Thursday, February 6, 2014

History and Fantasy Merge: When Imagination and Reality Combine

Those of you that have followed my blog have realized by now I like to combine history, reality within the imaginary world that I created.


This is nothing new; many authors have used fiction in conjunction with historical places. Mine is slightly different because my world is in an alternate reality.

SPOLIER ALERT: Although this is established early in my novel, the following is a description of the plot.

During the Middle Ages, an evil was released. This evil enveloped the entire world, so much that humankind has been struggling with it ever since. Subsequently, humankind has been occupied with this evil; it has been unable to progress technologically and socially, so the world has been stuck in the Middle Ages. The modern world is the exactly as it was in the year 1100 A.D.

The major impact is my novel is set in Europe, particularly Switzerland. In this new world, there was no expansion of exploration, so the Americas were never found by the Europeans. Marco Polo never ventured east to Asia and ideas, and culture was not exchanged.

So now there is a new time line from the point the evil was released to today. My protagonist is a page, learning to be a knight in this not so modern world. This order of knights is trained in one purpose, to destroy the evil.

Our hero is taught all the aspects of European knowledge. Unlike true historical knights who may have been taught about classical literature and culture, the knights now are trained in how to defeat the evil. This includes classical learning from masters like Da Vinci. However, since the time line has changed Leonardo Da Vinci was not a great inventor and painter, he was a legendary werewolf hunter. Remember the world has been overrun by evil creatures; the renaissance never took place. Inventors and artists like Da Vinci would not have created works of art, but would have studied how to destroy the creatures which have plagued the world.

This theme is carried throughout the novel. Braham Stoker is not the author of “Dracula”; he is a knight who wrote a scientific study of vampires. Voltaire wrote essays dealing with how vampires use political power to expand their territories.

Another example is historical landmarks. If we continue the thought that the world is now in a different time line, than many items will have changed with it. I describe the knights traveling near a monument to General Suworow.

In the area of the Devil’s Bridge in the Schöllenen Gorge there is a monument to General Alexander Suworow. Soworow was an impressive general, and his quick thinking saved his men from a defeat. This is the story of reality of him during the Italian Campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars, in my novel; Suworow was a great general in the Vampire Wars.

Another major example of how the past changes the present is the feudal system is still the established political system. The world I created has castles and kings and queens, and royalty and a peasant class.

I hope I had given some information about the world I created in my novel. As always, leave a comment, I would like to hear from the readers of my blog.

Next Time: Daily Life





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