Who is the best Historical Fiction author?

[hipeee]

yo,
I love history , and when it comes to history and fiction , in the last few years i have really enjoyed michael curtis ford , simon scarrow, jack whyte
and cornwell, i also read a new one this past year on hannibal i can not remember who wrote it , but it was very good
another interestion writer is david liss who wrote ( a conspiracy of paper)
about a jewish bounty hunter /pugelist in england in the 1600'S
he also added a second bood the coffee trader and a spectacle of corruption , with bounty hunter in the last two.
hipee

[Brys]

Originally Posted by Rane Longfox

Steven Pressfield

His early stuff anyway. Last of the Amazons was an awful book

I'm reading at the moment and I wouldn't say it's awful, but it certainly isn't up to the standard of Gates of Fire or Tides of War, which are really excellent.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by fungi from Yuggoth

Little known authors? May I introduce Harold Lamb?

Lamb published in the pulp Astouding Magazine during the twenties, and was reputably a major influence on Robert E Howard, of Conan fame. Most of his historical fiction can be considered a sort of prototype S&S, very vibrant and full of larger than life characters, battles, and exotic locales He also wrote a number of acclaimed biographies of famous historical figures such as Chingis Khan and Hannibal that are well worth checking out. You can read some of his short stories over at www.swordandsorcery.org as well as www.haroldlamb.net which contains a bio and information on Lamb's life.

Another who wrote historical novels that influenced Howard and was revived about 20 years ago (I think some of his work has even recently been brought back into print) is Talbot Mundy, though his work sometimes borders on fantasy. His most famous are certainly the Tros of Samothrace books, but the Jimgrim stories run a close second. A slightly lesser light than Lamb, but well worth reading.

[Snowdog]

Some authors not yet mentioned:

Nigel Tranter: Unsurpassed if you want to read about medieval Scotland - get the real story of William Wallace.

Edith Pargeter (Ellis Peters): Wrote some great medieval fiction including a series about the last true Prince of Wales.

Frank Yerby: Wrote a lot of historical fiction from different eras. I particularly liked The Saracen Blade (medieval Sicily and Italy) and Goat Song (ancient Sparta and Athens).

Alfred Duggan: Again medievel settings, some of his books are hard to get into, but Winter Quarters was a fantastic read.

[sonofstan]

I would reccomend the empire series by Conn Iggulden or the eagles books by Simon Scarrow

[Hawise]

Elizabeth Chadwick is my favourite author

[von_Luck]

Overall I would have to say Bernard Cornwell.

To those who like WW2 fiction A Grandfather's Tale by Timothy Erenberger is one of the best I've read in a number of years.

[Parmenion]

1: Simon Scarrow
2: Conn Iggulden
3: Steven Pressfield
4: Bernard Cornwell

...and many many more could be added but top 4 for now

[Dreaming of Eagles]

I'm a big Jack Whyte fan myself (if you couldn't tell from the username) although admittedly the later books in his series were not up to par with his earlier works. I haven't gotten to "Knights of the Black and White" yet.

[Riselka]

I'm a fan of Jack Whyte's earlier works too. I'd have to agree that the later books just haven't been quite up to the quality of the first ones.

I've not even been able to get through his "Golden Eagle" miniseries yet as I just got bored in the first part of "Clothar the Frank". And I was less than impressed with his latest book, "Knights of the Black and White".

Now, if you're looking for another great read involving Ancient Rome, I'd highly recommend Wallace Breem's "Eagle in the Snow". It gives a pretty believable account of the Roman army's last days in Ancient Britain.

[Parmenion]

wallace breams eagle in the snow..i agree a great book!

[SERAFINApekkala]

Ernest Hemmingway without a doubt..

Don't give me all that pseudo-academic realism though..

He does it just right.

[Dreaming of Eagles]

I didn't mind Clothar actually and made it through that one alright, especially with the ending that promised interesting things to come. However The Eagle just lost me. A few hundred pages into the book and there still didn't seem to be anything interesting going on! I still haven't finished and I really must bring myself to do so since I'm less than eighty pages away from the end.

Honestly The Singing Sword is my favourite of his and each successive narrator of his novel was less interesting to me. How strange that I should prefer Varrus' perspective to that of Merlyn or Lancelot!

Hmm not encouraging about Knights but I'll probably end up sticking it on my Christmas list or something anyway. I will say this for Mr. Whyte, it's one of the few times that first-person writing has not bothered me, usually I find it less engaging as a personal taste thing.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look it up next time I'm near Chapters. I always love the greek and rome stuff.

[Cloud]

James Clavell is certainly a favorite of mine-- "Tai-Pan" ranks up there with some of my all time favorite books.

Growing up, I read a lot of books which were bestsellers, I think copped from my Mom's bookshelves, which are probably less well known today:
Taylor Caldwell: "Dear and Glorious Physician" (about St. Luke)
James Michener: "Hawaii" in particular.
Irving Stone: "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (about Michelangelo)

I also liked, M.M. Kaye's "The Far Pavilions" and "Shadow of the Moon" about India.

The best? dunno, but those were good. I think there are a lot of good historical novels around.

My favorite NON-fiction history book is "The Fatal Shore" by Robert Hughes about the founding of Australia.

[Dreaming of Eagles]

"James Michener: "Hawaii" in particular."

Hmmmm... that's sitting on my "to be read" shelf as we speak. It was a gift from my aunt but I hadn't gotten to it. Good to know it might be worth bumping closer to the front of the line