Yes. That bad. And the authors have such a poor grasp of history, it's unbelievable. I encountered an instance in which 18C characters stayed at an old inn... in Glenrothes, a 'New Town' in Fife which didn't exist until the 1950s. White-slaving from the small Fife port of Crail (which cracked me up entirely). Authors who believe Jacobitism was England-vs-Scotland warfare and that Scotland was "conquered by England". Authors who believe that Hadrian's Wall marked the border in 18C, and that there was still border warfare in Queen Anne's reign. Authors who invent ridiculous non-existent laws to bring their characters together. Authors who have female characters wearing kilts...
And an industry pundit actually claims in a "how to write romance" books that authors generally get the history "right", and that readers find them educational...
The 'white slavers in Crail' have become a running joke with my St As friends, as something to beware of...!
One "best-selling" author even changed the setting of her story at some point from 1800s to 1760s, but didn't change the costumes... so characters were wearing dampened muslins at the height of the Rococo!
What's alarming is that some of these books are regarded as "genre classics"!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 09:31 am (UTC)And the authors have such a poor grasp of history, it's unbelievable. I encountered an instance in which 18C characters stayed at an old inn... in Glenrothes, a 'New Town' in Fife which didn't exist until the 1950s. White-slaving from the small Fife port of Crail (which cracked me up entirely). Authors who believe Jacobitism was England-vs-Scotland warfare and that Scotland was "conquered by England". Authors who believe that Hadrian's Wall marked the border in 18C, and that there was still border warfare in Queen Anne's reign. Authors who invent ridiculous non-existent laws to bring their characters together. Authors who have female characters wearing kilts...
And an industry pundit actually claims in a "how to write romance" books that authors generally get the history "right", and that readers find them educational...
no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 03:29 pm (UTC)One "best-selling" author even changed the setting of her story at some point from 1800s to 1760s, but didn't change the costumes... so characters were wearing dampened muslins at the height of the Rococo!
What's alarming is that some of these books are regarded as "genre classics"!