Historical fiction?

[debbiebee]

As a newbie, who loves this site, hope I can express an opinion. In the category fiction forum, why no historical fiction? I adore this genre, was brought up reading my Mum's Nora Lofts' books, and now worship at the shrine of St Philippa of Gregory! Again, sorry for being a bolshie new girl

[Scott]

I already plan to add that genre, per the following topic: http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewto ... =3&t=24722

Still, thank you for sharing the suggestion.

I will do this shortly.

[debbiebee]

That's brilliant. I look forward to expressing my boring opinions on it!!

[Duende Knocking]

I was curious about the Historical Fiction section and thought I'd build off of this thread (hope that's acceptable).

The majority of the historical fiction I read are also mysteries - if I were to write a review for one such book, which genre should take priority? I'm not referring to the ones that take place in the past for the sake of doing so, but the ones where the time period (and the real people who appear as characters sometimes) are critical to the mystery.

Essentially, is the historical fiction section just for general historical fiction?

[Scott]

I was curious about the Historical Fiction section and thought I'd build off of this thread (hope that's acceptable).

The majority of the historical fiction I read are also mysteries - if I were to write a review for one such book, which genre should take priority? I'm not referring to the ones that take place in the past for the sake of doing so, but the ones where the time period (and the real people who appear as characters sometimes) are critical to the mystery.

Essentially, is the historical fiction section just for general historical fiction?

It is a judgement call, I think. It depends which genre really takes precedent for that particular book. I'd lean towards Historical Fiction since that seems like it would better identify the book than mystery. I also suggest taking into account how historical it is. Even books set only 25-50 years in the past are considered historical fiction, but if they can better fit in another genre like Mystery than that might be preferred since it is sort of on the border of historical fiction anyway. Alternatively, if the book is set hundreds or thousands of years ago, it seems like that would really be the deciding factor. Similarly, imagine a book instead of being set in the past is set in some far away planet or other realm. Well sure it might be romance too or mystery too, but it's going to be seen as sci-fi/fantasy first. The setting usually seems to trump the plot, I think. That's just my first thoughts. I am interested to see what others think.

[gali]

I agree with you Scott.