| Robin Hood - The Facts and the Fiction

	1948 The Good Yeomen (Jay Williams) A novel that tells the tale of Little John and his life as he escapes serfdom and joins the band of outlaws in Sherwood, led by Robin Hood.

	1975 The Last of the Greenwood (Sharon Whitby), Youthful Roger Gunberd, a noble’s son, is initiated to be ‘the Robin Hood’. Matilda Fitzwalter becomes his ‘Marion’ — the Green Man’s bride. Robin is outlawed by the treachery of his jealous and beautiful cousin, becomes leader of the forest coven, and deals with plots, perils, and personal conflicts that involve both followers of the Old Way and the New. An interesting twist to the Robin Hood tale.

	1981 The Death of Robin Hood (Peter Vansittart) An unusual collection of observations made by characters at various times in history, with the legend of Robin Hood, or “the Green Man”, lurking in the background, sometimes influencing the characters and their thought, interpretations, and actions.

	1982 The Lion and the Unicorn (Gary L. Blackwood) A wandering minstrel (Alan-a-dale) shares his experiences in medieval England as he joins a band of outlaws hiding out in Sherwood Forest, led by a Robin. There is no Marian in the story, but Robin’s female cohort is named Hilary, who becomes unexpectedly drawn to Alan, as he is to her. Told in first person, with no chapter breaks.

	1983 Locksley (Nicholas Chase) Robert Godfrey Bouvier Atheling of Locksley assumes different identities including Robin Hood and Daniel Delore. The story is told from his perspective, a life that weaves through major historical events of the reign of King Richard I and King John, in a time of violence and political intrigue.

	1986 Under the Wild Moon A historical romance novel, in which a spirited woman of Medieval England becomes involved with Robin Hood’s band of outlaws and falls in love with Robin’s dashing cousin, Will Scarlet.

	1989 The Lost Journal of Robyn Hood-Outlaw (David Stuart Ryan, editor) A ‘discovered’ journal of Robin Hood, told in first person of his adventures during the reign of the Edwards of England, with graphic accounts of the violence and horrors of the era. Other characters occasionally add their ‘journal entries.’

	1991 Sherwood (Parke Godwin) This version of the Robin Hood legend is set in the time of William the Conqueror. After the Saxon thane of Denby is killed at York, his son Edward Aelredson, nicknamed Robin, succeeds to the land located next to Sherwood Forest. The young thane is outraged by the blinding of one of his men in retaliation for poaching King William’s deer; when his attempt to reason with the sheriff of Nottingham turns to violence, Robin is outlawed. Before fleeing, Robin marries his love, Marian Elfrics, who is then sent to serve William’s queen.

	1991 The Fantastic Adventures of Robin Hood (Martin H. Greenberg, Editor) A collection of widely diverse short stories by various authors that add various twists of fantasy, science fiction, and horror to the legend.

	1991 Marian: The Robin Hood Story (Catherine J. Todd) From her convent room, the aging Marian tells her biography in first person; from her early years fostered at a convent, to her marriage to Sir Guy of Gisbourne, and how political intrigue and ethical conflicts drove her to Sherwood and to the outlaw band led by Robin Hood.

	1991 Through a Dark Mist (The first of the Medieval/Black Wolf trilogy romantic Robin Hood style novels by Marsha Canham) While on her way to meet her betrothed, Lucien (The Dragon) de Gournay, the highborn Servanne de Briscourt and her party are attacked by a band of men and women led by the notorious Black Wolf, who would rather fight injustice than live under the heel of the ruthless Dragon. She and Black Wolf submit to their growing passion, and he claims to be the true heir to her future husband’s title. He turns her over to her betrothed, but upon reaching Bloodmoor Keep to wed the Dragon, she meets his vicious mistress and sees for herself his cruelty and treachery. Servanne realizes that she loves the Black Wolf, but is a pawn in the struggle between him and the Dragon. Servanne aids the Black Wolf and relives a nightmare in order to expose the traitors to the kingdom and help her true love reclaim his birthright.

	1992 The Sheriff of Nottingham (Richard Kluger) This novel focuses on the customary villain who is identified with an actual 13th-century figure, Phillip Mark, sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire from 1209 to 1224. He is portrayed as an upright man fighting to retain his integrity and his loyalty to his king. Kluger’s novel attempts to show the age of corruption and conflicting loyalties that produced the Magna Carta.

	1992 Lady of the Forest (Jennifer Roberson) Marian of Ravenskeep has recently been orphaned by her father’s death in the Crusades. She attends the celebration given by the Earl of Huntington to honor his son and heir, Robert of Locksley, who has recently returned from that same battlefield. While the other maidens hope to attract the eye of the Earl’s well-born son, Marian prays only that Robert might supply her with the details of her father’s last days. Marian finds him to be a ravaged victim of battle fatigue, robbed of peace by nightmares and violent visions. Despite these distractions, the pair fall in love on sight–but they must outmaneuver the likes of King Richard’s younger brother, Prince John; the Earl of Huntington, who wants Robert to wed the prince’s daughter; the Sheriff of Nottingham, who intends to marry Marian himself and wed his own daughter to Robert; and many anothers.

	1992 Lady of the Forest (Jennifer Roberson) Told mostly through Marian’s eyes, the author’s tale of Robin Hood seems to have been inspired by the ‘Robin of Sherwood’ TV series, with a nearly identical character of Will Scarlet. Jason Connery could be her version of Robin Hood.

	1993 Robin and the King (Parke Godwin) In this sequel to Sherwood set eight years after his pardon from the king for his deeds in Sherwood Forest, Robin lives contentedly with his beloved Marian and their two children. However Edward Denby, otherwise known as Robin Hood, once again finds himself on the wrong side of the law as his conscience drives him to oppose royal tyranny. He argues in court against a plan to convert part of Sherwood into a royal hunting preserve for William I, who rules England from Normandy.

	1993 The Assassin in the Greenwood One of a series of books about a mystery-solving clerk, Hugh Corbett, in service to the King. In this story, Hugh investigates a series of murders being blamed on Robin Hood. The plot sets the legend during the reign of Edward I.

	1994 In the Shadow of Midnight (The second of the Medieval/Black Wolf trilogy romantic Robin Hood style novels by Marsha Canham) Eduard FitzRandwulf d’Amboise the illegitimate son of the Black Wolf, accompanies the fiery Lady Ariel de Clare to England from France as part of a plan to rescue Princess Eleanor of Brittany, who has been taken prisoner by King John. Niece to William, Marshal of England, Lady Ariel de Clare has fled from the King rather than marry by decree. As they travel through the English countryside (meeting outlaws and the king’s menalong the way) the desire that develops between them turns to passion.

	1995 The Sherwood Game A science ficion story set in the near future. Virtual Realtiy has become sophisticated and technology has allowed the development of robotic ‘mechbodies’ indistinguishable from humans. A computer programmer of one such ‘mech’ company has secretly created a VR game for his own amusement, unaware that his heroic program of Robin Hood has developed self-awareness. This artificial intelligence has been investigating the company computer network, making his own improvements and changes to the game, and blackmails his programmer into pouring his personality into a suitable mechbody, along with that of his companion programs. When programmer and program discover an unsavory sideline within the company, they find themselves and their friends trapped in a VR game that becomes dangerously real.

	1996 The Thief’s Mistress A historical romance, set in the middle of various plots and political intrigue during the reign of Richard I. Marian, the featured character, is no innocent maid, but a woman who knows well what she wants and how to get it — be it revenge, self-defense, political manipulations, feelings for Sir Guy, or her feelings for the brazen outlaw, Robin Hood, who dared steal a kiss from her.

	1997 Lady Outlaw (Kathryn Kramer) A romance novel of a spirited lady who, disguised as a boy, joins Robin Hood’s band. She helps the forest outlaws battle their enemies, while she battles her feelings for one disinheirited knight who knows her secret and is determined to win her heart.

	1997 The Last Arrow (The last of the Medieval/Black Wolf trilogy romantic Robin Hood style novels by Marsha Canham) Lady Brenna Wardieu, the daughter of the Black Wolf, has become a master of the longbow, a worthy rival of the land’s best archers. One day, she finally meets her match in Griffyn Renaud de Verdel, a mysterious man she’s caught trespassing on her father’s lands. Taken aback by her skill with the bow and arrow, Griffyn could have still overpowered Brenna. He allows her, instead, to capture him and bring him to face her family. She discovers that Griffyn and her brother Robin Wardieu d’Ambroise have already met. The two men jousted in the past at a tourney. Griffyn lost – the only loss he had sustained in many years. The consequences were tragic. He is intent on a rematch at the great upcoming tournament in Chateau Gaillard, Normandy. Griffyn and Brenna become attracted to each other and despite their differences and conflicting goals, they find themselves watching each other’s backs in battle after battle. Soon, it becomes clear their goal is the same and they end up working together to save her brother’s life, and finding the traitor in their midst.

	1998 (Michael Cadnum) In a Dark Wood The story is told through the eyes of Geoffrey, the sheriff of Nottingham, who is presented as a believable medieval character. Through their battle of wits, the sheriff and the outlaw develop an unexpected respect for each other.

	2002 Robin Hood and the Beasts of Sherwood (Clayton Emery) Danger gathers in Sherwood Forest. A demon-boar ravages the countryside. Black-robed monks ride the king’s road.Witches weave spells in the night, and thugs rape, pillage, and murder in Robin’s name. Attacked on all sides, by sorcery and by sword, Robin Hood and His Merry Men and Women battle for their forest home. Too late they discover the trap laid against them, and Sherwood Forest explodes as enemies descend with fire, magic, and treachery. First in the historical-fantasy series Tales of Robin Hood.

	2004 Maid Marian (Elsa Watson) Marian Fitzwater an orphan and heiressen, is wed at the age of five to an infant nobleman, Lord Hugh of Sencaster. When she is seventeen, Lord Hugh, whom she hasn’t in years, dies under mysterious circumstances. Marian is left alone again but she is made the ward of King Richard the Lionheart. Richard is away on Crusade, so Marian’s fate is in the hands of his mother, the formidable Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. Determined not to be sold into another sham marriage, she seeks out Robin Hood, the notorious Saxon outlaw of Sherwood Forest, the one man who can help uncover the queen’s intentions. Marian discovers that the ‘prince of thieves’ is helpful and handsome and sympahetic to her plight. Marian learns, to her horror, that she is to marry her late husband’s brother. On the eve of her wedding, Robin spirits Marian back to the forest. The Queen believes her to be dead, and Marian begins a new life with Robin Hood’s outlaws, who pledge to help her regain her fortune and expose the treachery of her enemies.

	2006 Hood (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 1, Stephen R. Lawhead) Hood tells the story of an alternative Robin Hood, a rebel in the deep forests of Wales in 1093. Son of a king, a young man named Bran is made homeless when his father is killed and the kingdom of Elfael becomes a pawn to squabbling Norman factions. A long and fascinating time in the wilderness, in which Bran’s faith and health are restored by an old woman of mystical origins, brings him at last to his destiny: leading a band of dauntless archers against the kingdom’s usurpers. Robin Hood is born, along with Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, and Little John.

	2007 Scarlet (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 2, Stephen R. Lawhead) After losing everything he owns, forester Will Scarlet embarks on a search for none other than King Raven, whose exploits have already become legendary. After fulfilling his quest, and proving himself a skilled and loyal companion, Will joins the heroic archer and his men, but ends up in prison for a crime he did not commit. His sentence is death by hanging unless he delivers King Raven and his band of cohorts. Wales is slowly falling under the control of the invading Normans, and King William the Red has given his ruthless barons control of the land. In desperation, the people turn to King Raven and his men for justice and survival in the face of the ever-growing onslaught. From deep in the forest they form a daring plan for deliverance, knowing that failure means death for them all.

	2009 Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers – A Canterbury Tale (Paul A. Freeman) This novella appears to be an attempt to duplicate the Canterbury Tales with it’s poetic prose: Friar Tuck is on crusade, a member of Sir Guy’s entourage that felled a man that was both evil and wealthy; he had been using a zombie army to protect himself and his riches, but the Englishmen manage to defeat him. This set the zombies free to eat people. Lady Clair, Sir Guy’s wife, was unfortunately infected and returns to England before she dies of the zombie virus. Friar Tuck swiftly enlists Robin Hood and his merry men to stop the evil being before it is too late for England and the world.

	2009 Robin Hood and the Bells of London (Clayton Emery) Little John is lost, a slave in the streets of London, an outlaw city. Robin Hood and His Merry Men, Women, and Children have vowed to free him or die. As the city simmers with heat and hatred, the fighters of Sherwood Forest battle alchemists, assassins, and aldermen in tournaments, pitfights, palace balls, fetid prisons, and cathedral steeples. Robin Hood finds his band melting away as the outlaws adapt to the new city ways. Beaten, betrayed, and bedeviled, the hero fears he’ll have no followers left by summer’s end. Then plague wracks the city and pogroms wreak havoc. The legendary outlaws rally to bring justice to the streets – while the city burns to the brazen tolls of the Bells of London. The sequel to Robin Hood and The Beasts of Sherwood.

	2009 Mandrake and Murder (Clayton Emery) A witch is strangled by a hanged man. A mad dowser tracks demons and monsters. A miller’s ghost haunts his mill. A drowned fisherman speaks through the cry of seagulls. A scarecrow stalks its killer. Virgins are sold into slavery. A tournament charge leaves many knights dead and one murdered. A kidnapped girl vanishes into the forest… From Sherwood’s Greenwood to the fetid streets of London, Robin Hood and Marian use logic and superstition, muscle and pluck, and fire and steel to track the darkest killers of the Dark Ages.

	2009 Royal Hunt: A Robin and Marian Mystery (Clayton Emery) In a forest verging on Stonehenge… The Wild Huntsman and his Hellhounds ride the night, chasing down innocents and snatching their souls – and their heads. Forced to serve as Royal Forester, Robin Hood and Maid Marian hunt for the truth behind kidnappings, arson, forgery, rape, and betrayal.

	2009 Tuck (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 3, Stephen R. Lawhead) Tuck is Stephen Lawhead’s third and final instalment: King Raven has brought hope to the oppressed people of Wales, and fear to their Norman overlords. Along the way Friar Tuck has been the stalwart supporter of King Raven, bringing him much-needed guidance, wit, and faithful companionship. Deceived by the self-serving King William and hunted by the treacherous Abbot Hugo and Sheriff de Glanville, Rhi Bran is forced to take matters into his own hands as King Raven. Aided by Tuck and his small but determined band of forest-dwelling outlaws, he ignites a rebellion that spreads through the Welsh valleys, forcing the wily monarch to marshal his army and march against little Elfael.