also, one or another of the books by mary renault.
that's all i can think of for the moment.
by the way, if you are thinking of actual history, one writer i would recommend to anyone is richard (rw) southern. his book "western views of islam in the middle ages" was a memorable thing for me, though i haven't looked at it for maybe 25 years.
also learnt a lot from hugh kennedy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_N._Kennedy