It's all about the shiny

[pbray]

Package from Amazon.Com arrived yesterday with two lovely books: Ship by Brian Lavery and The History of the Ship: The Comprehensive Story of Seafaring from the Earliest Times to the Present Day by Richard Woodman.

The Ship book was on sale, and it's just what I hoped for, full of lovely pictures. And as long as I was ordering, I picked up the Richard Woodman title. I'd already borrowed it a couple of times from the local library, so I knew I wanted it.

Mmmm. Shiny new reference books. Happiness.

Let's set aside the fact that I have at least eight other naval history titles, including two already bought for the current series I'm working on. The point of this is that most of my books were related to the era of Nelson's Navy (late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries) so it was a perfect excuse to buy more.

Did I mention that research books were tax deductible? It's right up there on my top 10 list of good things about being an author.

Comments

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

"What era ships are you looking at? Sailing ships or rowed galleys? Rivers, lakes, coastal voyages or crossing oceans?"

Yes. Pre 19th century.

"Do you need to know the details of a sailor's life and daily tasks or just a general overview of what kind of ships your merchants would own and what they might transport?"

Yes, and how many sailors are signed on, what their functions and titles are, what they did as part of their jobs.

"Isn't research fun?"

Yes, it is fascinating! (As I eavesdrop in on this conversation):-).

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'll dig around in my writing room this weekend and see if I can come up with a list of references I've found helpful.

Usually if I have to reseach a topic I start in the local library. Children's reference books are often a good start (the DK Eyewitness to History books come to mind). Then I go to adult reference, and if it's beyond the scope of what I find there I wind up with interlibrary loan or heading to the university library. The internet is good for some things, but for a thorough overview of a topic you can't beat a book.

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

I'd really appreciate the reference list!

My local library is very great for some things but there are gaping holes for other things. (Like ancient travel and finding out how far a guy can walk/ride in a day). We can pull books in from all over the county but there are still holes. I haven't successfully done an interlibrary loan yet.
I have hit up the children's department because they have more info about daily life type things. The frustration I feel with the juvenile materials is that they are sometimes too dumbed down, vague, so general that they don't offer much info and there are too many pictures and not enough text. The up side to the children's department is that the librarians down there are VERY nice.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I've found SCA members and reenactors can also be great resources. Most of them are passionate about their time period and are willing to answer questions, as well as to recommend research books they've found helpful.

When I was at Bucconeer in 1998 I met several members of the Viking Longship Company, a reenacting group out of Maryland. They gave me suggestions for resources on Viking life, including which translations of the Norse sagas were worth reading, and which ones were not.

[fancythat2.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about chatting up the SCA folks I know, that's a good idea.

There is a community on lj called little_details that's interesting and another place to bring questions. (It's like getting info on the internet, you have to double check the facts but at least you have something to begin with).

I like books and the library best though. :-)

Bucconeer? A pirate con? How cool!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Well actually Bucconeer was the name for the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention, but it did have a pirate theme which we was great fun.