I’m thrilled to have a guest post by Deva Fagan to share with you today! Her novel House of Dusk, which is described as “a romantic epic fantasy featuring a fire-wielding nun grappling with her dark past and a young spy caught between her mission and a growing attraction to an enemy princess,” was just released in hardcover and ebook last week. I’m excited she’s here to discuss some books and resources she used as inspirations in “Real History for Fantasy Worlds.”
About HOUSE OF DUSK:
A romantic epic fantasy featuring a fire-wielding nun grappling with her dark past and a young spy caught between her mission and a growing attraction to an enemy princess
With complex relationships, a rich and mythic world, and brisk pacing, this standalone novel is perfect for fans of Tasha Suri, Samantha Shannon, and Shannon Chakraborty
Ten years ago, Sephre left behind her life as a war hero and took holy vows to seek redemption for her crimes, wielding the flames of the Phoenix to purify the dead. But as corpses rise, a long-dead god stirs, and shadowy serpents creep from the underworld, she has no choice but to draw on the very past she’s been trying so hard to forget.
Orphaned by the same war Sephre helped win, Yeneris has trained half her life to be the perfect spy, a blade slipped deep into the palace of her enemies. Undercover as bodyguard to Sinoe, a princess whose tears unleash prophecy, Yeneris is searching for the stolen bones of a saint. Her growing attraction to the princess, however, is proving dangerous, and Yeneris struggles to balance her feelings for Sinoe with her duty to her people.
As gods are reborn and spirits destroyed, the world trembles on the edge of a second cataclysm. Sephre must decide whether to be bound by her past or to forge a better future, even if it means renouncing her vows and accepting a new and terrible power. Meanwhile, when the real enemy makes their bid for power, Yeneris must find a way to remain true to her full self and save both her mission and her heart.
As dead gods rise and corruption creeps across the world, this sweeping standalone fantasy tale of forbidden sapphic love and dark betrayal will set your heart ablaze.
Real History for Fantasy Worlds
by Deva Fagan
Which can you imagine more clearly: Middle Earth or ancient Mesopotamia? Which feels more real?
I’m guessing a lot of us (including me!) answer Middle Earth. Because a lot of the time, real world history is a dry, distant land populated by a few important dates and a few powerful kings.
As a writer who looks to real world history for inspiration, I’m always on the lookout for books and resources that bring ancient history to life. Not just the big events, the wars and plagues and discoveries, but the everyday happenings, the mundane details, and most of all the people. In the case of my debut epic fantasy House of Dusk, I drew much of my inspiration from the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean and Near East. Here are some of the books that bring those peoples and civilizations to life for me:
 |
 |
Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East by Amanda H. Podany
What I love about this book is how it reminds the reader that history isn’t just kings and queens and earth shattering events. Through fragments of ancient cuneiform letters and records, we encounter a priestess complaining to her sister that “you never have a jar of good oil sent to me” in exchange for her offering up prayers on her family’s behalf. We meet a grouchy grandfather informing his estranged son that the grandchildren he had been raising have abruptly left his house and are traveling to reunite with their father (for reasons left tantalizingly unspecified). We learn what sort of equipment a Babylonian woman rented in order to set up an inn (three tables, ten chairs, a lampstand, a fermenting vat, a vessel stand, and more). Every person is the main character in their own story, even if we only witness that story in fragments. And that’s definitely something I want to apply to my own storytelling!
The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor
I’ve read several of Mayor’s books and found them absolutely fascinating (I also highly recommend The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates) but this one gets a special mention here for its focus on warrior women in the ancient world (not just the Mediterranean). As someone who writes books featuring a variety of “warrior women,” it was a thrill to read about the various real-world examples. As a bonus, the book also answers the burning question of “Who invented trousers?” (According to the Greeks, it was “barbarian” female warriors, making the wearing of trousers a transgressive and outlandish act, especially because it provided a degree of gender anonymity that Greek fashion did not allow).
 |
 |
If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho by Sappho, Anne Carson (translator)
A modern translation of the lyric poetry of Sappho, a poet who lived on the Greek island of Lesbos around 630 B.C.E. Sadly her music itself is lost, and most of her lyrics exists in fragments only, or in citations by other writers which may not be accurate. It’s bittersweet to read a poem when all that remains of it is “their heart grew cold; they let their wings down.” And while no translation can be perfect, there’s something numinous about Anne Carson’s language here that transcends time and makes me feel as if I truly am hearing the whispers of the ancient poet herself, seeing glimpses of her vivid, passionate, radiant, shadowy world. I can only hope that my own prose captures some of that magic!
Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes
One of the elements of world-building that I love the very best is playing with layers of myth that accrue over time. How so many stories are palimpsests: old versions scraped away but never quite gone, with new versions layered on top. There are many instances of this detailed in Pandora’s Jar, but I was particularly entranced by the chapter on Medusa, in which Haynes proposes that the earliest legend of Medusa might have been invented by the Ancient Greeks in order to explain the still older tradition of gorgoneions: statuary heads that served as protective icons to ward away evil. Haynes then traces the continued evolution of Medusa’s story from villain to vengeful hero to guardian of women. This sort of ambiguity is a key plot element in House of Dusk, in which the protagonists must sift through a multitude of different stories and legends and histories to understand the “truth.”
The Ancients Podcast, hosted by Tristan Hughes
Last but not least, if you want a shorter, more bite-sized bit of history across a wide range of topics, this is the podcast for you! One of my favorite episodes was #163, Race & Identity in the Greek Novel, with guest Dr. Mai Musié, Public Engagement Manager at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford. This delves into the tradition of the “Greek novel,” a literary form popular in the Roman Empire that could be described as historical romances, as they take place in a fictitious Ancient Greece and feature young lovers striving to unite in a perilous world. Because many of the novels take place outside of Greece itself, they explore which peoples are considered Greek and which people are “Other.” While I didn’t look to Rome as an inspiration for House of Dusk, I did want to be mindful of how race and cultural identity might intersect in the fictional world I was building, in which there was quite a lot of historical migration, trade, and travel.
Historical events can sometimes feel just as far away and imaginary as fantasy worlds, but all these books and resources truly bring the past to life, reminding me that people have always been essentially human, striving and thriving, loving and hating, losing and triumphing as they did their best to make sense of the world they live in.
 Photo Credit: Deva Fagan |
Deva Fagan writes fantasy and science fiction for all ages. When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading, doing geometry, playing video games, hiking, and drinking copious amounts of tea. She lives in Maine with her husband and their dog. You can find her online at DevaFagan.com. |
