Edinburgh literature festival that could change history

Heart of Midlothian, title of a Sir Walter Scott historical
novel and  symbol for Edinburgh football team, Hearts

…books are places along the way too…either place in books OR places and books are doubly so…

The first festival of historical fiction could mean that the 'problematic' historical novel will soon be a thing of the past. The genre-defying historical novel can come in the form of a crime novel, a romance, a political thriller, a biography or a literary novel.

This weekend, the Summerhall arts venue in Edinburgh is hosting the first ever literary festival devoted to historical fiction. It's the brainchild of Iain Gale, the art critic and author of several works of military historical fiction in the vein of Bernard Cornwell and Patrick O'Brien, and Allan Massie....

The "historical novel" isn't really a genre – since every genre can be made historical. Steampunk is really just historical SF; and Adam Roberts has written superb works, such as Yellow Blue Tibia, featuring science fiction tropes in a historical setting. And steampunk begat flintlock fantasy: I'm rather fond of Naomi Novik's Temeraire series (Napoleonic sagas with dragons). Kim Newman's Anno Dracula series gives us historical horror. I have so far been unable, much to my chagrin, to obtain a copy of Peter H Cannon's 1994 intersection of PG Wodehouse and HP Lovecraft, Scream for Jeeves.

Even within literary fiction, the idea of the "historical novel" is problematic.

The Edinburgh literature festival that could change history | Stuart Kelly | Books | The Guardian