Writing historical fiction

I've been perusing the net (ooh, I like that word) reading about agents and publishers and the books that are making it big. Lots of edgy stuff - edgy - ie. not old-fashioned. Makes me pause and wonder about the trail I've chosen to meander down - the historical fiction trail. And yet, I rationalize to myself, why can't historical fiction be just as edgy and real as the contemporary stuff?

One of the best books I've read recently is The Book Thief by Mark Zusak. Historical fiction - and it's so powerful and I'm in such awe of what he did in that book. Zusak created real magic in those pages.

And that without wizards or any super-natural hocus pocus - just words and history.

I must continue down the trails that interest me. Zusak is my inspiration! (And he's so young! - Wow.)