Kerry
Osprey Books - The Perfect All-Around Reference Book?
June 14, 2010 12:00 AM
We all know that Osprey's titles have proved valuable to hobbyists since the first Men-At-Arms titles arrived on the scene 464 volumes ago. Modelers (or modellers, for our British friends), wargamers, toy soldier collectors, re-enactors - all come to Osprey for preliminary research, detailed accounts of campaigns, uniforms, etc. But who else draws on the information in our volumes?
Historians, of course. Biographers, sure. Historical fiction writers? Ok. We had a number of authors and screenwriters singing the praises of FUBAR when it first came out, as it proved a valuable reference for historical accuracy in their writing.
How far, then, is the leap from historical fiction into historical romance? Not that far, it seems. We first noticed Osprey books in this light from a blog posting on Romance Bandits. A little preliminary digging showed that Osprey books, along with books from several other non-fiction publishers, are listed as references on the Researching the Romance suggestion site. A few of our Highlander books are cited in the bibliographies of Diana Gabaldan's Outlander series. And just last week at BEA, we met several romance authors, including Terri Brisbin, who came by looking for a catalog for new ideas.
All well and good, I say, and I agree with Richard that maybe we should start adding romance-writers to the list of genres that read Osprey books.
But even more exciting to me, a huge fantasy nerd, was THE George R. R. Martin's nod to Osprey books on his website, citing them as a reference for anything military, and a starting point for Game of Thrones (which, incidentally, is yet another book coming to a screen near you via HBO).
So maybe we need to add romance writers and fantasy writers to the list... or maybe we just need to stop keeping a list and, once again, thank all of our readers, regardless of motivation.
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