Most Popular Historical Fiction in 2017 & Today

“The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.”

Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

Most Popular Historical Fiction in 2017 & Today

Welcome to my blog everyone! Let’s jump right into this week’s subject: Most Popular Historical Fiction Novels, 2017 & Today.

BARNES & NOBLE – Today’s Top 15 Selling Fiction (including historical fiction)

#12 The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton – mystery/love story set in 1862 England & present day

#15 The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris Harper -- WWII love story based on true story.

NEW YORK TIMES – Today’s Top 10 Combined E-Book & Print Fiction (including historical fiction)

# 5 Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – 1969 North Carolina murder mystery and love story

#10 The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris Harper -- WWII love story based on true story.

GOODREADS - Winner of Goodreads’ Best Historical Fiction of 2017:

Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate -- Heart-rending novel based on the true-life story of child stealing by a Memphis adoption agency in the late 1930s to 1950. 

BOOKBUB: A listing of 22 of the Biggest Historical Fiction of 2017: (https://www.bookbub.com/blog/2017/12/04/best-historical-fiction-2017)  

The list focuses on eBooks and includes a spectrum of historical fiction genres: thrillers; mysteries; family sagas; adventures; dramas; spies and war stories.

          I ran up an Excel sheet using Bookbub’s list to see what the list had to say about authors, genre, protagonists, era and location.  What struck me is the number of wartime era novels (10) -- especially WW II. Eighteen books were written by female authors who mostly chose females or children as their protagonists. Half were set in the US followed by Europe and Asia.

          Interestingly, three of the novels were about real people and how the authors visualized their life and/or death:

Willie Lincoln (a supernatural novel)

Lizzie Borden (can’t wait to read this one)

Christina Olson (subject of Andrew Wyeth’s painting, “Christine.”)

          My Excel sheet was time-consuming but well worth it. It gives me plenty to think about regarding the ‘who,’ ‘what’ and ‘where’ of writing.

* * *

Do you have a favorite historical fiction genre or book? Please comment below. I’d love to read what you have to say, and your fellow readers would too.

====================================================

Coming Soon!!! More 

November 1st. 

======================================================

See you November 1st with a chat about Short Story Contests…the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. AND, I'll be talking about my book release.

Once again, thank you many times over for taking time to read my blog.

Other places to find me:
Email: https://paustinheaton@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paustinheaton
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PAustinHeaton1
My Novel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070510645

Welcome!

“History is written by the Victors.”

Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

          Welcome to my blog everyone! I hope each and every one of you will find it helpful, useful or just a fun read. If you are a writer, a reader or a lover of history, please join me for the journey. I plan to speak about the process of writing, publishing, visiting and commenting on history museums and cemeteries, interviewing historians and authors, review a book here and there, include bits and pieces of my writing and anything strange and wonderful that may speak to me.

Trials and Tribulations of Historical Fiction.

How does one decide to write historical fiction? Are we history nerds wanting to know how people lived their lives in another time, another place?  Are we addicted to asking Google question, after question, after question? Maybe it’s the thrill of the search (and the smell of ancient book glue) at libraries, old newspaper archives and museums. For me it’s all of the above and toss in a nosy personality.

My first historical novel “Deserter, Rebel, Renegade” is set in North America in the early 1860's. The story begins in Manassas, Virginia. Confederate soldier, Temple Hamilton, tries to escape the nightmares of his past. 

He travels to Council Bluffs by foot and by train, thence by wagon train and stagecoach to the wild & extraordinary city of San Francisco. Along the way he will meet some fascinating people, both historical figures and figments of my imagination. You, the reader, can cozy up with a cup of hot chocolate and share a wagon train with early settlers and gold seekers, meet scoundrels, receive a chilling fortune teller's prediction, befriend a Zen Monk, assist a pompous Italian tenor, help a group of circus performers, engage in mind-games with a Chinatown madam, prevent a murder, etc., etc. A lively adventure set in a time that no longer exists. 

My second historical novel (murder mystery and work-in-progress) is set in 1915 San Diego, California during the Panama-California Exposition. 

My murder victim, Dr. Asa Wolf, is found dead, sprawled among the giant ferns in Balboa Park’s Lath House. Dr. Wolf was a noted practitioner at San Diego’s Agnew Sanitarium, and while people may say otherwise, he was not a nice man. Who did the dirty deed and why? I’ll also be tossing in a missing logbook and map (purportedly written by Sir Francis Drake) into the mix.

As to why authors write historical fiction in the first place?  For me personally, my first novel wanted to be written. In fact, it nagged me until I cried “Uncle.” Some years ago, I was told the story of a young Confederate soldier who deserted (like thousands of others) and joined, under duress, a gang of fugitives. Sadly, he accidentally shot and killed a young child while searching for food and supplies in a barn. There the story ended. My mind kept returning to that story and wondering what happened to that soldier. Was he able to escape the gang he hated and feared? Did he make it home to his family? Was he haunted by the killing of a child? Was he able to come to terms with his part in a devastating war that continues to cast shadows?

So I decided to write my own version of events, about a young man determined to escape and leave his past behind. But, as always, we drag our past with us until we eventually come to grips with it. When we learn to forgive others and ourselves, we are then able to accept and heal.

Ideas for the second novel came easy. A murder mystery was at the top of my next-to-write list.

a.  The place? Second after Disneyland, San Diego’s Balboa Park is my favorite place to visit.

b.  The time? 1915 was a time of competing Expositions (San Francisco and San Diego wanted to host a Panama Expo in honor of the completion of the Panama Canal. Both cities dug in their heels. Neither backed down. And so, there were two.) It was also an exciting time for flight. Glenn Curtiss’ early aeroplanes and his San Diego Flying School was making history. Rainman, Charlie Hatfield created (or maybe not) an epic flood in San Diego. Photos and advertising for San Diego’s Agnew Sanitarium made the hair on my arms stand up from the creepiness. All together: perfect place, perfect time.

So what do you think? Do you have a favorite time in history? A favorite location? Please share in the comments. I would love to read what you think.

My plan is to post a blog on the 1st and 15th of each month. So see you on the 15th with thoughts about the Most Popular Selling Historical Fiction of 2017. And, thank you many times over for taking time to read my blog.

Other places to find me:
Email: https://paustinheaton@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paustinheaton
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PAustinHeaton1
Novel - Deserter, Rebel, Renegade / Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070510645