Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Colonial Adventures => Topic started by: ace67 on March 24, 2009, 03:38:25 PM
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hi im interested in reading a novel or novels based on this period
to see if it can get me hooked on the genre
so if you have any fav books let me know
cheers
ace67
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Any of the 'Flashman ' books by George MacDonald Fraiser !
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Any of the 'Flashman ' books by George MacDonald Fraiser !
Seconded.
The very best in the business.
In fact, some of the very best books ever written. Period.
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King Solomons Mines, She, Allan Quartermain
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I too love King Solomon's Mines. It's one of my favourite books, of any genre. I find it refreshing that it's a Victorian writer's work that is almost entirely free of racism. Some writers from a later time I have a hard time with as their books are swollen with their nonsensical ideas about black people: John Buchan could learn a thing or too from our friend H. Rider Haggard, who puts the lie to the idea that people are "of their time" and thus can't help being racist, so we shouldn't judge them harshly for it.
It has exploration, action, inter-racial romance (gasp!), mystery and wonder, and Zulus! Thousands of 'em! (Well, Kukuana, who are meant to be a Zulu offshoot). There is also a really cool massive battle at the end, which sadly never makes its way into the film adaptations. That's a real pity.
Also Flashy. Love Flashy. All of them.
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I recently read a very good fictional account of Shaka's early life, which will give you lots of background info and "period flavour" on the Zulus:
"AmaZulu" by Walton Golightly
http://www.amazon.co.uk/AmaZulu-Walton-Golightly/dp/1847245862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237978951&sr=1-1
There is also the "Matthew Hervey" series by Alan Mallinson, which though pre-Victorian, are still very good colonial reads. "Warrior" [no 10 in the series] has him return to South Africa where he encounters Shaka's Zulus. He has previously encountered the Xhosa' in book 9 if I remember correctly.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warrior-Matthew-Hervey-Allan-Mallinson/dp/0593058143/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237978601&sr=8-2
There is also this novel by historian Saul David - "Zulu Hart", which is next on my wants list
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zulu-Hart-Saul-David/dp/0340953632/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237979136&sr=1-12
You're probably thinking that I'm obsessed by the Zulus. You could be right lol
Wilbur Smith's "Assegai" is also a cracking read, although set in 1913 and possibly a little late for "proper" colonials, also gives great African "flavour". I'm sure Plynkes and Helen would approve of it ;)
Search Amazon, or any other online seller for relevant colonial key words and you should get lots of ideas for books to get you enthused.
The Amazon links are just for information so you can look at a few reviews, by the way. I am not connected with the company, I just find them very good to deal with when looking for cheap books :)
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again for Flashy...
not quite colonial, but if you're fighting the Ruskies, A Ride To Khiva by Frederick Gustavus Burnaby - the true account of his journey through Tsarist Russian Asia simply because he could...
I too love King Solomon's Mines. It's one of my favourite books, of any genre. I find it refreshing that it's a Victorian writer's work that is almost entirely free of racism.
the hunting scene was a bit of a 'what the... stop killing stuff already!' moment...
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thanks for the info
will order something today
cheers
ace67
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I'd recommend Douglas Reeman's 'Blackwood' series about the Royal Marines. 'Badge of Glory' about anti-slavery policing in West Africa and 'The First To Land' about China 1900 and Tientsin. Some excellent material for colonial scenarios there...
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Yes, I'd forgotten "First To Land"! I haven't read any of his others, but that one is certainly a very good read.
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Yep! Another vote for the Flash cove, never bettered 8) 3 cheers and a tiger for GMF
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Kipling!
I like The Man Who Would Be King (Although, the film's better...)
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When I was a kid I had an old Victorian-era book called "Chatterbox" I believe it was an annual compilation of a children's paper, but I am not sure. Mine was from 1890-ish. It was chock full of stories about derring-do and brave tommies fending off hordes of Sudanese. Better yet, it was filled with lavish (b&w) illustrations. I got mine at a garage sale for about fifty cents I think.
No idea how rare it might be, but it would be worth a look through library catalogues and/or alibris, abebooks, etc.
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Try "Victoria's Little Wars" by Byron Farwell. This is not a novel but it is a great read using short chapters on the little colonial actions that helped spread the British Empire throughout the world. Gives a real feeling for colonial actions from the 1830's to 1901.
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There is also "The Triumph of The Sun" by Wilbur Smith. Set in the Sudan at the time of the siege of Khartoum, it is a very good read, although not Smith's best book.
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Another vote for the Flashman series. That's the stuff that got me doing historical adventure, and it cemented a love for Victoriana that persists to this day.
Also, Beau Geste by P.C. Wren. Foreign legion adventure mystery.
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There have been several recommendations for Flashman, and I'm a huge fan of Allan Mallinson's Matthew Hervey novels. Before I moved to the US from Ireland, I'd started reading John Wilcox's Simon Fonthill series. (The reason I mention the move is because I haven't yet seen the Wilcox books in a US bookstore).
The Fonthill novels are a bit like Cornwell's Napoleonic fiction featuring his well-known protagonist, Richard Sharpe. In the first story, "The Horns of the Buffalo" we're introduced our hero, Simon Fonthill, a young officer of the 24th Warwickshire, and the man who becomes his sidekick*, 762 Jenkins (because he's Welsh, you see).
Redcoated, redblooded ripping good yarns ensue, kicking off a series of "stirring deeds what won the Empire", taking Fonthill and Jenkins from Rorkes Drift, Kandahar, Majuba Hill, El Kebir and Khartoum as they take on Zulus, Boers, Pathans and all manner of other villians.....kind of the same way Sharpe and Harper singlehandedly defeat Napoleon and his minions (with intermittent assistance from some Spanish guerrillas and the occasional British infantryman, with Wellington occasionally turning up to take the credit).
Check 'em out here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=simon+fonthill
Literature they're not, but they are good fun.
*Irish, Welsh or Scottish sidekicks are obligatory for English infantry or naval officer protagonist characters. It's the law. I think it's also probably true in the US, as it's a well known fact that each and every NCO in the 19th century US cavalry was Irish, or at least attempted an Irish accent.
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...John Wilcox's Simon Fonthill series....
terrible terrible novels... very obviously some bloke thought, hmmm... that Sharpe thing worked quite well, I'll rip that idea off straight away... read Horns of the Buffalo and Road to Kandahar and both were terribly written, cliched and plotted - should have guessed really as they were £4 for the pair at Asda...
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terrible terrible novels...
Like I said, not literature. ;)