I was reading That Which Should Not Be by Brett J Talley and loved how Cthulhu was framed as being such an ancient evil that he was the real life inspiration for the Kraken, Leviathan, and even possibly Satan. It’s even implied that Plato discovered Ryleh and called it Atlantis. As a history nerd who loves genre fiction, i think this concept is a lot of fun, though I can’t think of a ton of other examples in books. They aren’t great but, I do also remember liking as a kid how the Transformers movies intertwined Autobot/Decepticon lore with our own Earth technologies, the Pyramids, and the Apollo 11 mission.
Bonus points if there’s a conspiracy or mystery element to it
No major spoilers please!
by jesster_0
7 Comments
The Terror by Dan Simmons is a fictional account of Captain John Franklin’s lost Arctic expedition. It was a great read!
This is pretty much Tim Powers’ whole genre. _The Stress of Her Regard_ ties vampires and mythology to the Romantic poets Keats, Shelley, and Byron; _Last Call_ ties the founding of Las Vegas to the story of the Fisher King; and _The Drawing of the Dark_ ties the Ottoman siege of Vienna to Finn MacCool and, well, magical beer.
AHHHH
Babel by R.F kuang fits basicly alot these boxes omgg
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Historical fantasy horror set during the Black Death. It’s extremely good, though VERY VERY dark.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Not sure if it fits here- A Nightmare’s Point of View (sci-fi dark fantasy) it has a lot of eclectic characters and you see some Alternative history of earth and views
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson could interest you. Historical fantasy at its best. It is huge and flamboyant : the XVIIth century rewritten by a very gifted writer.