I am a Magpie for 'interesting facts' and I like to incorporate these as much as possible into my work. Whilst I am NO educationalist I feel that readers like to know odd bits and pieces-even if I sometimes write satirical pieces,(New shoes) there is always a grain of truth in the merciless lampooning.
When I wrote the Spartacus Prophecy I was fascinated by how much I genuinely did not know about those times, having been led astray by Kirk Douglas and his merry men!
Hollywood will eventually kill history.
My own reading likes are manifold and at the moment I am going through a double phase of both historicals and epic fantasy. Feist & Erikson are particular favourites in the latter genre.