Werewolves and Zombies – Writing outside the Bounds of Historical Fiction

My house move is finished and went well. The Russian crew of three performed feats of strength that would put many a Roman legionary to shame.

Now, I’m in the midst of excavating what feels like hundreds of boxes in my search for books, photos, notes, sword replicas and some carefully packed artifacts.

Luckily, my Kindle is intact and I am finding a little more time to read.

I just started a new book: The Wolves of Paris by Michael Wallace.

This is a great read thus far and it has reminded me of what a wonderful genre historical fantasy is. It reminds me how it can take historical events and put a different spin on them.

Ancient and Medieval people were religious and superstitious and had explanations for occurrences in their world that were far different from our own often scientific answers. Historical fantasy is the perfect medium for expressing these ancient ways of thinking.

The historical event that forms the basis of The Wolves of Paris is the arrival of a pack of man-eating wolves in the city of Paris circa 1450. The pack killed about forty people before the Parisians slaughtered them, supposedly in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

This would make a great bit of historical fiction as is. I didn’t know about this episode in late medieval Paris. What the author does, however, is make the story about Werewolves invading the city. Now this really turns the story on its head. The terror felt by the citizens is even better illustrated by turning the wolves to Werewolves.

The human imagination is a powerful thing and fear is one of the emotions that sets it ablaze.

You would think that yet another Werewolf or Zombie book is nothing new, and you would be right. However, if you place such a story in an historical setting, then it takes on a whole new look and has new appeal.

Roberto Calas’ series, The Scourge, is medieval historical fantasy with a fantastic twist. It takes place in England during the Black Death, but instead of the usual type of Bubonic Plague, the ‘Scourge’ that is referred to in the novel is a sort of Zombie apocalypse.

Roberto has been a guest on Writing the Past before and you can read his post HERE.

The Scourge is a fantastic adventure and the fear will grip you as you travel through the desolation of this medieval world, the possibility of a Zombie attack all too real to ignore.

Another series of books that I have mentioned in the past is Alice Borchardt’s Legends of the Wolf trilogy.

The first book, The Silver Wolf, is a book that I really enjoyed reading, made even better by Ms. Borchardt’s rich descriptive powers.

In The Silver Wolf, 8^th century Rome is brought to life as we follow the girl Regeane, who happens to be a Werewolf, on her journey through this once-great city of the Empire, and even to the Underworld.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to get to the second one, The Night of the Wolf, which takes place during Caesar’s invasion of Gaul. Again, a period of history that has been written about many times before, but which has new life breathed into it by the use of the fantastical element of Werewolves.

You would be wrong if you think these are going to be corny, laughable reads.

In fact, these books are more engrossing and intense than many a work of ‘mainstream’ historical fiction.

So, if you think that writing or reading yet another book about Werewolves or Zombies will be about as interesting as reading parliamentary transcripts, have no fear.

Pick up a book of historical fantasy, such as one of the three mentioned, and you won’t be disappointed. 

History or Your Story?

This week I’m very pleased to have author Roberto Calas as a guest on Writing the Past. Roberto’s recent Kindle Serial, The Scourge, has definitely made a splash in the realm of historical fiction/fantasy and to me, it is a wonderful melding of good historical research and fantasy. Oh, and it has Zombies! 14^th century England has never been so exciting and yet so terrifying. Roberto talks to us about the creation of this unique work and the choice that all historical novelists must face: History or Your Story?

Can you imagine what people eight hundred years from now would think of our civilization if all they had to judge us by was a Fox News story? Or a Huffington Post article? Or, God forbid, an article from the parody newspaper, The Onion?

I think about this sort of thing all the time as I research my stories. Because, really, we base all of our knowledge about the Middle Ages on personal accounts written by biased sources, and a tatty old tapestry in France.

How do we really know that King Harold was shot in the eye with an arrow? How do we know that Brutus stabbed Julius Caesar? How do we know that Justinian’s wife convinced him not to flee Constantinople?

How do we know that the 14^th century plague wasn’t a zombie virus?

We don’t. Not for certain.

We take other people’s written accounts of it. If history is always written by the winners, then we never get more than half the story. But this nagging knowledge should not stop us from trying to be as accurate as we can.

We are writing a story that, we hope, will move readers. We want to entertain, we want to quicken pulses and control what readers feel and when they feel it. So we have to make the reader believe what we are writing.

Okay, so I’m fairly certain that the 14^th century plague wasn’t a demonic virus. But if I want to write a novel like The Scourge, where a trio of knights travels across zombie-infested England, I need my readers to suspend their disbelief. I need to add enough realism and detail to the setting and language and props of the story so the reader can put aside his or her doubts and, for a time, believe that those plague victims staggered and ate human au jus.

How do I do that?

I have to learn as much as I can about the time period. From the clothes people wore to the political ideology of the time. I need to know common surnames in the region. If the towns and villages had different names in the 14^th century. Which churches were around and which were not. Is there chalk beneath our heroes’ feet? Or slate? Are there elms above their heads? Or Ash? What type of flower grows in the marsh? What’s that little circular thing that dangles down over a knights’ armpit called? How much did a dairy cow weigh back then? Where in London did the peasants confront King Richard II? Why are there Flemish in Sudbury?

I need to immerse myself in 14^th century England. And I need to do it from sources I know might well be flawed. Really annoying, actually. But I have to do it. Because there will be someone out there who knows the established wisdom on Richard II and the Peasant Revolt. Or what a dairy cow weighs. Someone who knows what that little dangling thing is called. Who knows exactly why the Flemish came to Sudbury.

And even after researching it, someone will still point to a fact and say (probably in a nasally voice) “Um, actually, that sort of cannon wasn’t around until 1401,” or something similar. There are too many contradictions in historical research. But you have to do the legwork. Try to visit the places you write about. Read books, don’t just search the Internet. You can find fifty great facts in a book in the time it would take you to completely research one fact on the Internet.

Okay. Now that I have said all this, I will refute every word.

After all your research is done, forget it. Write your story. The research is for the world and the details. It is the anchor that grounds your tale. When there is a conflict between history and your story – an honest to God one that you can’t possibly avoid no matter what you try – then your story should always win out. Because story is what readers really want. They just want to believe that the story you wrote could have happened. And it takes a lot of work to satisfy them. Historical fiction lets you lean on factual people, places and events, but it is merciless in your accurate portrayal of them.

Even though no one is completely certain what that accurate portrayal is.

Roberto Calas is an author of historical fiction and fantasy. He lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut (yeah, that Sandy Hook), with a set of wonder twins. His fiancée lives in England and his closest relative lives four hundred miles away. That’s how he rolls. His most recent novel, The Scourge (47North), takes place in a demon-ravaged 14^th century England and is completely, one-hundred percent, absolutely, historically accurate. Sort of.

You can find him at his website, www.robertocalas.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter @robertocalas

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I’d like to thank Roberto Calas for taking the time out of his very busy schedule to write such an interesting post and give us a hint as to what went into the writing of The Scourge. If you haven’t read this yet, I highly recommend it. Part of me was left thinking that the Black Death was indeed a plague of zombies! As ever, historical fiction/fantasy can explore beyond the boundaries of what is known, and that always makes for an exciting read. 

To get your copy of The Scourge visit Amazon.com