Last post I talked about how to use history to inform your writing and I gave Brer Rabbit as an example. That’s one way to use history, through syncretism, to create an amalgamation from different sources. However that is not the only way to use history.

I read N.K. Jemisin‘s Dreamblood series for the first time in 2013 at the behest of Jasmine. I plan on rereading them later this year (when my schedule slows down a bit and I can enjoy them). The thing that struck me about Jemisin’s Dreamblood series is that it’s not built off of European or Norse culture. It’s a mixing of ancient Egyptian culture and her own world-building.

Unfortunately I remember very little Egyptian history. I do know that the pharaohs were their people’s connection to their gods, much like the Princes of the Sunset are in Dreamblood. However unlike the pharaohs, who were gods on Earth, the princes are avatars of the goddess Hananja, and they only become king once they die and pass onto the realm of Hananja.

Their society is also one of castes, although we don’t focus on them because we spend most of our time with the Gatherers, which are high priests for Hananja, who deal in a special type of magic called narcomancy (sleep magic). If you want a taste for the world, check of N. K. Jemisin’s short story, The Narcomancer, at Transcriptase.

This story is more taking history and making it your own. It’s no syncretic like Brer Rabbit nor is it a continuation of the history in a different place (like Nalo Hopkinson’s Sister Mine); it’s something wholly its own with roots in Egyptian history (like Tolkien has roots in Norse mythology and the Bible). What do you think? Have you read any good fantasy lately that was based on a specific culture or history?