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
Historical Fiction Set in Certain Areas:
Historical Fiction in Malaysia
Work in Progress—Excerpts and Updates from my seventh-century novel:
WIP—Mariam and Hassan in the Agora
Historical Research
Late Antique/Early Byzantine Music
Observations on Writing
Perfume—Patrick Suskind - Writing about scent
It’s Not You, It’s Me—And my growing Did Not Finish pile
Prizes and Historical Fiction News:
2023 Walter Scott Prize For Historical Fiction: Here I drill down the list to those that are set outside of the US or UK, noting those most Long Ago & Far Away.
The 2023 International Booker Prize: This prize honors novels translated into English. I note those set far enough in the past to be considered historical fiction.
Historical Fiction on the 2023 Booker Long List: I love to see historical fiction getting high literary recognition. This year’s list had only three. And one was a close call—set in 1979! (Way too close for comfort!)
Historical Fiction Round-Up: In this article, I list six books I’ve noted as especially interesting to me and which have landed on my To Be Read pile, either as physical tomes or digital files. A wish list for my reading time.
Writing Excuses Podcast Interviews Abraham Verghese
Memoir/Personal Stuff:
Hooked on History I—How I came to love history.
Hooked on History II—How I came to writing historical fiction
Water for Elephants/West with Giraffes—My response to these books in the context of caregiving
Creepy Houses—A silly seasonal memory
On This Eve—Anticipating the New Year and balancing wants & hopes with contentment
Happy New Year—The Requiste Year in Review - 2024
Time Out—And Accidental Ketosis
Miscellaneous:
Introduce Yourself!—A place to get to know you.
A Moment of Truth—Realizing that I can’t do everything
Sci-Friday Special Edition—Cats are Aliens—A silly response to a challenge by another Substack writer. (This one was not sent out to my email list but you might find it amusing.)
Confessions and Cookbooks—Diversions from my To Be Read pile.
Learning the Tropes—Thoughts on how we build a personal catalog of vocabulary and tropes when reading genre fiction. (Not sent to the newsletter list, posted on Notes a part of Sci-Friday.)
Over to You—An open invitation for your comments on 2023 and the incoming New Year.
Great idea. Headed to Introduce myself now!