The Old Shelter

I’m a fiction writer, so of course I want to know what others did and wrote in the same setting I’m using. History is extremely important for any writer handling an historical setting, but because we’re storytellers, it’s from other storytellers we learn the most. Better still if these storytellers wrote in the time period we’re interested into or told story set in the same time frame.

This is how I see it: facts allow you to see things from outside. Stories allow you to see things from inside. So you can’t do one thing and don’t do the other. And then, if reading history is interesting and educational, reading stories is just plain fan.

NOTE: I tried to track down the first ever edition of every book, because I think knowing when a book was written puts it in the right perspective.

Algren, Nelson, The Neon Wilderness. Doubleday, New York, 1947

Chandler, Raymond. Killer in the Rain. Black Mask Magazine, January 1935

Christie, Agatha, The Secret Adversary. The Bodley Head, London, 1922

Farrell, James T., Chicago Stories. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (IL), 1998

Hammett, Dashiell, The Dain Course. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1928

Hammett, Dashiell, Red Harvest. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1929

Lee, Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird. J. B. Lippincott Company, New York, 1960.

Le Sueur, Meridel, The Girl. West End Press, New York, 1978 (but written in 1939)

Scott Fitzgerald, Francis, The Great Gatsby. Scribner’s, New York, 1925

Scott Fitzgerald, Francis, Magnetism. Penguin Books, London, 2007

Van Vechten, Carl, Nigger Heaven. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1926

Ellison, Ralph, Invisible Man. Random House, New York, 1952

Himes, Chester, If He Hollers, Let Him Go. Doubleday, New York, 1945

Himes, Chester, A Rage in Harlem. (first published in France as La Reine des pommes in 1957)

Himes, Chester, The Real Cool Killers. (first published in France as Il pleut des coups durs in 1958)

Himes, Chester, All Shut Up. (first published in France as Imbroglio Négro in 1959)

Hughes, Langston, Tambourines to Glory. The John Day Company, New York, 1958

Hughes, Langston, Vintage Hughes. Vintage Books, New York, 1995

Hughes, Langston, The Ways of the White Folks. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1934

Hurston, Zone Neale, Their Eyes Were Watching God. J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia  (PA), 1937

McKay, Claud, Home to Harlem. Chatham Bookseller, New York, 1928

McKay, Claud, Banjo. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1929

Thurman, Wallance, The Blacker the Berry…. The Macaulay Company, New York, 1929

Wright, Richard, Black Boy. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1945

Alexie, Sherman, The Long Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York , 1993

Alexie, Sherman, Reservation Blues. The Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 1995

Alexie, Sherman, Smoke Signals. The Screenplay. Miramax Books/Hyperion, New York, 1998

Erdrich, Louise, The Round House. HarperCollins, New York City, 2012

Henson, Lance, Sand Creek. Edizioni Biblioteca dell’Immagine, Pordenone, 2005

Jones, Stephen Graham, Ledfeather. FC2/University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa (AL), 2008

King, Thomas, Medicine River. Viking, Toronto (Canada), 1989

Momaday, N. Scott, House Made of Dawn. Harper & Row Publishers, New York,1966

Seals, David, Powwow Highway. Plum, New York, 1979

Verble, Margaret, Maud’s Line. Houghton Mifflin, New Yourk City, 2015

Welch, James, The Heartsong of Charging Elk. Doubleday, New York, 2000

Welch, James, Winter in the Blood. Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1974

Blackwell, Elizabeth, On a Cold Dark Sea. Lake Union Publishing, Seattle (WA), 2018

Blewitt, Chris, The Chemist. Kindle Unlimited, 2011

Conroy, Vivian. A Proposal to Die for. Carina Press, 2016

Cox, Michelle, A Ring of Truth, She Writes Press, 2017

Cox, Michelle, A Promise Given, She Writes Press, 2018

Dunnecoin, A.M., Speakeasy. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Dybeck, Stuart, The Coast of Chicago. Knopf, New York, 1990

Gabriel, Marius, The Oceon Liner. Lake Union Publishing, Seattle (WA), 2018

Greenwood, Kerry, The Green Mill Murder. Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale (AZ), 1993

Greenwood, Kerry, Ruddy Gore. Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale (AZ), 1995

Greenwood, Kerry, Raisins and Almond. Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale (AZ), 1997

Greenwood, Kerry, Away with the FAiries. Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale (AZ), 2001

Greenwood, Kerry, Murder in Montparnasse, Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale (AZ), 2002

Greenwood, Kerry, Murder in the Dark. Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale (AZ), 2006

Greenwood, Kerry, Unnatural Habits. Allen & Unwin, Melbourne (Australia), 2012

Harrison, Cora, Death of a Novice. Severn House Publisher, Sutton, 2018

Ireland, D.E., Get Me to the Grave in Time. Grainger Press, 2016

Kearney, Paul, The Wolf in the Attic, Solaris, Oxford, 2016

Kerrigan, Kate, Ellis Island, Pan MacMillan, London, 2010

Kutscher, Volker, Babylon Berlin. Sandstone Press, Dingwall, 2016

Lawlor, David, Tan, Be Creative Media Group, Dublin, 2012

Miley, Mary, Renting Silence. Severn House Publisher, Sutton, 2016

Miley, Mary, Murder in Disguise. Severn House Publisher, Sutton, 2017

Monaghan, Alan, The Soldier’s Farewell, Pan MacMillan, London, 2012

Monroe, Steve, Chicago, 1946. Miramax Books, New York, 2002

Mosley, Walter, The Devil in Blue. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, 1990

O’Donnell, Hugh J., The Crash: a Sharp Terry Case File. Kindle Unlimited, 2012

Reisinger, John, Death of a Flapper. Glyphworks Publishing, Easton (MD), 2012

Taylor, Mildred D., Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Dial Books, New York, 1976

Tod, M.K., Time and Regret, Lake Union Publishing, Seattle, 2016

Trueblood, Amy, Nothing But Sky. Flux Books, St. Paul (MN), 2018

Upson, Nicola, Nine Lessons. Croocked Lane Books, New York City, 2017

Walker, Jeffrey K., None of Us the Same, Bullybur Publishing, Williamsburg (VA), 2017

Winspear, Jacqueline, Maisie Dobbs, Penguin, London, 2004

Wisseman, Sarah, The Bootlegger’s Nephew. Hilliars Harris, Boonsboro (MD), 2012

Catton, John Paul, Dulce Et Decorum Est – The Futuristic Manifesto #2. Exalibur Books, Portland (OR), 2013

Constantine, Bard. Troubleshooter. New Heavem Blues. Non Omnis Moriar, 2012

Constantine, Bard. Troubleshooter. The Wise Man Says. Non Omnis Moriar, 2013

Cornell, Charles A., DragonFly, Charles Cornell Creative Partners LLC, 2014

Dorning, S.P., There Shouldn’t Be Elves in Hammertown, Smashwords, 2012

Flewwelling, Pat, The Fog of Dockside City. The Obliteration Machine. Montreal, 2013

Fredericks, Damian, The Trumpet. Damian Fredericks, 2012

Gates, Jalyn/Holt, Erika, Broken Times Blues. Fantastic Tales in the Roaring ‘20s. Absolute XPress, Calgary, 2011

Glaser, Dan, A Fistful of Nohting. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Hawes, C.W., The Moscow Affair, Kindle Direct Publishing, 2014

Lori, Rea, The Hot Dry Spell. RavenFire Media, 2011

Martin, Sophia, The City Darkens, Kindle Direct Publishing, 2013

Robinson, Grace E., Mrs Jones and the Midas Train. Kindle Direct Publishing, 2017

Sikes, A.J, Gods of Chicago. Anachron Press, 2014

Sikes, A.J, If You Can Get It, Kindle Unlimited, 2014

Sikes, A.J., Gods of New Orleans, Kindle United, 2016

St. George, Carlie, The Case of the Little Bloody Slipper, Book Smugglers Publishing, 2015