Embarrassed of Roma Nova catch-up

When I checked when I’d written my last post, I was horrified out of my socks. May! And it was a feature about my esteemed writing friend Jane Davis’s beautiful new book, Small Eden. It’s achingly well written – I will never be able to write such clever and evocative prose.

Since then, radio silence […]

A star is born? Probably not, but...

Yesterday, I was invited to take part on an Amazon Book Chat Live on amazon.com (US and rest of world) to talk about my favourite books. It was great fun!

https://www.amazon.com/live/broadcast/a2dc3d11-8d82-49e8-b884-de1acad34a81

The host was the affable Tim Lewis of Stoneham Press which focuses on conference reviews, self-publishing, podcasting and networking. He hosts […]

Writing Challenge Day 5: What inspired the book I'm working on

That’s an easy one – the readers!

No, really! I wrote The Girl from the Market after a suggestion in the Roma Nova Enthusiasts’ Group. Legend had it (in the earlier Roma Nova novels) that in AD 370 Julia Bacausa was a tough and fiery woman and Apulius a strong Roman of the traditional […]

Writing challenge Day 4: The setting for the new Roma Nova book

Ah, this one’s easy! I’ve written quite a lot on my Roma Nova blog about this as it’s the setting for nine previous books! So I’m going to cheat and repost the piece I wrote about what Roma Nova looks like…

Roma Nova an alpine country with lower lying valleys a few small towns […]

Writing Challenge Day 3: Introduce the main character(s) Julia and Apulius

Julia Bacausa

AD 370, Virunum, Roman Noricum

Julia Bacausa, passionate daughter of a local Celtic ruler, miserable and tense after a failed marriage and only half-divorced, can see no future life for herself.

Lucius Apulius, a bright young military tribune thrown out of a prestigious command that would have made his career. He’s […]