There are events and people in the history we are taught about in school that would fade from memory in the space age were it not for historical novels and cinema blockbusters. Even so, our minds are cloudy. Achilles? Oh, you mean Brad Pitt. Cleopatra? Elizabeth Taylor. Moses? Charlton Heston.
Conqueror by Conn Iggulden 546 pp, 2011 Harper Collins paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 650 baht
But some are genuinely interested in the past. Perhaps not enough to go to the encyclopaedias or histories, yet willing to read fictionalised accounts researched by their authors and watch films "based on" what actually happened.
British writer Conn Iggulden focuses on the Rome of Julius Caesar, as well as the exploits of Genghis Khan.
Conqueror is the fifth volume in his Conqueror series. All are set in the 13th century. The great Genghis is dead and brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nephews and cousins are vying for the throne. Murder to ascend to the title of Great Khan is ceaseless.
Meanwhile, the Mongol armies are attacking in every direction, expanding their empire. To capture a city is to massacre the inhabitants and ransack it. The worst battles are between the Mongol rivals. Their power extends from the China Sea to the Danube. Islamic and Christian lands bow to their yoke. However, not all the contenders are trained from childhood to be warriors.
A grandson of Genghis was a scholar. Kublai Khan was more at home in the library than in the saddle. The author has him ordered to go out on a few campaigns to get the feeling for a soldier's life. How else to explain his adapting to war? China became his field of operations. Indeed, he becomes more Chinese than Mongol.
When Kublai Khan claimed the position of Great Khan, so did his brother Arik-Boke. It was one Great Khan too many. One had to go. Iggulden devotes hundreds of pages to their battles, more than 100,000 combatants on each side. Infantry and cavalry, arrows and swords, pretended retreats and charges, feints and ambushes out of Sun Tzu.
The story ended with Kublai Khan's victory and the reader is aware that there will be a sixth in the series. After all, Marco Polo has yet to out in an appearance. Those interested in the past, these series are a must.
The Nosferatu Scroll by James Becker 479 pp, 2011 Bantam paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 360 baht
A vampire primer
Do vampires exist? Seeing a Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee movie, who can doubt it? They sleep in coffins, shun sunlight, turn into bats to fly, are repulsed by garlic, branded by crucifixes, can only be killed by a wooden stake driven through the heart. Not shot by silver bullets, the fate of werewolves.
Bram Stoker and Anne Rice built their reputation on penning horrific novels about them. In fact, vampire stories go back millennia. Not just those centred on Transylvania, but in many lands. One has it that Cain ripped out Abel's throat. It is historical fact that people were killed for their blood.
Not necessarily to drink it. A superstition centuries past bathing in blood kept women forever beautiful, especially the menstrual blood of young virgins. Peasant lasses were kidnapped and killed by the score for the purpose until the perpetrators of this abomination were found and executed.
In The Nosferatu Scroll, British author James Becker tells the tale of a vampire group in modern Venice, combined with a 13-page treatise based on his research on the subject. The treatise sets this novel apart from the other works in the genre. As far as this reviewer is concerned, the treatise is the best part of the book, virtually all its 81 chapters end with a cliffhanger.
Protagonists are detective Chris Bronson and archaeologist Angela Lewis. On holiday in Venice, visiting churches and mausoleums, she finds an old diary which leads to an older still scroll. Whereupon she's abducted by nasties who want her to translate its medieval Latin. It details how to become a vampire and its rituals.
Chris reports her kidnapping to the Italian police and hundreds of pages are spent looking for her. In the process Becker supplies the readers with local trivia. Such as Venice having 117 isles and Napoleon having sacked it. The story has several suspenseful scenes, each of which is drawn out longer than they should be.
The climax is carried over a number of chapters. Set on an isle, Angela and an Italian woman are about to have their hearts cut out when Chris, then the police, come to the rescue. At the finis, all but the putrefying vampire leaders are captured. Expect a sequel.
This book contains everything about vampires you were afraid to ask.