After finishing Genghis: Birth of an Empire (read review), I’m diving into another piece of historical fiction — in the literal sense. I’ve got my eyes set on the unabridged 1100-page Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu. I may finish just in time for Japan in the 3rd Quarter, if at all. Heh.
Anyway, I’ve been musing about other historical people and events I would like to read as historical fiction. I am sure that I’m overlooking some books since I’ve just started looking into this genre recently, so I would appreciate any heads up. While I have several non-fiction books on the following, what I want is for them to be given the “summer blockbuster” feel. What follows the cut are some of what I look for.
A series set in Mesopotamia, spanning the cities of Sumer, Assyria, Akkad, and Babylon. I’d like to see characters such as Hammurabi, Sennacherib, Sargon and Nebuchadnezzar brought to life.
A retelling of The Epic of Gilgamesh
A retelling of the Enuma Elish (I’m thinking of Tolkien’s Silmarillion here)
A story about Mauryan India, with focus on figures such as Chandragupta Maurya and Ashoka
An epic series about the Mughals
A story about the First Emperor of China, Qin Shih Huang
A modern retelling of The Romance of Three Kingdoms
The globe-spanning adventures of eunuch admiral Zheng He
Conn Iggulden writing about the shoguns of Japan starting from Yoritomo Minamoto to Tokugawa Ieyasu; personally I’d like to read a series about the not often heard of First Shogun of Japan.
Personally, if ever my talents develop and I can get to write historical fiction, I’d start with some stories about the arrival of the first Spaniards in the Philippines. Here’s a little known fact that will translate well into an epic story — Did you know that Magellan moved against the tribe of Lapu-Lapu as a favor for another chieftain who was friendly to the newly arrived foreigners?
“I have nothing against the people of Mactan.”
“Refuse me, Spaniard, and nothing is what you will be.”
Then I have a 3-part epic in mind that would retell the 1896 Philippine Revolution through the eyes of Jose Rizal (book one), Andres Bonifacio (book two) and Emilio Aguinaldo (book three). These books will tell three stories that overlap at certain points and will have different perspectives. Together, these tell a different kind of story about the Philippine Revolution.
“Rizal is gone, sir.”
“Rizal was never here. He’s never been here since he left.”
“But people look up to him.”
“Yes. But they listen to me.”
And somewhere down the line, I’d like to do a story about McArthur, but told from the point of view of a Filipino soldier in his employ.
“When he spoke those words, I didn’t feel that we deserved that promise. If I were him, I wouldn’t come back to this place.”
While all these ideas are great and writing them down now inspires me to actually shoot for it, I’m just not too sure how ready our people will be for a new look at our sacred cows.
A story about the First Emperor of China, Qin Shih Huang
I second that.
Also try I, Claudius and Claudius the God, the two-volume work of Robert Graves, written as a supposed autobiography of Claudius, the Roman Emperor, who succeeded his nephew to the throne. Claudius later conquered Britain and fought off the ill-effects of a famine. But that’s just for starters.
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I’d also want to do that, if I ever come to the point of becoming a historical fiction writer. I’d want to write one of the Philippines before the Spaniards came.