Ok, this isn't so much about AH, as genre fiction in general...
I believe Drake was the first who had this bright idea of just re-telling some historical event in a fantastic setting. And with him it works, mostly because he learned to pick really obscure ones, the kind you need to read about from sources in the original Latin.
But if another author would produce nth retelling of Nike riots (or anything Belisarius did), Rorke's Drift, Thermopylae, Anabasis, or whatever only with lizardfolk Zulu and space elves thinking it's something that doesn't make you constantly think "wait, I've read that before and it was written better..." I would explode in frustration. Is it really THIS difficult to at least not to pick something that wasn't recycled 50 times or is a greater story than you'll ever write to begin with?
I believe Drake was the first who had this bright idea of just re-telling some historical event in a fantastic setting. And with him it works, mostly because he learned to pick really obscure ones, the kind you need to read about from sources in the original Latin.
But if another author would produce nth retelling of Nike riots (or anything Belisarius did), Rorke's Drift, Thermopylae, Anabasis, or whatever only with lizardfolk Zulu and space elves thinking it's something that doesn't make you constantly think "wait, I've read that before and it was written better..." I would explode in frustration. Is it really THIS difficult to at least not to pick something that wasn't recycled 50 times or is a greater story than you'll ever write to begin with?