Editing Approved Literature (section)

==Historical Fiction==

*'''''Robert Bolt - The Mission''''': A journey of a young boy into becoming a murder-hobo and then trying to repent his sins as a missionary, taking place in 1740s Paraguay. But more seriously, it's about the Jesuits and their mission in a patch of land contested between Spain and Portugal, with great, nuanced characters caught up in a conflict they can't even hope to win. Mostly famous for its movie adaptation with de Niro and Irons and cutting the entire backstory which made the book worth reading in the first place.

*'''''Miguel de Cervantes - The Ingenious Nobleman Mister Quixote of La Mancha''''': The misadventures of an old man driven to madness by reading chivalry novels, being the first major parody of the classic interpretation of that setting. Mixing comedy and a ton of political commentary for its time, it's one of the most important novels of all time, and the elements and tropes it brought to popular culture are referenced and satirized to this day.

*'''''Tom Clancy - The Hunt for Red October''''': '''The''' quintessential techno-thriller, being one of the hallmarks of the entire genre and probably the most famous of all Clancy's book. Tightly written, with plausible story and great characters.

*'''''James Clavell - The Asian Saga''''': A series of books set in flash-points of historical events in Japan, China and the Malays throughout centuries. For the most part, they are self-contained, so you can pick any of them without fear of continuity. The most famous and recognisable one is "Shogun", telling a slightly fictionalised account of the final years of the Sengoku period, as seen by an English navigator stranded in Japan and slowly learning its customs to survive, while being a plaything in the ongoing power struggle between various daimyō, Portugese and the Catholic Church. If you ever needed tips for "stranger in a strange land" campaign or big political pile-up that pays off, pick any of those books. Mind the page-count.

*'''''Bernard Cornwell - [[Sharpe]]''''': A series of books following Richard Sharp as he rises through the ranks of the British Army during the first few decades of the 1800s (the bulk of it set during the Napoleonic Wars). More commonly known by its great TV series, staring Sean Bean.

*'''''Michael Crichton - Eaters of the Dead''''': Blending real accounts of Ahmad ibn Fadlan, a 10th century Arabian traveller, and epic of Beowulf, the novel neatly shows how little divides myths from history. But mostly, it's just vikings fighting against cannibalistic neanderthals, in a quest to defeat the evil monsters attacking the locals and fulfilling a prophecy. How badass is that? Its adaptation, "13th Warrior", while diverging from the book significantly, is one of the quintessential /tg/ movies and also approved.

*'''''Alexandre Dumas - The Three Musketeers''''': It's '''THE''' swashbuckling novel. You probably more or less know what is it about just from its sheer impact on culture and pop-culture. Duels, political intrigue, romancing and most importantly, friendship above everything. Has bunch of continuations, along with just as numerous adaptations.

*'''''Paul Féval - Le Bossu''''' [or ''The Hunchback'']: The '''other''' swashbuckler. Chevalier Henri Lagardère swears vengeance over the death of his friend, duke de Nevers, while escaping with Nevers' infant daughter Aurore, from the hands of assassins. Years later he returns, in disguise of a hunchbacked accountant, to wreck havoc and have his way with the villainous prince de Gonzague. In the background, France is trying to figure out itself after the death of Louis XIV and the resulting regency. Both film adaptations are approved genre classics.
	
*'''''C.S. Forester - Horatio Hornblower''''': A series of books following Horatio Hornblower as he rises through the ranks of the Royal Navy from the late 1700’s through the early 1800’s. Has a TV series adaptation free off YouTube if books aren’t your thing.

*'''''George MacDonald Fraser - [[Flashman]]''''': A 19th century, cowardly and womanizing British buffoon with a pedigree goes from one crazy adventure to another around the globe. Meanwhile the writer has fun with all the genre conventions and relentlessly mocking the Victorian literature. A little on the nose, but how else you turn stuff like Kipling into actual engaging adventuring?

*'''''Homer - The Iliad''''': One of the oldest pieces of historical fiction. Trojan prince steals a Greek king's wife and all of Greece comes for revenge. For a long time considered complete fiction, but excavations and analysis suggest at least at a concept level Homer's epic is based on real war, even if the details got obscured or lost over hundreds of years of oral tradition.
**'''''Virgil - The Aeneid''''': One of the first historical examples of fanfiction (or spin-off, according to own point of view). Aneas leave Troy, with his family and loyal men, after realizing that Greek have set up a trap to seize the city. After wandering through the Mediterranean for a long time he reaches Italy and become the ancestor of Romans. Needless to say it exits as propaganda to pretend that Romans where not barely civilized barbarians influenced by Greek culture. But even then it is one of the cornerstones of Latin literature.

*'''''Luo Guanzhong - Romance of the Three Kingdoms''''': Often seen as ''the'' Chinese epic, while being easily one of the most over-exposed piece of Far East media in existence, attributed to a guy who merely edited the final version. As the title indicates, it tracks the semi-fictionalised account of the Three Kingdoms period: a civil war over the corpse of the decaying Han empire, where everyone wants a piece for themselves, regardless of their claimed agenda. Thus its an archetypical dog-pile of court intrigues, epic battles, personal struggles and eventual betrayal of your allies and friends - and unlike majority of stuff like this, the dozens of sub-plots do have their pay-off. Said payoff means there is a warning to be given: a proper adaptation of this monstrosity is an 80-episodes long TV series, since traditionally, it's been printed in five, thick tomes.

*'''''John Jakes - the Kent Family Chronicles and the North and South trilogy''''': Respectively: an epic family drama about American Revolutionary War and an epic family drama about American Civil War, doing back and forth between main characters' personal lives and the frontlines of the wars they are participating or end up dragged into - and then revisiting them in the aftermath of the conflict. Neat historical backdrop for both of the conflicts and avoiding typical Ameritard pathos about their own history, making it digestible even for non-Yanks. Both cycles have been adopted into equally approved TV mini-series.

*'''''Allan Mallinson - Matthew Hervey series''''': If Captain Aubrey was the pinnacle of Napoleonic naval escapades then the career of Matthew Hervey is the pinnacle of life in the cavalry regiments of the time. A series of 14 splendid novels, the level of detail is tremendous, touching on many of the equestrian and veterinarian aspects of cavalry upkeep and warfare that is presented in a much more manly fashion than what passes for horse-care in those sappy teen's novels. Also helps that the author was a bona-fide military officer of the (Queen Mary's Own) Royal Hussars. If you've ever wondered how the fuck the armies of the 19th century could maintain so much cavalry and how those regiments lived, this is the series for you.

*'''''Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian''''': Set during the middle of the 19th century in the southern United States, it follows the exploits of "The Kid" who joins what is essentially a band of Murderhobos to terrorize the prairie and hunt Indians. It doesn't sound like anything special, until you count in the fact that the group is possibly led by the devil himself. And he leads the group on to ever greater acts of depravity that would make Khorne and Slaneesh uneasy.

* '''''Margaret Mitchell - Gone with the Wind''''': The original "subverting your expectations" novel. In fact, doing it so hard, the stock plots and characters from ACW romance stories it was subverting (and mocking) are now completely forgotten. A historical romance slash business guide, following adventures of Scarlett O'Hara, a spoiled Southern belle that will stop at ''nothing'' to keep her status, even if Sherman's march and Confederate defeat left her destitute and in rags. All while Scarlett is completely oblivious to what sort of awful person she turns into. Warning: the book is thick enough to kill someone with it, while the (approved) adaptation comes with two intermissions.
	
*'''''Brian Moore - Black Robe''''': A French Jesuit on his perilous quest to reach a remote mission, helped by distrusting Algonquian guides and crossing with them the bleak, frozen hell that is pre-colonial Ontario. The novel combines two elements that make it worth reading: it is well-researched on all covered subjects, creating a very handy panorama of 17th century Canada, and, more importantly, it puts a nice spin on the generic "travel up-stream through all sort of dangers" plot to make it interesting. The film adaptation is also approved, in many ways being even better than the book.

*'''''Patrick O'Brian - Aubrey–Maturin series''''': A series of 21 nautical historical novels, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin. Almost autistically well-researched and amazingly addictive series which should be read by just about anyone even wishing to run a maritime-themed game. They are really addictive, so make sure you have enough time to spare before starting reading. The film adaptation is also approved.

*'''''Erich Maria Remarque - All Quiet on the Western Front''''': The personal story of a German soldier named Paul Breuer, who details the exploits and sufferings of his regiment during the 1st World War on the Western front. If you are looking for an account of how truly and utterly apocalyptic WW1 was, look no further. The book details almost every part of a soldiers life, from chilling behind the front lines to storming an enemy trench and the author (who himself fought in the war) is at times damn straight and at other times damn poetic about it. Beautiful descriptions of nature and accounts of friends being ripped to shreds by grenades are often just a paragraph apart, so its quite the rollercoaster.
** Since it's a pretty short read, it leaves you with time to indulge in the follow-up, '''The Road Back''', which features the surviving soldiers from the same company (but not the same characters) from the previous book, trying to re-integrate into society and miserably failing.

*'''''Walter Scott - Ivanhoe''''': The grand-daddy of the entire genre. Adventures and misadventures of a chivalrous knight who does his very best to collect ransom needed for king Richard the Lion Heart, while fending off against those nefarious Normans and their machinations. Despite its age, still holding pretty well.

*'''''Murasaki Shikibu - The Tale of Genji''''': Arguably the world's first novel, written by a woman no less. It centers around Hikaru Genji, or "Shining Genji" who is the son of an ancient Japanese emperor (known to readers as Emperor Kiritsubo) and a low-ranking concubine called Kiritsubo's Consort. The novel provides great insight into the life of Heian-era Japan. As such, brace yourself for everyone constantly crying and/or getting emotional like bunch of emo kids.

*'''''Neal Stephenson - The Baroque Cycle''''': Adventures of a really big cast of characters living amidst of the central events of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central America. Extremely well-researched portray of the era, seamlessly blending history with fictional characters. And a real door-stopper.

*'''''Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island''''': If by any chance or twist of fate you still didn't read it, you damn should right now. Absolute classic and absolute gold mine for ideas, not even for pirate game, but just adventuring in general.
*'''''Judith Tarr & Harry Turtledove - Household Gods''''': A close-up examination of the Roman Danube frontier during Marcus Aurelius reign, right before the campaign against the Macromanni. All as experienced by a 1990s American woman stuck there, since it's technically a time-travel novel. But rather than trying to reinvent electricity or the printing press, she's content with not starving to death between plague, barbarian invasion and Roman counterattack. Truck-kun would be proud, especially given the sheer effort to accurately portray the period and place in details.

*'''''Mika Waltari - The Egyptian, The Etruscan''''': "The Egyptian" follows the life of a fictional Egyptian Sinuhe living in the New Kingdom period and witnessing the upheaval that monotheism and war with Hittites bring to the ordered Egypt. "The Etruscan" does the same for Turms, an amnesiac hero set in the time of Greco-Persian Wars and the beginnings of the Roman Republic. Waltari was recognised and lauded by the historians at the time for spending autistic-levels of time researching the cultures he was writing about - but don't expect too much of it still hold value, century of additional research later.

*'''''Kawabata Yasunari - The Master of Go''''': The story of a brash young [[munchkin|power gamer]] challenging a grizzled old [[neckbeard]] to a championship [[Go]] match. Chronicles the national-scale edition war that was 1930s Japan through the medium of gaming obsessed hyper-autists.