Walter Scott Prize launches search for favourite historical

I don't know if this really counts, but one (actually two) I'd nominate would be Cecil and Cecil, a Peer by Mrs. Gore (Catherine Grace Frances Gore). Written in the 1840's, the two books comprise a fanciful history of a Regency-era dandy, who spins his recollections over the course of his youth and into old age, where he's entered the peerage and Parliament. Little else by Gore is even readable these days--she was very much school of 'silver fork' novels of the upper classes--but these volumes are often very witty and sometimes even comparable to Jane Austen and Thackeray in their humor. They're out of print so far as I know, and difficult to find, but deserve resurrection as entertaining fictional histories of the George IV era, and not quite like any other productions from the period of their composition.

Of course, I dunno if the prize is only for living authors as opposed to works. If posthumous latter-day authors can get the nod, I'd unhesitatingly set down a book by another  Gore--Gore Vidal, whose novel Burr set the standard for me years ago as to what an excellent historical novel ought to be. 

Excellent choice. Another contender might be Norman Mailer's Ancient Evenings, which seemed likely to have been inspired by Vidal's book, but is not as good, imo.

Vidal sets the standard for me as historical novelist on every level. His 'American Series' (which reflects US history through the lens of the fictional Sanford family and their newspaper publishing empire) comprises, along with several other volumes, the purely brilliant pair of 'true' novels, Burr and Lincoln, and makes for what I feel is the single best group of novels written in this country on its antecedents, expertly blending fact with incisive and often mirthful character detailing. No one has bested him at this genre yet.

I would nominate Mary Renault's books about Alexander the Great, and Creation, by Gore Vidal.

So did I. Definitely Top 5 historical novels for me.