I agree that Kay does use a lot of "real world" history to serve as
a background for his novels, though I have to admit to ignorance of Zoe
Oldenberg's books. However, his use of history has not lessened my
enjoyment of his work.
Isn't history there for everyone? Does anyone own it, whether
they've written a (scholarly) book on it or not? Kay doesn't exactly make
a secret of his sources, they are listed in the opening pages. When
sources are identified, plagarisim is not really an issue (or hopefully his
lawyers wouldn't have let him publish). I personally think that his
derivative-ness (is there such a word?:)) is no "worse" than any other
fantasy writer in that particular category. What about Katharine Kurtz,
Patricia K. Morrison, Mary Stewart, Katharine Kerr, even Tolkien, to name
only a few? Each of them draws extensively on various periods of history.
It's another micro-genre of fantasy I suppose. (Is there already a name
for it?)
Perhaps Kay's use of history seems more obvious because the periods
he uses are more recent (or more widely known) than those that have been
used before. I think it's refreshing to find books of that genre written
about something besides ancient Celts, Romans, or Anglo-Saxons. I guess
either you enjoy that sort of thing or you don't. Everyone is entitled to
an opinion. It's one of the many types of fiction that I enjoy reading.
Sorry, I don't really mean to sound as if I'm lecturing. I'll put
the soapbox away now - and if anyone disagrees with me, I'm sure I'll find
out about it!!;-)
Monica Norman
Hampshire, UK
>I'm more a lurker on this list than a poster but wanted to add my two cents
>worth about Kay -- while I've enjoyed reading him, I feel that he
>plaragizes. For instance, many of his books (can't remember the names) are
>rip of's of Zoe Oldenberg's books on the Cathars and the Albigensian
>Crusade in southern France during the Middle Ages and ditto with his book
>on medieval Spain. I think that the more you know about medieval European
>history, the less enjoyable he is. Although he does create some strong
>women characters I've been very disappointed by the "borrowings"
>
>Just my two cents worth...
>
>Nancy EJ
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