it is a resource that could allow readers’ advisors to look up various topics for their patrons along the lines of “People who enjoyed this novel, might also enjoy…” It will also allow enthusiasts of the genre to explore further into their given topic of interest. I could see this site being given out by a readers’ advisor or librarian to someone who is already a historical fiction fan and wishes to share their enthusiasm with others.
I found the site to be fairly typical for a discussion forum. The emphasis is on function rather than form so it isn’t very visually appealing. That being said, the site serves it’s purpose and I would recommend it to those who wish to discuss historical fiction who are lacking a book club or the like.
Masters of the Past: Twenty Classic Historical Novels and Their Legacy, Bookmarks Magazine Jan/Feb 2006
http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/historical-fiction-masters-past/sarah-l-johnson
A brief but excellent article for Bookmarks Magazine by author and reference librarian Sarah L. Johnson that discusses the challenges inherent in defining the genre of historical fiction and analyzes twenty different novels that she defines as classics of the genre. In addition, she goes on to describe how each work influenced the genre and future authors who came after it. A great resource for anyone in the capacity of a readers’ advisor to better understand the genre and get some of the classics under their belt.
Woodcutter’s Revival: What is Historical Fiction?
http://www.woodcuttersrevival.com/What-is-historical
Written by historical fiction author Jerry Slauter, this page is part of a larger website devoted to promoting the author’s historical fiction novels. That being said, it is still an excellent description and defense of the historical fiction genre. Headings include What is Historical Fiction?, Clarifying Historical Fiction, and How Does Historical Fiction Differ from Realistic Fiction. He even has a rather interesting and well thought out description of traditional history writing vs. historical fiction. Aimed at audiences that may be unfamiliar with the genre, Slauter’s descriptions would be beneficial to those who may be new to the genre and are looking for a deeper understanding of historical fiction. This site reminded me somewhat of Sarah L. Johnson’s site Reading the Past in its simple construction and use of sepia tones to evoke a sense of the past. I would recommend this site to those who are new to the genre as well as librarians and readers’ advisors who may want a deeper understanding of historical fiction.
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