March news – It's all been happening!

Dark days are on us again with the invasion of Ukraine. Romans can’t always hold their heads up in this respect, but this is 2022 Europe. Such a thing should no longer even be considered, let alone happen. The International Committee of the Red Cross is already active, bringing relief inside and outside Ukraine. I’m supporting them with my book profits from February and March.

If you’d like to donate, here’a the link:  https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine   #StandWithUkraine

What’s March about?

March (Latin, Martius) was named after the god Mars, and traditionally starts the Roman year. Usually seen as the god of war, he was also associated with agriculture ( something to do with ‘manly vigour’ and the rise of fertility in the spring?). Anyway, most of his festivals were held in March and October – the beginning and end of the season for military campaigning and the start of new crop growth and the end of the main season for farming.

Mars was second in importance to Jupiter in Ancient Rome, and represented military power as a way to secure peace, and featured as protector and father of the Roman people. In Roma Nova, he’s not so predominant and sheds the ‘father of the Roman people’ role, but symbolises strength and life force, which ties in with the agriculture, especially in spring.

Diving down into the alternative world…

Sea Lion Press invited me to appear on their blog – I felt rather honoured as they are the specialist alternate history publisher. Beautiful and rather penetrating questions!

One of my answers…
I came from the historical end of the scale and was very active in the Historical Novel Society, so my first audience came from historical fiction readers looking for something different. The Roman writers ‘adopted’ me which was very kind of them!

Many of my readers like thrillers per se, some like the feminist twist, others the ‘Romanness’ or even the romance, but many say they love the characters best. I think the idea of alternate history caught many readers by surprise and made them think – which is good!

Read the full interview here: https://www.sealionpress.co.uk/post/interviewing-the-ah-community-alison-morton

Portsmouth MysteryFest

I took my first hesitant steps back into the event world and spoke on two panels – historical mysteries and contemporary crime. Not only did I meet up with writing friends I hadn’t seen for over two years, I met new readers and fellow writers I’d only met before on Zoom. And, yes, the famous green jacket came out of the wardrobe.

Huge thanks to crime and mystery writer Carol Westron for organising us all as part of the Portsmouth Libraries BookFest season.

Where next – London Book Fair 2022

In a few days time, I’ll be meeting up with numerous other friends and re-immersing myself into the book world at one of the world’s biggest book fairs. Amongst other things, I’ll be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) of which I’ve been a member for nine years. You can find out more (and join!) by clicking the link in the right column.

Book news

The new Roma Nova book set in the 4th century is now at 92,000 words and I’m about to write the final two chapters! Then it starts on its editing journey…

How you can help

Reviews are crucial for any book’s journey as they make the books more visible on the retail sites and introduce both Roma Nova and Mélisende to new readers. If can spare a few minutes to write one, I’d really appreciate it. Anybody can write one (subject to the retailer’s conditions); it only needs to be your heartfelt opinion.

And please don’t be shy about recommending my books to your friends, partner, online colleagues, online book club, your mum, her friends, your dad, brother, sister, in your Facebook group or on Twitter. Word of mouth is very powerful! 😉

 

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers –  INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO,  AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO  and RETALIO,  and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories.  Audiobooks are available for four of the series.Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. Double Pursuit, the sequel, is now out!

Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

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