 I’m delighted to welcome Jean Gill, the award-winning Welsh author and photographer now living in the south of France. Her claim to fame is that she was the first woman to be a secondary school headteacher in the Welsh county of Dyfed.
Best known for her adult medieval adventure fiction, her 27 books include Young Adult dystopian fantasy, WW2 military history, a cheese cookbook and a dog book. Her latest series The Midwinter Dragon is set in 12th century Viking Orkney.
With Scottish parents, an English birthplace and French residence, she can usually support the winning team on most sporting occasions.
Jean is one of my fellow authors selected to write for a new collection of short stories ‘FATE’, commissioned by the Taw River Press.
Over to Jean!
When a fellow-author invites you to contribute to a multi-author anthology, it is a big compliment so whether or not I say yes, I always say thank you. I remember the days when such an invitation would have been a dream come true. I have never regretted saying yes because the collaboration has always been an enjoyable way of reaching new readers and meeting new writers but I have sometimes said no. I know what the pitfalls can be and thought I’d share with you some questions I ask myself before committing to such a project.
Is the organiser someone whose writing you respect and who can also herd us cats in order to publish a multi-author book?
‘You can judge people by the company they keep’ is a useful old saying. This is exactly what your readers will do.
Which other authors will be featured? Will you be happy to see your work published alongside such company? If not, you won’t want to promote the book, which will damage your reputation with your fellow-authors. And if you do recommend it, your readers will be equally disappointed. It is too late to pull out once you’ve read the whole book so check out the other contributors if you don’t know them. Ideally, ‘good company’ means that their readers might enjoy your books.
 Chorus line working together! Photo © Jean Gill What is the organiser’s aim and does this meet yours?
If the aim is high sales and a place on a bestsellers’ list, with large advertising contributions expected from all authors, that would not suit me. If it’s to enjoy collaborating and to reach new readers, that does suit me. One multi-genre anthology I took part in was organised by bestselling author L. J. Ross and her publicity team. We raised over £25,000 for the UK charity Shelter with the book Kindness. Wonderful! But all credit goes to L. J. Ross. Nothing more was expected of me than my story on the theme of kindness, and that I would share the book details with my readers. That was the unicorn anthology. Usually you can expect a few new readers, some new writer-friends to add to your network, and a boost to your writing output.
This is a publishing contract so treat it like one.
I don’t need legalese but I do want to know that the book will be professionally presented in editing, formatting and cover.
Will there be any royalty share or will the organiser invest any royalties after publishing costs in marketing or are proceeds going to a charity? (The three usual models).
If this is new work, exclusive to the anthology, for how long is this the case? Usually you will get the rights back after two or three years but before that time you must not publish your work elsewhere. Giving your story free to Patreon subscribers breaks an exclusivity agreement.
Honour your agreement and if you’re not sure whether you can e.g. enter a short story award, ask the organiser!
And – probably your first thought! – what are you going to write if, as is usually the case, it must be new work?
Do you want to write to the constraints given e.g. genre, theme and/or word count? What is the deadline and can you meet it?
The last time I received an invitation, I was in the middle of writing the third book in my Midwinter Dragon series so I should have said no. Also, I had no idea what I would write. Despite that, some instinct said, ‘Take a break. Have fun.’ I trusted the organiser and knew I would be in good company, some known writers, some new to me, all writing on historical themes, however different in style and period. I could pause work on my novel at the end of one of the dual narratives, as I write one at a time, then weave them together when I’ve completed both. So I said yes.
Some writers use out-takes from their series, or short stories developing minor characters, which are good ways to attract readers to your books. Nothing so sensible for me. My subconscious knows what is required and I wait. This story was so insistent that I wrote the first draft of 7,000 words in two airports, Lyon and Copenhagen, during two very long waits between connections. I was so immersed in my other world that I’m lucky I didn’t miss the gate announcement and I can’t wait to hear what readers think of the result, Six Pomegranate Seeds in the anthology Fate.
Perhaps an invitation to contribute to an anthology is on its way to you at this very moment. If you know your answers to my questions and still want to say YES! let the adventure begin!
Thank you, Jean. after I read your story in FATE, I have to say that I will not look at pomegranate seeds in the same way from now on. But I do love the return of spring…
———–
Find out more about Jean
Website: www.jeangill.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/writerjeangill
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/writerjeangill.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writerjeangill/
———–
Jean’s latest series – The Midwinter Dragon is set in 12th century Viking Orkney.
Book 1 The Ring Breaker: 1150 Orkneyjar
 Loyalty has a price the children pay
In the twilight of the old gods, when the last Vikings rule the seas, two cursed orphans meet on an Orkney beach and their fates collide.
Stripped of honour, facing bleak loneliness ahead, Skarfr and Hlif forge an unbreakable bond as they come of age in the savage Viking culture of blood debts and vengeance. To be accepted as adults, Skarfr must prove himself a warrior and Hlif must learn to use women’s weapons. Can they clear their names and choose their destiny? Or are they doomed by their fathers’ acts?
The award-winning author of The Troubadours Quartet returns to the 12th century, with skalds instead of troubadours and Viking warriors instead of crusaders. Get ready for authentic medieval adventures steeped in poetry, politics and passion. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell Matthew Harffy and Madeline Miller.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ”So good I read it twice,” Lesley Walters, Goodreads
Historical Fiction Book of the Year 2023 – Bjørn Larssen, blogger at Queen’s Book Asylum
Shortlisted for the 2022 Selfies Award and the 2022 Chaucer Award; Quarter-Finalist in The Booklife Prize.
Buy the Ringbreaker here: https://books2read.com/Orkneyjar
And FATE? 
If you had a crystal ball to predict what lay ahead, would you be tempted to use it? Or would you leave the future to the turn of Fate?
Tales of history, mystery and magic – some comprising just one of these popular fiction genres, others, a mild mixture of all three.
Our aim, as well-known popular authors, is to entertain you – the reader – but also to share a smorgasbord of short stories that delve into different eras and different locations via different characters and events.
The common theme? Fate! And we should never try to out-do Fate, whatever her form…
Check out and buy the book HERE! https://mybook.to/FateAnthology
Stories by Annie Whitehead, Jean Gill, Marian L Thorpe Helen Hollick, Alison Morton, Elizabeth St. John, R. Marsden, Anna Belfrage, J.P. Reedman and Debbie Young
Watch the (rather fabulous) book trailer: https://youtu.be/M9pSrDX8PTQ
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. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, 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. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 I’m always very pleased to welcome Helen Hollick to my writing blog. Known for her captivating storytelling and rich attention to historical detail, her historical fiction, nautical adventure series, cosy mysteries – and her short stories – skilfully invite readers to step into worlds where the boundaries between fact and fiction blend together.
Helen started writing as a teenager, but after discovering a passion for history, was initially published in 1993 in the UK with her Arthurian Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy and two Anglo-Saxon novels about the events that led to the 1066 Battle of Hastings, one of which, The Forever Queen (USA title – A Hollow Crown in the UK) became a USA Today best-seller. Her Sea Witch Voyages are nautical-based adventures inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy.
She also writes the Jan Christopher cosy mystery series set during the 1970s, and based around her, sometimes hilarious, years of working as a North London library assistant. Her 2025 release is Ghost Encounters, a book about the ghosts of North Devon.
Helen and her family moved from London to Devon after a Lottery win on the opening night of the London Olympics, 2012. She spends her time glowering at the overgrown garden, fending off the geese, helping with the horses and wishing the friendly, resident ghosts would occasionally help with the housework…
Over to Helen!
The last time I organised putting an anthology of short stories together with contributions by several well known writer friends, I told myself ‘never again.’ I rather have this habit of not listening to myself though, for here I am doing it again!
Let’s backtrack: the first anthology I immersed myself into was 1066 Turned Upside Down. The suggestion for this anthology came about when talking with other 1066-related authors at an annual Battle of Hastings re-enactment weekend in Sussex, England. We’d been talking ‘what if King Harold had won’ and the idea blossomed from there – an anthology of various ‘what if’ short stories going through that fateful year.
(Helen bludgeoned me to join in – I was the alternative history specialist, after all. But I had a horror of writing short stories. However, she was very persuasive. It proved to be a revelation and I consequently produced my own collection – ROMA NOVA EXTRA – which people seem to like. – Alison)
In hindsight, had I been the main organiser I’d have perhaps chosen a couple of different authors to participate. Authors who took marketing, etc. far more diligently. But with its superbly evocative cover the book did – is still doing – well. I learnt quite a few things about producing anthologies with that one, though!
Firstly, choose which authors to invite very carefully. Secondly, be clear about expectations; each author to do their own editing? Any royalties? Marketing? Who is to design the cover ? All the anthologies I’ve been involved with have been designed by Cathy Helms of avalongraphics.org. Take a look at them. The quality speaks volumes. And YES, you CAN (and do!) judge a book by its cover!
BETRAYAL came next. I wasn’t involved with producing this one, I was just a contributing author, but again, hindsight is a wonderful thing … Most of the contributing authors had their say in various aspects, which while not leading to arguments did cause ‘discussion’. The end result was – is – very good, but that old saying ‘too many cooks’ can be true!
So, onto EXILE. This was my idea, my organising, etc. with various authors contributing by invitation. The end result is superb, with exclusive stories by fantastic writers (including Elizabeth Chadwick.) This was the ‘I’ll-not-do-another-one-though’ title… re-read that first paragraph *laugh*
Here I am, then, talking about the latest anthology FATE: Tales of History. Mystery and Magic. Again with short stories written by a range of superb authors.
So why did I decide to ‘go for it’ and organise another anthology? Take your pick from insanity, desperation, wanting to help other authors and ‘well, I had an idea for a story…’ (Actually, they all apply!)
Marketing is the main reason. Finding new readers is becoming increasingly harder (not quite at desperation level yet, but there are days..!). As authors, we like to think of ourselves as whales in a pond. The harsh truth is, we’re tadpoles in an ocean. It’s probably easier to climb Everest than it is to ‘get noticed’. So marketing is hard, hard work. But several well-known, very good authors all talking about the same subject – the same title – is a good way to get noticed.
I also had a short story I’d written – and didn’t know what to do with it, which led to the idea to organise an anthology with a theme of ‘fate’ in all its meanings, followed closely by the idea (inspiration?) to include my dearest author friends again – but for us all to show what we could do beyond what we are usually known for doing. So, I added the clause of ‘magic’ into the theme of Tales Of History and Mystery – giving us all such a wide, wonderful spectrum to play around with, and enjoy!
The result is an eclectic collection of stories where no two are alike, but should please all readers – whatever their respective preferred genres. So in FATE we have the aftermath of conquest, the pursuit of alchemy, the concern of a mother for her daughter, the shifting of time, the necessity of hidden identity, souls who will linger as ghosts, a warning from the supernatural, the necessity for (justifiable?) revenge. All mingled with the rekindling of romance through a mutual quest, and the preparations for a village celebration. Diverse, entertaining and enjoyable. Hard work to collate together (Oh, those typos that creep in!!!) but you know what … 100% worthwhile.
I’m still going to say ‘I’m not doing it again though.’ (Yeah, right – Alison)
Like I said, I never listen to myself…
—————-
Connect with Helen
Website: https://helenhollick.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/helen.hollick
Bluesky: @helenhollick.bsky.social
X/Twitter @HelenHollick https://x.com/HelenHollick
Blog: supporting authors & their books https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/
Monthly newsletter : Thoughts from a Devonshire Farmhouse
https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/2024/01/thoughts-from-devonshire-farmhouse.html
—————-
FATE: Tales of History, Mystery and Magic
If you had a crystal ball to predict what lay ahead, would you be tempted to use it? Or would you leave the future to the turn of Fate?
Tales of Variety. Tales of History, Mystery and Magic – some comprising just one of these popular fiction genres, others, a mild mixture of all three.
An Anglo-Saxon woman facing the consequence of conquest; the pursuit of alchemy; the concern of a mother for her daughter; the shifting of time; the necessity of hidden identity; souls who will linger as ghosts; a warning from the supernatural; and the necessity for (justifiable?) revenge. And mingled with the rekindling of romance through a mutual quest, and the preparations for a Cotswold village celebration. (Along with a good tip of illicitly snaffling cakes.)
The binding theme? Destiny… Kismet… FATE!
Buy the ebook from Amazon: https://mybook.to/FateAnthology
Also available on Kindle Unlimited
Paperback: Order from any good bookstore
Available as: Kindle Unlimited, e-book and paperback
Watch the (rather brilliant) YouTube trailer produced by Jean Gill: https://youtu.be/M9pSrDX8PTQ?si=sqe7R1JpQoGwUjrb
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. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, 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. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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 I’m delighted to welcome JP (Janet) Reedman to my blog today. JP is is one of my fellow authors selected to write for a new collection of short stories ‘FATE’, commissioned by the Taw River Press.
Janet was born in Canada but has lived in the UK for over 30 years. Her mother was an English warbride, her father a Canadian tank driver. JP developed a huge interest in the past by the age of four, and wrote her first stories at five. One was about Cleopatra! At the age of eleven, JP decided to be a fantasy writer and in the 1980s published many fantasy stories and poems in the international small press. However, in the 1990s a change of country meant other things took precedence over writing.
It was in 2002 after JP suffered a serious viral infection that left her with ME that she discovered her passion for writing again, moving gradually into historical fiction and historical fantasy after being inspired by the finding of Richard III’s remains in Leicester. JP has written many books and series, featuring lesser-known medieval women, Richard III and the Wars of the Roses, Robin Hood, and even Stonehenge.
Over to JP!
For the new anthology, FATE, I was able to blend two of my favourite subjects together – lesser-known medieval women and the Wars of the Roses era. In a short story called Dame Fortune’s Wheel, Grace, the illegitimate daughter of King Edward IV, is the sole attendant of the Dowager Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, in her failing years at Bermondsey Abbey. Elizabeth may have been ‘encouraged’ to reside there by her son-in-law Henry VII for some misstep during the so-called ‘Lambert Simnel’ rebellion. (She had rented a London property long-term only a few months before the rebellion took place, which implies something happened that made her fall from favour; her son Thomas Grey was also sent to the Tower.)
 Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville (Public domain) Grace was one of several illegitimate children of the womanising King Edward, but her mother is unknown. After Elizabeth Woodville’s funeral, she completely vanishes from history. She must have known at least some of her half-sisters and appears to have been accepted by them, but there is no trace in any later records of a girl called Grace, which was a fairly rare name in this period.
Her brother or half-brother, Arthur, remained at the Tudor court, and eventually became Viscount Lisle, leaving the Lisle letters which give us a great insight into the turbulent times in which he lived. Unfortunately, despite initial closeness to his Tudor relatives, Arthur soon fell afoul of the volatile Henry VIII and ended up imprisoned. He kept his head, but when finally released, the poor man was so relieved he collapsed and died, most likely of a heart attack.
Many people seem rather surprised to learn that royal medieval bastards were not necessarily treated harshly by society or ignored by their fathers. Victorian writers often tried to impose their own idea of morality onto their medieval forebears, penning lurid tales of fallen maidens cast into the snow in disgrace and their babies given to the nuns, never to be seen again. In fact, many of the mothers of royal bastards became quite desirable as marriage partners, as the father often paid her a lifelong pension.
Some of the children were recognised by their fathers too, and given education and even important positions. The most famous, of course, were the Beauforts, the children of Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, who were later legitimised.
In the Wars of the Roses period, Edward IV’s brother, Richard III also had several illegitimate children, two for certain and maybe three. The verified two, Katherine and John,were both recognised by their father, and appear to have lived at a nursery in one of his castles, possibly Pontefract or Sheriff Hutton.
 Sheriff Hutton Castle Katherine was married in 1484 to William Herbert, Earl of Huntingdon, while her brother or half-brother John was made Captain of Calais, although under supervision, for he was not yet of legal age. I featured Katherine in a novel, The White Rose Rent, but, like Grace, she vanishes from history; in Katherine’s case, not long after Bosworth Field. Her husband is noted as a widower in records a year or two after, and it is thought Katherine may have died during an outbreak of the Sweat or perhaps in childbirth.
For many years, no one even knew her burial place, but it now appears to have been St James Garlickhythe Church, London. A 16th century record exists mentioning the grave of ‘the Countess of Huntingdon, Lady Harbert’ by the herald Thomas Benolt. So Katherine’s last resting place had been ‘hiding in clear site’ merely because no one put two and two together for centuries.
And so Dame Fortune’s Wheel turned for both these young women, Grace and Katherine Plantagenet, raising them up, then bringing them down – although I am hopeful that perhaps Grace, unlike her cousin, merely left the realms of the ‘great and good’ behind her when her mistress died and went on to a new life far from court.
———–
Find out more about JP Reedman
Blog: https://stone-lord.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Eleanor.TheLostQueen/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jpreedman.bsky.social
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@janetreedman8
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jpreedmanhistoricalfiction
Twitter/X: https://x.com/stonehenge2500
———–
A ‘lost’ queen? My Fair Lady
Married to King Henry III at a young age, Eleanor of Provence navigates a world fraught with court intrigue and baronial wrath. A devoted mother, she defies the monks to care for her ailing son, future king Edward I.
A loyal friend to family members, she incurs the jealousy of the nobles, the anger of the common folk.
As Simon de Montfort’s popularity rises and Henry’s wanes, Eleanor must decipher friend from foe.
Will her son Edward free his captive father at Evesham? Will Eleanor’s own legacy endure, or fade away like whispers in the wind?
Buy from mybook.to/EleanorQueen (multiple retailers)
And FATE?
If you had a crystal ball to predict what lay ahead, would you be tempted to use it? Or would you leave the future to the turn of Fate?
Tales of history, mystery and magic – some comprising just one of these popular fiction genres, others, a mild mixture of all three.
Our aim, as well-known popular authors, is to entertain you – the reader – but also to share a smorgasbord of short stories that delve into different eras and different locations via different characters and events.
The common theme? Fate! And we should never try to out-do Fate, whatever her form…
Check out and buy the book HERE! https://mybook.to/FateAnthology
Stories by Annie Whitehead, Jean Gill, Marian L Thorpe Helen Hollick, Alison Morton, Elizabeth St. John, R. Marsden, Anna Belfrage, J.P. Reedman and Debbie Young
Watch the (rather fabulous) FATE book trailer: https://youtu.be/M9pSrDX8PTQ
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. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, 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. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
If you enjoyed this post, do share it with your friends!Like this:Like Loading...
 I’m delighted to welcome another scribe of Roman fiction to the writing blog today – Fiona Forsyth – as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour.
After reading Classics at Oxford, Fiona taught it at a boys’ public school for twenty-five years. A family move to Qatar provided few opportunities for Latin teachers, so she seized the chance to write.
Now she’s back in the UK, all the questions she asked herself about the Romans over the years are turning into novels about Ancient Rome. She’s currently working on her seventh novel.
Like all writers of Roman fiction, she has had to tussle with the challenge of trying to delve into the ancient mind when the sources are distinctly random and often biased.
Over to Fiona!
For essay 3 in Mrs Griffin’s Cicero and Catiline course, the essay title was simply “Was there a First Catilinarian Conspiracy?”
I soon discovered that this meant taking five or six contradictory sentences from ancient historians who seemed to me to be casual in the extreme and giving a careful judgement on these precious few words, considering the writers’ known biases. Secondary reading included articles from a range of scholars whose views went from “Yes, probably” to “Maybe not”, except for the one who said that not only had there not been a First Catilinarian Conspiracy there hadn’t been a Second Catilinarian Conspiracy and he was utterly fed up.
Five closely scribbled sides of A4 later I decided that no, there hadn’t and carefully I began my final paragraph with “The picture is a foggy one”. Mrs Griffin laughed.
 The very essay on the First Catilinarian Conspiracy This is the curse of the ancient historian – as the great Ronald Syme said, “In matters of literary and historical appraisement, one cannot operate with the methods of a laboratory or furnish the proof to be demanded in a court of law. The best is only the probable.”
In other words, after weighing up all the evidence carefully, you make your best guess then argue about it with another historian for the rest of your academic life.
And this, I reckon is where my novelist self has an advantage over my student self. Once I have read the sources and weighed up the evidence, I can then make it into a story, without having to put in the annoyingly clunky caveats – “it seems unlikely that all Roman historians genuinely thought Livia poisoned everyone including her own son…” or “when Tacitus tells the reader he will write without anger or passion, there is always the possibility that he is lying…”
I think I have obligations to both history and my story, which means that a lot of the time I choose a particular interpretation based on what my story needs.
Consider I, Claudius by Robert Graves – a masterpiece of historical fiction so grounded in the sources that everyone wondered if it was true. Graves’ superb portrait of Livia as the evil stepmother comes straight from the ancient historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio – and, come to that, the witches found in poems by Ovid and Horace. For my Roman History paper in Finals, I admit that I wrote an entire essay on Tiberius based on I, Claudius, my justification being that Graves was a considerable Classics scholar and the translator of Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars for Penguin Classics. And yes, I did fine on that paper, thank you, it was the Plato that let me down.
When I wrote my Poetic Justice and Death and the Poet, I did not follow the path of Tacitus or Suetonius in my portrayal of Livia, because the Roman historians were downright misogynists. It was common to accuse a powerful woman of sexual excess and murderous tendencies. Given that Livia protected her sexual reputation extremely carefully, it is not surprising that the male historians concentrated on poison instead, attributing deaths from disease to Livia’s machinations.
Roman doctors were good, but many diseases were beyond their skill and illness strikes me a far more likely explanation of a death than to imagine Livia creeping around the garden at night so that she can smear poison on the figs. I think of her as a very clever and tough woman who managed to combine being a traditional modest Roman matron, weaving and deferring to her husband in public, with being a true partner to Augustus in the immense task of running the Empire. He was extremely fortunate to have her.
The ultimate obligation is to myself and the reader.
I am passionate about the world of ancient Rome despite its horrible side. If you study history, you will be faced with appalling people doing appalling things. If we deny that, we are not facing up to humanity’s capacity for cruelty. I want my readers to love the exploration of an alien environment and I write what I think will make them passionate about the awful, violent, intriguing world of Rome.
Wise words, Fiona! Ancient Rome was no sunnily-lit picnic on a summer’s afternoon. I’m with you on Livia’s character assassination by the Terrible Trio – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Perhaps the Sky series ‘Domina’ might jolt the public to reframe their image of Livia.
—————
Connect with Fiona
Website: https://substack.com/@fionaforsyth1
Twitter: https://x.com/for_fi
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fionaforsythauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fionaforsythauthor/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/fionawriter.bsky.social
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/fiona-forsyth
—————
Death and the Poet
14 AD. When Dokimos the vegetable seller is found bludgeoned to death in the Black Sea town of Tomis, it’s the most exciting thing to have happened in the region for years. Now reluctantly settled into life in exile, the disgraced Roman poet Ovid helps his friend Avitius to investigate the crime, with the evidence pointing straight at a cuckolded neighbour.
But Ovid is also on edge, waiting for the most momentous death of all. Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, is nearing his end and the future of the whole Roman world is uncertain.
Even as far away as Tomis, this political shadow creates tension as the pompous Roman legate Flaccus thinks more of his career than solving a local murder.
Avitius and Ovid become convinced that an injustice has been done in the case of the murdered vegetable seller. But Flaccus continues to turn a deaf ear.
When Ovid’s wife, Fabia, arrives unexpectedly, carrying a cryptic message from the Empress Livia, the poet becomes distracted – and another crime is committed.
Ovid hopes for a return to Rome, only to discover that he is under threat from an enemy much closer to home.
———
Buy Death and the Poet here: https://books2read.com/u/brx0WY (multiple retailers)
Also available to read on KindleUnlimited.
———-
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. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, 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. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
If you enjoyed this post, do share it with your friends!Like this:Like Loading...
 Photo courtesy of Jessica Bell Do you sit down at the keyboard and just write, a vague idea of the characters and their story swirling around in your head? Do you just throw stuff at the characters and see what happens? Then you’re a pantser* who writes by the seat of your pants.
But perhaps you plan each scene and chapter in meticulous detail – after having constructed detailed pen portraits of your characters – and pay careful attention to the rules of structure used by your genre. Undoubtedly, you’re a plotter.
Well, I’m not entirely sure these extremes exist, in the same way that Elinor and Marianne Dashwood don’t, but are symbols for extremes of Sense and Sensibility.
When I write, I usually start classically: a character who is suddenly faced with a terrible dilemma, but I only discover how she’s going to resolve it once I start writing her story. However, sensible hat back on, I do like to know the point she’s going to reach at the end. The story has to have some definite purpose otherwise it becomes a soup of pure muddle.
But if I don’t have free rein to develop the story, let the characters spark off each other and encounter and deal with setbacks, then I don’t enjoy the actual writing. There’s no point in creating a story if you can’t have fun doing it! Nor do you have the dedication to keep going through weeks and months of typing slog if you aren’t intrigued by what happens in the story.
I’ve just published the third book in my contemporary thriller series and have written ten novels in my alternative history thriller series so I think I’ve learnt how to resolve this dilemma for my own writing process. Yes, I’m acquainted with the main character in each story and I want to find out what happens next to her and the people around her.
But that’s it.
I let her (usually a ‘her’) run around in my head a bit, to have some adventures, get into trouble, struggle to get out, land in more – you know the rest. More than anything, I have to get to know her, to find out what she wants, what’s stopping her, what she has to do, or Goal, Motivation, Conflict, as creative writing tutors call it.
My way of doing this is to make myself jot down 30 lines of plot. Less an outline, more of a wireframe as I like the 3D analogy better.
Line 1: The beginning – the inciting incident/kick-off
Line 2: Impact and realisation of that event/situation
Line 3: The plan to resolve it
Line 6: First enormous set-back (turning point 1)
Line 15: First glimmer of light (turning point 2)
Line 21: Gritting on in face of terrible odds and sacrifice (turning point 3)
Line 25: Despite developments, we might be getting there – the false dawn
Line 28: Catastrophe/black moment – do or die
Line 30: The end – the resolution and loose-end tying-up
I haven’t put all the lines in, but you get the idea. It’s not fixed but it gives you a skeleton which holds the whole thing together but which will become absorbed into the finished product and never be seen by the reader.
Once you have these thirty lines and accept that you will inevitably change or omit some of the lines and substitute new ones, then you can release your inner pantser, and create and imagine to your heart’s content.
*If you want a more high-flown expression instead of pantser, you can use ‘discovery writer’. But it means the same thing. 🙂
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. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, 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. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.
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