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Wow, thats weird. I have Timeline. I was going to read it right after I finished The Mysterious Island.
Posts: 46 | Registered: Apr 2005
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The film The Name of the Rose is very good. I've heard the book is good as well, though the film has a complicated plot and the book is probably even more so.
What about Shakespeare? Most of his plays would qualify.
Connie Willis' The Doomsday Book (AKA Domesday) is about time travel back to days of the plague, the Black Death, in England.
The Navigator is another film with a Black Death/time travel plot.
quote:Originally posted by Boon: Timeline by Michael Chrichton is partially set in those type times.
While this is true, it's not very good; comrade Chrichton spends as much time 'correcting' what he thinks people think about the Middle Ages as advancing the plot. Usually his corrections are quite oversimplified in their own right.
EDIT : Plus, of course, he doesn't know anywhere near as much about quantum mechanics as he thinks he does. But then, very few authors do, with the honourable exception of Stephen Baxter.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Ah, Shakespeare wouldn't quite count as medieval. He was during (maybe even after) the English Renaissance, which came after the Middle Ages. The Middle/Dark Ages/Medieval period generally refers to the years 400 AD-1500 AD, and Shakespeare wrote from about 1589-1613. The Black Death in England might be iffy - make sure it's the 1347 one, and not the 1665 one because the latter isn't medieval either.
Ironfire by David Ball is set during the Crusades. It's about the Knights of Malta, and I really enjoyed it. George R.R. Martin has a short review of it on his site (you have to scroll down a bit).
Also, The Once and Future King by T.H. White is a classic and a fabulous read. It's cutting it a bit close to your 50-year parameter - but it was published in 1958, so it should be okay.
What is it you're working on? *curious*
And Tom, I was wondering the same thing - I was getting all set to recommend The Canterbury Tales or The Song of Roland.
EDIT: My bad - some of Shakespeare's history plays would work. I don't have time to look up the exact dates right now, but King John, Richard II and III, and Henry IV (both parts) should both be fine...I'm pretty sure Henry V and all three parts of Henry VI are fine too. I think a couple others are set in the medieval period too, but offhand I'm not sure exactly which just now.
quote:Originally posted by King of Men: While this is true, it's not very good; comrade Chrichton spends as much time 'correcting' what he thinks people think about the Middle Ages as advancing the plot. Usually his corrections are quite oversimplified in their own right.
I've found this to be true in most of his books, especially State of Fear. That said, I thought this was one of his better books. To anyone who enjoyed reading any of Crichton's other books, this would probably be a good read.
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If you want to write about the Plague, Doomsday Book by Connie Willis is really fab. It's about a woman who travels back in time to the fourteenth century. Won the Hugo and the Nebula.
Posts: 17 | Registered: May 2005
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