First Chapter

Every story starts with a first chapter.

And to date, the story is that the Historical Novel Society (HNS) has a band of loyal followers in Australia. We are currently seeking to replace this state of affairs with a new story.

But firstly, what is the HNS? Founded in 1997, it has promoted all aspects of historical fiction, namely providing:

   (1) Support and opportunities for new writers

   (2) Information for students, booksellers and librarians

   (3) A community of authors, readers, agents and publishers.

HNS also publishes the quarterly Historical Novels Review magazine, which seeks to review every new work of historical fiction released in the UK and USA. Selected titles from Canada and Australia are also reviewed, for a grand total of over 800 reviews per year. It is the only magazine of its kind, the best and most complete guide to the latest historical fiction in the world. The HNS also organises annual conferences between the UK and North America.

Since its inception in 1997, HNS chapters have mushroomed across the UK, USA and Ireland. And in Sydney, Australia, we are presently in a state of ‘prologue’, where we are presently growing a community of aficionados of the historical novel, which we have branded the Historical Novel Society Sydney (HNSS).

The efforts of the HNSS are currently focused on extending our membership. Our vision is to create a society that offers the following to its members:

(1) Discussion groups providing advice / feedback on excerpts of manuscripts
(2) Beta readers of draft manuscripts
(3) Posts reviews of novels and interviews with historical novelists to its blog
(4) Promotes historical novels and the genre of historical fiction

Also note that we are active virtually so members are welcome to contribute to our society without physically living in the city of Sydney. We will be accepting submissions to add your reviews, guest posts, reading recommendations and excerpts from WIPs onto this blog. 

So should you be interested to join our number and meet fellow 'historical fictionistas', please do drop us a line at hnssydney@gmail.com. We’re trying to spread the word, too, so please join our Facebook Group, follow us on Twitter and subscribe by email here.

We would be delighted to hear from you!

“Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it”

Oscar Wilde