Quote:
Originally Posted by NormHart
Wow, AT, that was a knowledgeable dissertation on history based SF!
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Heh. Alt-history is kind of my hobby. I'm a sucker for thinly-veiled analogies/behind-the-scenes secret/parallel timeline tales.
I should also mention
Harry Turtledove,
Judith Tarr, and
Susan Schwartz, who do great alternate timeline and real-world w/added fantasy elements historical novels.
Tarr, especially, does excellent low-key almost straight-up historicals with subtly incorporated fantasy, as well as more standard historical fantasies. You can read some of her short stories and even a big chunk of one of her novels
free online at her BookViewCafé page. While not really what the OP is after, the stories with Elvis as president of the US/space Pope and the Kennedy brothers as a musical group are a real hoot to read.
Also,
Diana L. Paxson does very good historicals based on fantasy/folklore tales: King Lear in Ancient Britain, Ring of the Nibelung w/the Huns, Tristan and Yseult as though they actually existed in that time period and weren't more or less made up from earlier Celtic legends when the Arthurian romances got written up during the 12-13th centuries. Conversely
Josepha Sherman's done very good fantasies based upon real-world history: two-book Prince of the Sidhe series from Baen (out-of-print and not on Webscriptions yet) w/an exiled elven prince getting caught up in 9-10th century actual Irish/English/Viking events, with notes and further reading in the back.