Here are some of the resources that help me plot my new novel The Foreign King, a sequel to The Exiled Queen. The Foreign King is also a historical fantasy, inspired by the Roman-Dacian wars of Emperor Trajan at the beginning of the second century CE.
I picked the first three from an indie bookstore this summer—for the unusual angles they choose in exploring ancient history. Reading about common people’s lives, the way they laughed, the way women lived, is not covered as much in other history books. But I’m not writing a history book, so these titles provide great ingredients for my storytelling.
- A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives by Philip Matyszak & Joanne Berry
- Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up by Mary Beard
- The Missing Thread: A Women’s History of the Ancient World by Daisy Dunn
- Dacia: The Roman Wars by Radu Oltean
- SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
- The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
- On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus (Translated by Frank O. Copley)
- Pliny the Younger: Complete Works
- 12 Monkeys (2015-2018)
- Yellowstone (2018-2024)
- Rome (2005-2007)
Another side note: Phil Plait, an American astronomer and science blogger, recommended 12 Monkeys on social media as the best time-travel show he could think of. And yes, the writing in this show is soooo good! When I watch or read fiction, I tend to analyze it and poke holes in the characters’ motivation and the plot. I couldn’t do much damage to this one. Also, its entire plot is about rewriting history—literally—a theme I spent years exploring on my previous blog.
And one more constant resource. Misquoting Jesus Podcast is a valuable guide to the minutiae of life in biblical times, as well as to the evolution of religious thought over centuries in response to the conditions on the ground. That’s a theme I develop in my speculative fiction series Delight of Humans and Gods, which starts with The Exiled Queen.
I know this list is all over the place, but I wanted to share with you my random process of finding inspiration for novels set in a time and place unfamiliar to my readers. I spend a lot of time gathering bits and details to build an immersive experience. I hope I’m succeeding on some level.
