Historical Genre Success Stories!

ishtar'sgate · Aug 21, 2009

Doogs said:
Been awhile since I've had anything worth putting here, but after a long drought I finally got off my duff and started playing with The Scourge of Rome again. Lopped off the prologue, revised the intro for the dozenth or so time, and made some streamlining edits here and there. And, for kicks, fired off a few more queries.

Woke up this morning to a request for the first 50 pages + synopsis + bio. Only...I don't have a bio written up...and my synopsis is probably two years old now (and BAD)!

Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Then get off here and get to work!!!

Oh, and congrats and good luck.

2Wheels · Oct 6, 2009

Hilary Mantel (who I doubt hangs around here much, if at all), has just won the 50,000 UK pound Booker prize for fiction with her novel "Wolf Hall". I think we can consider that to be a genre success story!

(The novel is about Thomas Cromwell, who rose to be Henry VIII's top advisor).

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1007/1224256097937.html

pdr · Oct 6, 2009

And...

did you notice that all the books on the short list for the Booker were historical novels? And all but two or three of the long list were historical novels?

vsrenard · Apr 16, 2010

This week WATERMARK: A NOVEL OF THE MIDDLE AGES was published by HarperCollins. I had the honor of seeing the book actually in the stores. I almost cried.

cooeedownunder · Apr 16, 2010

Congratulations vsrenard

donroc · Apr 16, 2010

Good for you, Vanitha.

the_wild_bamboo · May 22, 2010

Just finishing up cutting down on my WIP set during the Second World war. Sent out queries last week and got a reply from Rupert Heath asking for the first 50 pages. Hope to hear some more good news next week!

Sirius · Jun 1, 2010

Agent

Just signed a contract with an agent to represent me with regard to my 19th century detective story.

firedrake · Jun 1, 2010

Sirius said:
Just signed a contract with an agent to represent me with regard to my 19th century detective story.

OMG!!!!

Congratulations!!! :hooray:

donroc · Jun 1, 2010

Sirius said:
Just signed a contract with an agent to represent me with regard to my 19th century detective story.

Congratulations and best wishes for a quick lucrative sale.

angeliz2k · Jun 1, 2010

Sirius said:
Just signed a contract with an agent to represent me with regard to my 19th century detective story.

Amazing! Congratulations!!

Sirius · Jun 1, 2010

Thanks for all the good wishes! She's advised me it's going to be a long, hard uncertain slog, but at least I think I can see Base Camp from here.

firedrake · Jun 1, 2010

Sirius said:
Thanks for all the good wishes! She's advised me it's going to be a long, hard uncertain slog, but at least I think I can see Base Camp from here.

This is the Engels one?

cooeedownunder · Jun 1, 2010

Sirus, congratulations and as donroc said, may it get sold quicky.

Sirius · Jun 1, 2010

Firedrake: yes, that one.

lkp · Jun 1, 2010

Sirius said:
Just signed a contract with an agent to represent me with regard to my 19th century detective story.

Oh hey, that's wonderful!

matdonna · Jun 1, 2010

Golly it feels good to see all this good news. And I'm thrilled to be able to add my own bit. Today my editor sent me news of this endorsement that will go on the back cover of my 9th Century YA novel, _Bearing the Saint_:

"Donna Farley's "Bearing the Saint" conjures the atmosphere of a lost "Lord of the Rings" tale with its expertly crafted medieval atmosphere and story of friends embarking on an unlikely quest, but with the advantage of being rooted in actual events."
Tom Breen
The Associated Press

Sirius · Jun 2, 2010

matdonna said:
"Donna Farley's "Bearing the Saint" conjures the atmosphere of a lost "Lord of the Rings" tale with its expertly crafted medieval atmosphere and story of friends embarking on an unlikely quest, but with the advantage of being rooted in actual events."
Tom Breen
The Associated Press

Whew!

That is quite a quote; it sounds splendid. Well done.

Steam&Ink · Jul 15, 2010

Sirius said:
Just signed a contract with an agent to represent me with regard to my 19th century detective story.

Congratulations, Sirius! I've loved reading your Engels detective novel... fingers crossed

cooeedownunder · Jul 16, 2010

...and legs

Puma · Oct 12, 2010

Not historical genre - but today I finished the 18th (and final) bicentennial history (and natural sciences) booklet about the township I live in. The booklets have covered from the Native Americans who lived here up through World War II and vary from 6 pages (War with Mexico) to 104 pages (World War II) in length. A lot of research, a lot of digging, and a lot of writing. But - I finished what I set out to do a year ago. Now I can get back to thinking about fiction! Puma

JohnnyGottaKeyboard · Oct 12, 2010

Puma said:
Not historical genre - but today I finished the 18th (and final) bicentennial history (and natural sciences) booklet about the township I live in. The booklets have covered from the Native Americans who lived here up through World War II and vary from 6 pages (War with Mexico) to 104 pages (World War II) in length. A lot of research, a lot of digging, and a lot of writing. But - I finished what I set out to do a year ago. Now I can get back to thinking about fiction! Puma

Nice work. My next novel takes place at Shiloh (4/1862) and has a protagonist from Ohio. I may have to hit you up with questions.

cooeedownunder · Oct 12, 2010

Well done, Puma. An achievement and I bet partly a relief.

Tom from UK · Oct 13, 2010

I only just found this part of the forum (thanks to Puma's posting - congratulations, Puma!) so here's some late news.

My novel based on the life of James Brooke ('The White Rajah') has been accepted for publication by by JMS Books and should be coming out in November.

JohnnyGottaKeyboard · Oct 13, 2010

I actually didn't know this thread was here either until Puma posted. My novel "A Hundred Little Lies" is scheduled to be published March 2011 by Cheyenne.

You can check them out here http://cheyennepublishing.com/

(at least I hope it's okay to plug a publisher--also I'm on the author's page--yippee!)

Historical Genre Success Stories!

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Grateful for the day

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