Authors you'd recommend

[lumberjim]

Bernard Cornwell.

I didn't discover him until about 5 or 6 years ago, I guess. He writes fiction, but grounds it in real historical settings. The first of his books I read was 'The Winter King' because I'm a sucker for the King Arthur stories. It's a different view of Arthur, told by one of his warriors, Derfel(pronounced Dervel) Lots of real life, pragmatic angles, shield wall battle scenes, and disabused glamours. The series progresses to tell the full Arthur/Merlin/Lancelot/Guinevere saga in a way that will supplant your previously held imagery because it makes so much sense.

Bernard also has a huge Sharpe series. A British Skirmisher that gets all the girls, defies all the bosses and turns all the tides. (You'd all bang him, ladies; and you all imagine you'd be him in that position, fellas)

I have read the Stonehenge series, most of the Saxon Chronicles, and noe of the Starbuck (Pirate books) series. and have never been bored or dissapointed.