Where We've Been and Where We're Going
Find all the articles you've missed, arranged by category
Welcome to Long Ago & Far Away where we traverse times and places often neglected in historical fiction.
We read and write about the Long Ago & Far Away, exploring the corners, ferreting out stories we might otherwise miss. We zig and zag along our Golden Journey. Finding our way to Samarkand.
Have a look here for more of our path and purpose.
Below you’ll find a list of where we’ve been thus far. And since most of these articles are “evergreen”, not dependent on the lightning-flash moves of current events, you can always comment on the ones that have gone before. I’d love to hear from you if you are willing to tell us about your interest in historical fiction or any other thing that you want us to know.
I’ve categorized the articles so you can check out the topics most interesting to you. Some are listed twice due to overlapping subjects.
The Index:
Articles recording my observations of these texts:
The Gift of Rain—Tan Twan Eng
The Garden of Evening Mists—Tan Twan Eng
The Night Tiger—Yangsze Choo
The Ghost Bride—Yangsze Choo
Historical Fiction in Malaysia
Samarkand and The Rock of Tanios—Amin Maalouf
Tea & Opium: Sea of Poppies—Amitav Ghosh; For All the Tea in China—Sarah Rose (non-fiction)
Water for Elephants/West with Giraffes—Sara Gruen and Lynda Rutledge, respectively
When Trees Fall—Dale Mahfood
Of Wind & Wolves—J.M. Elliot
The Covenant of Water—Abraham Verghese
Perfume—Patrick Suskind
Writing Excuses Podcast Interviews Abraham Verghese
Those Pesky Stuarts - A Column of Fire—Ken Follett; The Rose and the Thistle—Laura Frantz
Ken Follett's Kingsbridge Series
Cloud Cuckoo Land and Girl with a Pearl Earring
Work in Progress—Excerpts and Updates from my seventh-century novel
Historical Research
Late Antique/Early Byzantine Music
Where There is No Fast Fashion
Observations on Writing
Perfume—Patrick Suskind - Writing about scent
It’s Not You, It’s Me—And my growing Did Not Finish pile
This is a great resource for readers. Thanks!
Great idea. Headed to Introduce myself now!