Fiction based on Sumer

[hukkana]

I don't run across any too often myself. I did however just find mention of Eugene Frank Molnar's "The Slave of Ea: A Sumerian Legend" published in 1934. Sadly this book seems very scarce and rare and no one's ever uploaded it anywhere or reprinted it ever since.

I'd always be interested to see more fiction based on Mesopotamia in general and it could be interesting to see just how much Molnar got right if one could read this.

[madness]

That's interesting, I hadn't heard of that one before. Looks like used booksellers are asking a high price for it. Not unusual for rare texts.

A member of this board named ummia-inim-gina was working on Sumerian fiction a while ago, I wonder if he has finished his project?

[inimgina]

As madness mentioned I wrote a story set in ancient Mesopotamia a few years ago. It can be read on the board here:

enenuru.proboards.com/thread/222/rough-draft-version-book

[hukkana]

I have found something rather unexpected. The German fantastical writer Paul Sheerbart, proponent of glass architecture, seems to have written several stories taking place in Ancient Mesopotamia.

I've so far discovered these(translating the German title for any non German members though I think we have quite a large number of those who understand it just fine )

* Marduk, Assyrische Burg-Novelette (Assyrian Fortress Novelette)
* Istar, der Morgen- und Abendstern, Babylonische Sternwarten-Novellette (Istar, the Morning and Evening Star, a Babylonian Observatory Novelette)
* Audienz beim König, Assyrisches »Morgenidyll« (An Audience with the King, An Assyrian Morning Idyll)
* Kidimuti
* Nabu-kin
* Das Karussell, Babylonische Geschichte (The Carousel, A Babylonian Story)
* Der brennende Harem, Ninivitische Bibliotheks-Novellette (The Burning Harem, a Ninivite Library Novelette)
* Tempel und Paläste, Babylonische Hof-Novellette (Temples and Palaces, A Babylonian Court Novelette)
* Ninip, der Lichtgott (Ninip the Light God)

And because of it's unique historical position, I feel free to also add this story from Palmyra

* Von Leuten, die den Kopf verloren, Palmyrenische Fackeltanz-Novellette (Of People who had lost their head, A Palmyrene Torchdance Novelette)

I've not read any Sheerbart, but he does seem to be rather odd. I thought his would be mostly novels centering around invention and fantastical architecture, and he also seems to call some of his books "novels" when they are in fact short story works, on purpose. I'm really interested to see how this goes.

Oh and he also wrote some Arabian romances, including "Der Tod der Barmekiden" which I'm working to make into a PDF next.

[sheshki]

Very interesting. Have never heard of this guy before.
Here is a link to the Marduk story
link

It is even available as audio book
link

[hukkana]

Sept 11, 2016 13:48:03 GMT -5 sheshki said:

Very interesting. Have never heard of this guy before.
Here is a link to the Marduk story
link

It is even available as audio book
link

The German Gutengerg page for Scheerbart has all of the stories I list on there as well, in case anyone is curious.

Mind you they have the annoying tendency of listing each chapter seperately, or even splitting them in half when it's "too long" so unlike regular Gutenberg, you have to scroll through and click onwards over over again. A book by Sheerbart and the much, much longer three volume Der Zauberring from de la Motte Fouqué both required clicking through more then 80 pages. It's really kind of annyoing.

[hukkana]

Another German language discovery that is not digitised in any way

Martin Hellinden: Der Stern von Halalat. Historischer Roman, 1903

According to www.uibk.ac.at it concerns Babylon in the 6th century BC and features king Cyrus.

[rummah]

I suppose the question to ask is, would anyone buy a fictional novel set in Ancient Sumer? I write fiction professionally, but the first thing you investigate before writing for a market is public interest. Any story will sell if it's compelling and grabs the reader, so long as you can get it out there for them to see. Much of the background work was done on this board already. I'd love to write something based in Sumer. I could see an excellent historical fiction work or even a fantasy novel with Sumerian deities as the characters.

[hukkana]

Jun 12, 2017 12:44:22 GMT -5 rummah said:

I suppose the question to ask is, would anyone buy a fictional novel set in Ancient Sumer? I write fiction professionally, but the first thing you investigate before writing for a market is public interest. Any story will sell if it's compelling and grabs the reader, so long as you can get it out there for them to see. Much of the background work was done on this board already. I'd love to write something based in Sumer. I could see an excellent historical fiction work or even a fantasy novel with Sumerian deities as the characters.

I mean, I've seen successfull novels writen about Mithridates.

I actually try to specialise on more obscure parts of history to write about, though those take a lot of time. A criminally under represented area is the Seleucid Empire and especially it's sycretistic Hellenic, Syrian and Mesopotamian religious sphere, a very interesting sphere, as demonstrated by a Greek language dedication to Apladad I found the other name, dedicated by Greeks with Mesopotamian or Syrian theophoric elements. Not posting about it to brag, but I simply find it fascinating

enenuru.proboards.com/thread/683/mesopotamian-greek-cultural-exposure

Another extremely underdeveloped field is Ancient Phoenicia, but probably the most obscure but not at all insignificant would be the Indo-Greek/Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom(s) of India. I personally consider writing something about King Demetrius I of Bactria.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrius_I_of_Bactria

Aside from the rather misplaced inclusion of the Epic of Gilgamesh and The New Oxford Annotated Bible, this page also lists several examples

www.librarything.com/list/146/all/Fiction-Set-in-Ancient-Mesopotamia

Edit: Goodreads also yields more results, but the Guild books seem to commit the cardinal sin of using the Greek versions of names.

www.goodreads.com/book/show/311497.The_Assyrian

www.goodreads.com/book/show/1539841.The_Blood_Star

www.goodreads.com/book/show/593279.The_Ambassador_s_Daughter_A_Novel_of_Ancient_Mesopotamia

And not to mention there's also Silverberg's Gilgamesh the King

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh_the_King

[rummah]

Currently reading "The Assyrian" as I found about it yesterday. Have "The Ambassador's Daughter" on my Amazon wish list. Thanks for the information, it appears I missed a lot. Doesn't seem to be anything about Sumer in novel form.