Dark Ages era Fiction?

[Eridanis]

Slightly off the track, but not completely so: DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis. A 21st-century researcher is sent back in time to study the Black Plague.

And Gardner wrote GRENDEL in the mid 70's, IIRC.

 

[Berandor]

I believe there is a book series called SPQR. Other than it's name, I don't know anything about it, though.

 

[CCamfield]

Isn't Ivanhoe solidly medieval? Reign of Richard the Lionheart?

I'd recommend K. J. Parker's trilogy Shadow, Pattern, and Memory (those are the titles of the books) although I've only read two of them.

If Byzantine is good, then G. G. Kay's Sarantine Mosaic duology would also qualify.

Perhaps also the first couple of Rigante books by David Gemmell. Well... I guess they're sort of pseudo-Roman period ("Stone" being the southern imperialists) so maybe not appropriate.

For something a couple of shades removed from Arthur-Guenevere-Lancelot, I highly recommend The King's Peace, and The King's Name, by Jo Walton.

 

[A2Z]

Harry Harrison's Hammer and the Cross trilogy is an alternate Dark Ages story in which the vikings conquer England.

http://www.scifan.com/series/series.asp?SR_seriesid=507

 

[MaxKaladin]

May want to also look at Harry Turtledove, he does a lot of alternate time books but has some fantasy novels out dealing with the fall of Rome.

He has some Byzantine books, but I don't recall seeing any fall of Rome books. About the closest I can think of would be Thessalonica, which is set in a fantasy version of earth with various critters from Greek myth and is during the fall of Rome period. Did you have the misplaced legion books in mind, perhaps? They're good.

 

[MaxKaladin]

I don't know what you don't like about Berhard Cornwell (I think he's great) unless you simply don't want Arthurian. He's also written other "Dark Ages" stuff though. The Last Kingdom is the start of a saga of an Anglo-Saxon lad raised by Vikings who becomes a vassal of Alfred the Great. For example.

Oh, no, I didn't make myself clear. I liked Cornwell, but I just got finished reading his Arthurian and medieval stuff (the book you mentioned being an exception since it will not be published here for a couple of months, IIRC) and I'm looking for something else. My list wasn't stuff I didn't like, it was stuff I've already read.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Constantinople, IIRC. Fantasy, but "realistic" fantasy. A Christian shoemaker living in same defends his community against barbarians--Goths and Azars. There's some Greek elements--a few centaurs and a satyr, and a water monsters. I thought it was pretty good.

This sounds a lot like Harry Turtledove's Thessalonica, who wrote this one? The only Constantinople I can think of was written by Lawhead but it followed a monk on various adventures in Constantinople and other places.

 

[MaxKaladin]

I believe there is a book series called SPQR. Other than it's name, I don't know anything about it, though.

SPQR is a series of mystery novels set in 1st century BC Rome. They follow Decius Caecillius Metellus, a Roman Senator from a prominent family, as he solves various crimes at home and abroad and interacts with various famous people like Caesar and Pompey. They're written by John Maddox Roberts, who also did a number of Conan novels and has just started an alternate history series based around the premise that Hannibal allied with Macedon and chased the Romans out of Rome during the Punic wars and they return more than a century later to reclaim what is theirs and get revenge. They're very good books.

 

[MaxKaladin]

I'd recommend K. J. Parker's trilogy Shadow, Pattern, and Memory (those are the titles of the books) although I've only read two of them.

Perhaps also the first couple of Rigante books by David Gemmell. Well... I guess they're sort of pseudo-Roman period ("Stone" being the southern imperialists) so maybe not appropriate.

For something a couple of shades removed from Arthur-Guenevere-Lancelot, I highly recommend The King's Peace, and The King's Name, by Jo Walton.

I'll have to check these out. I've read The King's Peace and it was pretty good but I've not read the others.

The thing is that for the last four or so years, I've been on a "Greco-Roman" kick and have been immersing myself in various books set in the Roman period with a number of side-trips into Greek and Byzantine settings, like the Sarantine Mosaic duology you mentioned. I'm now planning a vaguely Arthurian game and have been seeking out stuff more appropriate to that approximate period to read for inspiration. It doesn't have to be specifically Arthurian, just roughly that period. The Lancelot book I'm reading now is actually a fairly good example. Despite being about Lancelot, so far it has had almost nothing to do with Arthur and company and focuses on his early life before ever coming to Camelot. I'm sure he'll end up there eventually, but it has been a refreshing change.

 

[Maerdwyn]

A little later (Crusader period), but Edith Pargeter's Cadfael mysteries are fun. Her Brothers Gwynedd quartet is an excellent treatment of Llewelyn and the Welsh - also set in the 12th century, though.

Godiva and the Golden Dragon, by Steven James is about Lady Godiva and Leofric, King of Mercia just before the Norman Invasion. I've never read it, but It got good reviews.

For that matter. If you've never read, but can track down, a copy of Hope Muntz's The Golden Warrior, about the Battle of Hastings itself, you'll be very happy with it. It's a real classic of historical fiction, but it's out of print, I think.