Meet My Protagonist: Aurelia Mitela - woman and warrior

Older Aurelia

Fifteen hundred years after the end of the Roman Empire, one last (imaginary) part still survives in the 20th century – Roma Nova. Its people are tough, uncompromising in defending their country and guard their Roman cultural values tightly. However, due to the grim times of their early history, women had to take up gladius and scutum (shield) and fight by the side of their menfolk. And they never lost the status this struggle gave them. In the late 1960s in this egalitarian yet still Roman society, Aurelia Mitela is the archetypal Roma Novan... 

Aurelia came to life when I was writing the first Roma Nova thriller, INCEPTIO. Then, she was the clever experienced grandmother of Carina, the book’s heroine. Let Carina tell you in her own words of her first impression of Aurelia:
“She’d been so concerned for me, but not in a soppy way. Direct and ‘no-nonsense’ fitted her perfectly, but her smile had been warm. I couldn’t help speculating how it would have been to grow up with her instead of the Browns.

 I started tapping the keys, surfing for 'Roma Nova' while I was drinking and thinking. I couldn’t leave it alone. My grandmother’s name shot out at me. Fascinated, I loaded the English translation. The screen displayed a list of her business interests. Sketchy on detail, it gave some personal stuff at the end: head of the influential Mitela family, senator and government advisor, cousin to the current imperatrix. She really was a big hitter.”

In PERFIDITAS, we see Aurelia, the cool ex-Praetorian, holding the family together after they’d been falsely arrested:
“[Aurelia to Carina] ‘I’ve been through a great deal worse. I’m not a little old lady out of some genteel novel.’ 

 No, she truly wasn’t. She’d been Praetorian Guard Special Forces in her time, even led the attack to retake the city during the civil war. Although now in her mid-seventies, she definitely belonged to the“tough gals” league. She gave me a close description of the arresting party. What a difference it made when the victim was a trained professional and could give you precise, detailed information. She’d printed off her statement and signed it already.”

Throughout the first three books, INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS and SUCCESSIO, set in the present we catch references to Aurelia’s early life, but more intriguingly, a whole range of questions are thrown up. What did she do in the Great Rebellion nearly twenty-three years before the time of INCEPTIO? Why is she so anxious when she compares the villain in SUCCESSIO to Caius Tellus, the brutal ‘First Consul’ who instigated the rebellion all those years ago? Who was the great love of Aurelia’s life that Carina only learns about in SUCCESSIO?

1960s Berlin

In AURELIA, the fourth book which takes us back to the late 1960s, we watch Aurelia as a young woman. She's 28 years old and is accused of murder during a mission to Berlin.While on remand in a Prussian prison, she has to undergo a hostile psychological assessment. Here’s the report on her:

Subject is highly rational, quick-minded and a natural leader. She sees nothing is impossible given enough time and resources. Subject has the confident personality and willpower to pursue and implement her goals, easily bringing others with her. A dominant personality.

Strategic thinker, curious, innovative, able to grasp and deal with problems with determination and precision. Energetic and excellent communication skills, happy to confront and negotiate with others. Intelligent enough to recognise other people’s talents, and work with them. Requires challenges and even failures, or her self-confidence could easily turn into arrogance and condescension.

Personalities of this type cannot tolerate inefficiency or those whom they perceive as lazy or incompetent. They can be chillingly cold and ruthless when the situation arises, operating purely on logic and rationality. 

They interact very well with others, often charming them to their cause, and paying attention to other people’s feelings – or at least pretending that they do. Most mature and successful personalities of this type are genuine in this aspect to some extent, even though their sensitivity may hide a cold and calculating mind.

This is a slant on the classic ENTJ personality  profile from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a psychometric test system popular in business to indicate psychological preferences about how people perceive the world and make decisions. I needed to make the report negative for the story, but positive aspects of this type of personality are that they are conceptual and global thinkers, able to see connections where others don’t, and to think ahead. Couple this with the intuition and sense of fair play many ENTJs possess, it  can make life frustrating for this personality when people around them don’t  grasp things the way they do. Of course, this conflict is a gift for a writer…

In essence, Aurelia is a blood-and-bone Roma Novan whose values are based on traditional ancient Roman ones; tough, loyal with a strong sense of duty and fully aware of her responsibilities as head of a great family. But her desire to keep all the balls juggling in the air with precise timing leads to her being riven by guilt if she doesn’t perform a hundred percent.

Aurelia has one vulnerability, her love for her frail daughter, Marina. But along with her determination to serve her country, Aurelia's willingness to sacrifice everything for Marina is also her greatest strength. It motivates her even when she's experiencing her darkest moments.

Is she sympathetic? Yes, because under all that resolution and toughness, she is still a human being who experiences fear, love, despair and grief. She bitterly misses the strong comradeship of her earlier military career and is exhilarated when going back into action. And then there is her devotion to her life-long love, elusive though he sometimes proves to be...

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Discover more about AURELIA

Late 1960s Roma Nova, the last Roman colony that has survived into the 20th century. Aurelia Mitela is alone – her partner gone, her child sickly and her mother dead – and forced to give up her beloved career as a Praetorian officer.

But her country needs her unique skills. Somebody is smuggling silver – Roma Nova’s lifeblood – on an industrial scale. Sent to Berlin to investigate, she encounters the mysterious and attractive Miklós, a known smuggler who knows too much and Caius Tellus, a Roma Novan she has despised and feared since childhood.

Barely escaping a trap set by a gang boss intent on terminating her, she discovers that her old enemy is at the heart of all her troubles. She pursues him back home to Roma Nova desperate now he has struck at her most vulnerable point – her young daughter.

Available as
- eBook from Amazon,  iBooks,  Kobo,  B&N Nook
- audiobook from Audible
- paperback, author signed paperback and from other retailers

HNS indie Editor’s Choice Autumn 2015 
Shortlisted for the 2016 HNS Indie prize, then Finalist (one of four)
B.R.A.G. Medallion, October 2015 
Discovered Diamond January 2016

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Alison Morton is the author of the acclaimed Roma Nova thrillers INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and the latest, INSURRECTIO. 

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova site: http://alison-morton.com

Facebook author page  https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison-morton

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

My Characters Live In Roma Nova - an alternative place to live

By Alison Morton

What if Harold had won the Battle of Hastings in 1066? Or Julius Caesar had taken notice of the warning that assassins wanted to murder him on the Ides of March? Or the Spanish Armada had defeated and conquered England in 1588? Suppose Christianity had remained a minor Middle Eastern cult?

“Alternate history” stories give us the opportunity to explore such ‘what if’s. Sometimes they’re infused with every last detail of their world but have a simple plot, other times the alternative world is used as a setting for an adventure or complex thriller. Some stories rework important events of history, others focus on ordinary or imagined people. Whichever type they are, three things shape these stories: identification of the point of divergence when the alternate timeline split from our timeline; how that world looks and works since that divergence; and the historical consequences of the diversion.

In my Roma Nova series, the premise is that a tiny remnant of the Roman Empire has survived into the modern era, but with a twist – a big twist.

How did Roma Nova come into being?

In our real timeline, the Western Roman Empire didn’t ‘fall’ in a cataclysmic event as often portrayed in film and television; it localised and eventually dissolved like chain mail fragmenting into separate links, giving way to rump states, local city states and petty kingdoms all facing the dynamic rise of the new peoples of Europe particularly the Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians and Alamans. The Eastern Roman Empire survived, albeit as the diminished city state of Byzantium until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottoman Empire.

Some scholars think that Christianity fatally weakened the traditional Roman way of life; certainly, Emperor Constantine’s personal conversion to Christianity in AD 313 was a turning point for the new religion. By AD 395, his several times successor, Theodosius, banned all traditional Roman religious practice, closed and destroyed temples and dismissed all priests. The sacred flame that had burned for over a thousand years in the College of Vestals was extinguished and the Vestal Virgins expelled. The Altar of Victory, said to guard the fortune of Rome, was hauled away from the Senate building and disappeared from history.

All the above really happened, but AD 395 is the point of divergence in when Roma Nova originated. Three months after Theodosius’s last decree banning all pagan religions, over four hundred Romans loyal to the old gods, and so in danger of execution, trekked north out of Italy to a semi-mountainous area in the middle of Europe. Led by Apulius at the head of twelve senatorial families, they established a colony based initially on land owned by Apulius’s Celtic father-in-law. By purchase, alliance and conquest, this grew into the mini state of Roma Nova. 

Roma Nova rises

Twenty years before Apulius and the twelve families founded Roma Nova, he’d met Julia Bacausa, the tough daughter of a Celtic princeling, when he was serving as a young officer in Noricum (roughly present day Austria).  After Apulius had been ordered back to Rome in AD 375, Julia had taken to her horse and with a few retainers followed Apulius to Rome and married him on the day of her arrival.

She came from a society in which, although Romanised for several generations, women made decisions, fought in battles and managed inheritance and property. Their four daughters were amongst the first Roma Nova pioneers so had to act more decisively than they would have done in a traditional urban Roman setting.  While men concentrated on defending the new colony, women worked the fields, traded, ran the families and, in the absence of fathers and brothers on the front line, made decisions in the governing council.

Given the unstable, dangerous times in Roma Nova’s first few hundred years – this was the time of the Great European Migrations – eventually the daughters as well as sons had to put on armour and wield swords. Fighting danger side-by-side with brothers and fathers transformed women’s status and roles. Moreover, Roma Novans remained loyal to the traditional gods and never allowed the incursion of monotheistic paternalistic religions.

Photo courtesy of Britannia,
www.durolitum.co.uk

In today’s Roma Nova women, especially senior and more experienced ones, hold social and economic life together. The Senate, People’s Assembly, and above all the Twelve Families council support a (female) constitutional ruler, the imperatrix. Although women head families and descent of name and property is through the female line, men are not disadvantaged in this ‘egalitarian-lite’ society. Men are numerically stronger in the military and police services, women more in politics, law and commerce. That’s a generalisation, of course. Nothing is ever that simple…

Service to the state is supposed to be valued higher than personal advantage, echoing Roman Republican virtues; it drove Roma Nova’s survival through the centuries. However, as we see in PERFIDITAS, not everybody subscribes to this.

Roma Nova’s continued existence has been favoured by three factors: the discovery and exploitation of high-grade silver in their mountains, their efficient technology, and their robust response to any threat. Today, although tiny, perhaps the size of Luxembourg, Roma Nova has become one of the highest per capita income states in the world.

So has Roma Nova’s existence changed the rest of the world?

Remembering their Byzantine cousins’ defeat in the Fall of Constantinople, Roma Novan troops assisted the western nations at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 to halt the Ottoman advance into Europe. Nearly two hundred years later, they used their diplomatic skills to help forge an alliance to push Napoleon IV back across the Rhine as he attempted to expand his grandfather’s empire.

Prioritising survival, Roma Nova remained neutral in the Great War of the 20th century that lasted from 1925 to 1935. The Greater German Empire, stretching from Jutland in the north, Alsace in the west, Tyrol in the south and Bulgaria in the east, was broken up afterwards into its former small kingdoms, duchies and counties. Some became republics. There was no sign of an Austrian-born corporal with a short, square moustache.

And the New World that features in the first few chapters of INCEPTIO? New York, where we find Karen living and working, is an Autonomous City in the Eastern United States (EUS) that the Dutch only left in 1813 and the British in 1865. The New World French states of Louisiane and Québec are ruled by Gouverneurs-Généraux on behalf of Napoléon VI. California and Texas belong to the Spanish Empire and the Western Territories are a protected area for the Indigenous Peoples.

If this has glimpse has intrigued you, you can find out much more at The Roma Nova Story [http://alison-morton.com/roma-nova/roma-nova-history/] or read gossipy travel writer Claudia Dixit’s quick Visitor Guide to Roma Nova [http://alison-morton.com/roma-nova/claudia-dixits-tourist-guide-to-roma-nova/]

Bio

Alison Morton is the author of the acclaimed Roma Nova thrillers INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO and AURELIA (finalist in the 2016 Historical Novel Society Indie Award). Her fifth book in the series, INSURRECTIO, was launched at the London Book Fair on 12 April 2016. 

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova site: http://alison-morton.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison-morton

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

Read about INSURRECTIO, Alison’s latest book, here: http://alison-morton.com/books-2/insurrectio/

INSURRECTIO book trailer

Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Alison Morton on SUCCESSIO

This week, we're pleased to welcome author Alison Morton with the third in her Roma Nova series, SUCCESSIO. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Successio. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

Roma Nova – the last remnant of the Roman Empire that has survived into the 21^st century – is at peace. Carina Mitela, the heir of a leading family, but choosing the life of an officer in the Praetorian Guard Special Forces, is not so sure.

She senses danger crawling towards her when she encounters a strangely self-possessed member of the unit hosting their exchange exercise in Britain. When a blackmailing letter arrives from a woman claiming to be her husband Conrad’s lost daughter and Conrad tries to shut Carina out, she knows the threat is real.

Trying to resolve a young man’s indiscretion twenty-five years before turns into a nightmare that not only threatens to destroy all the Mitelae but also attacks the core of the imperial family itself. With her enemy holding a gun to the head of the heir to the imperial throne, Carina has to make the hardest decision of her life…

“Sassy, intriguing, page-turning…  Roma Nova is a fascinating world” - Simon Scarrow

**Q&A with Alison Morton**

Welcome back, Alison. Now, you’re here to tell us about your latest alternate history thriller, SUCCESSIO. We saw the blurb and an exciting extract on Thursday, but today I’d like to dig a little deeper into the background…

Looking at the alternate history theme, could a Roman province have survived from AD 395 into the 21^st century? And with a feminist take?

In the chaos of the Roman Empire crumbling into city-states and small kingdoms, men in the tiny pagan colony of Roma Nova fought to defend it while women took over the social, political and economic roles based on family structures.

But hard times followed the foundation in 395 AD; this was the time of the first ‘Great Migrations’ in Europe which lasted until approximately 800 AD. Eventually, daughters as well as sons had to put on armour and carry weapons. Fighting danger side by side with brothers and fathers over the generations reinforced women’s status. And keeping to their traditional gods, they never allowed the incursion of monotheistic paternalistic religions. So I don’t think it’s too far a stretch for women to have developed leadership roles in all parts of Roma Novan life over the next sixteen centuries.

What are the thriller elements in SUCCESSIO?

Carina, the heroine, is an officer in the Praetorian Guard Special Forces, so we know she’s a tough cookie.   But she is faced with blackmail, her marriage is under extreme stress and a manipulative and skilled antagonist is bent on a relentlessly murderous course of revenge to destroy Roma Novans, their beliefs and values.

Only Carina, caught between heartbreak of her personal life and sworn service to the imperium, and nearly broken physically and mentally, can hunt this killer down.

What so you think makes a good story for a reader?

As a reader, I like a cracking story with an emotional grip and characters who resonate with me. Plots should have plenty of twists and turns. I like an unusual setting, whether in time, place or both. But that’s just me…

Characters in all stories must live naturally and plausibly in their own world; reviewers have been kind enough to say that Roma Nova is real to them. Some want to book a long holiday and one wanted to emigrate to Roma Nova permanently!

A good twist or electrifying denouement is rewarding for a reader who has been kept on the hop all the way through. Writers who take the dare of high concept stories must deliver and, to me as a writer, this is a powerful motivator to work hard to produce a truly entertaining result.

Does your tough heroine, Carina, have any doubts and weaknesses?

She does indeed! She worries that her husband, Conrad, hasn’t recovered from his accident, she almost gives into fear when everything is falling apart and her temper, ah, her temper! 

The biggest challenge in depicting tough heroines is plausibility. You can’t jump from a passive, protected flower to super-heroine, even if she passes through a formative traumatic event. Writers need to give hints about latent characteristics such as resilience, integrity and physical strength as well as a strong will and a passion to drive through what she believes in.

The second challenge is not falling into the trap of making a strong character have moments of unbelievable weakness. Self-doubt, a temper, love for movies, a penchant for egg and bacon rolls or brandy help to round a character out, but writers must not over-compensate for the toughness. A military type will drink and swear – it’s the pressure of the job – but she will have the normal emotions of any other woman, although expressed differently. However, she would probably not wear pink off-duty, nor go soft-eyed over fluffy bunny rabbits.

What are the larger issues behind SUCCESSIO?

There are two: firstly, the conflict of privileging the state over personal wishes and feelings, and secondly, the impact of childhood abuse on later life.

Individual ‘noble’ motivation resonates with even the most cynical reader, but in the Roma Novan society it’s expected as a matter of course. This harks back to collective survival as well as core Roman values. My heroine knows and accepts those in her head, but they cause her inner heartache. And the losses and gains are more complex and multi-layered than they appear.

A darker theme, woven into the story, is the impact childhood bullying and abuse have on an adult and how much they drive that adult to misjudgement and inner self-destruction which brings danger to all the others in that person’s environment.

And next?

I’m going back to the 1960s and 70s and writing the story of Aurelia Mitela. Does the steadfast and calm Aurelia hide a secret? And what was her part in the rebellion that nearly ripped Roma Nova apart?

Thank you for joining me today, dear readers,  and warm thanks to Unusual Historicals for inviting me.

Buying links:

SUCCESSIO is available through your local bookshop or from Amazon and other online retailers here: http://alison-morton.com/successio/where-to-buy-successio/

Social media:

You can read more about Alison, Romans, alternate history and writing here on her blog at www.alison-morton.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

Amazon UK author page:   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Amazon US author page:  http://www.amazon.com/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Excerpt Thursday: SUCCESSIO by Alison Morton

This week, we're pleased to welcome author Alison Morton with the third in her Roma Nova series, SUCCESSIO. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Successio. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

Roma Nova – the last remnant of the Roman Empire that has survived into the 21^st century – is at peace. Carina Mitela, the heir of a leading family, but choosing the life of an officer in the Praetorian Guard Special Forces, is not so sure.

She senses danger crawling towards her when she encounters a strangely self-possessed member of the unit hosting their exchange exercise in Britain. When a blackmailing letter arrives from a woman claiming to be her husband Conrad’s lost daughter and Conrad tries to shut Carina out, she knows the threat is real.

Trying to resolve a young man’s indiscretion twenty-five years before turns into a nightmare that not only threatens to destroy all the Mitelae but also attacks the core of the imperial family itself. With her enemy holding a gun to the head of the heir to the imperial throne, Carina has to make the hardest decision of her life…

“Sassy, intriguing, page-turning…  Roma Nova is a fascinating world” - Simon Scarrow

**An Excerpt from SUCCESSIO**

I

It was far too quiet. Only an occasional owl call, the odd flutter of feathers and pitter-patter of a small night creature. Sure, the training area was literally kilometres from anywhere, somewhere called Norfolk, but a hundred people couldn’t stay that quiet, not even – arguably – the best special forces in the world. Beside me, the two centurions, Livius and Paula Servla, were motionless; I couldn’t even hear them breathe. I peered through the face veil hanging from my helmet. My eyesight was still good at thirty-nine, but I didn’t see a thing in the dawn light. I relaxed; we had a full five minutes before we needed to move.

I’d been crazy to agree to take part in this exercise; I’d sat at a desk for too long. Commanding Operations did not mean taking part in every exercise. It’d been my vanity that made me put myself down for the ultimate – training with the British special forces. No, against them. Even more insane. I was no slouch and worked hard to keep my fitness up, but I really should have left it to the super-fit like Paula and Livius and, of course, Flavius. But a small country like ours didn’t refuse such invitations twice and the competition to be picked for this exercise had been near lethal.

Each year we invited a small number of allied countries’ special troops to Roma Nova to take part in our annual fitness-for-purpose exercise; thanks to our legate’s connections, there’d always been some British. Very effective and highly competent, they were reserved at first, like they’d swallowed some kind of ‘how to behave abroad’ manual, but by the end of the week, they’d usually relaxed. But this was a first for us to have an exclusive exercise with them, and on their ground.

The first night we’d arrived, we’d had all the ‘swords and sandals’ cracks in the bar from those who’d never met us. Sandwiched between New Austria and Italy, people thought Roma Nova was a cross between the Sound of Music and Gladiator with a dash of Ruritania thrown in. But when their commander welcomed us formally the next morning, he told the assembled host troops about our sixteen-hundred-year traditions and that the Praetorian Guard Special Forces were just as fearsome as they’d heard. And that Roma Nova had survived, clawing its way through the centuries, was in no small part down to the Praetorians. The British grunts tried not to appear impressed, but I saw a little more respect in their eyes after that.

 Livius lifted his index finger a few millimetres from his rifle and glanced over at me. I gave a hint of a nod. Ahead of Paula and me by a body length, he started crawling forward. Using our elbows, we pulled ourselves behind and a little to each side of him across the forest floor covered in pine-needles. Three others, Allia, Gorlius and Pelo, followed in the same arrow formation. Reaching the crest of the washed-out shallow valley, we spread out behind it and froze.

After five minutes watching and listening, I nodded and Livius took Allia and Pelo into the trees behind us and set off for the other side of the depression. Raising my hand a couple of centimetres from the sandy ground, I signalled Paula to maintain position here. I grabbed my assault rifle and in a crouching run made my way to the dip twenty metres away at the entrance. I glanced up to see Gorlius scrambling up into one of the trees behind Paula to act as lookout. As he drew one of the new individual cam nets over himself, he disappeared. I pointed my pocket scope up at him. Even his heat signature was pretty near neutral. Expensive but impressive. Now we waited out ten minutes to let the wildlife settle back down.

‘Contact.’ That one word hissed in my earpiece told me Gorlius had spotted them. We’d tabbed to this location by forced march – an old Roman tradition – so we could surprise them. And there they were, walking single file, sweeping their route with their eyes and weapons, watchful, but not wary. Too professional to make any unnecessary noise, they were nevertheless a little over-relaxed.

Their commander sent two ahead to check. Now they concentrated, their weapons raised and arms and legs tensed. Just before they reached the edge of the depression, one turned back to the commander and shook his head.

Livius dropped the two of them in rapid succession. Allia and Pelo launched at the main group from the far point and downed another three between them. Paula slammed the radio operator to earth, pinioning his flailing arms and legs. Gorlius fell on two others. I tripped the last one as he tried to escape and jammed my weapon in his throat as he attempted to struggle up. I didn’t need to look at my watch to know we’d done it in under two minutes. Hm, slowing up.

We secured and tagged them. While Livius and Pelo swept the back area for a possible second patrol, Paula scanned their radio with an electronic logger.

‘Can’t see any transmission within the past ten,’ she said, looking up. ‘But I think they check in every thirty.’ She spoke in fast street Latin in case any of these clever boys turned out to be linguists.

I turned to their officer, Lieutenant Wilson, from his jacket tab. ‘Now, Lieutenant, I hope we’re not going to go formal here. I just need you to confirm the time of your next radio check.’

‘Not a chance in hell.’ His eyes half closed and he snorted.

I sighed and signalled Allia forward. From her sleeve pocket she extracted a slim tin containing two syringes and an ampoule, knelt down by the officer, prepared a needle and waited for my confirmation.

Buying links:

SUCCESSIO is available through your local bookshop or from Amazon and other online retailers here: http://alison-morton.com/successio/where-to-buy-successio/

Social media:

You can read more about Alison, Romans, alternate history and writing here on her blog at www.alison-morton.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

Amazon UK author page:   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Amazon US author page:  http://www.amazon.com/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Author Interview & Ebook Giveaway: Alison Morton on PERFIDITAS

This week, we're pleased to welcome author Alison Morton with the second in her Roma Nova series, PERFIDITAS. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Perfiditas. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

Captain Carina Mitela of the Praetorian Guard Special Forces is in trouble – one colleague has tried to kill her and another has set a trap to incriminate her in a conspiracy to topple the government of Roma Nova. Founded sixteen hundred years ago by Roman dissidents and ruled by women, Roma Nova barely survived a devastating coup d’état thirty years ago. Carina swears to prevent a repeat and not merely for love of country.

Seeking help from a not quite legal old friend could wreck her marriage to the enigmatic Conrad. Once she’s proscribed and operating illegally, she risks being terminated by both security services and conspirators. As she struggles to overcome the desperate odds and save her beloved Roma Nova and her own life, she faces the ultimate betrayal…

“Sassy, intriguing, page-turning…  Roma Nova is a fascinating world” - Simon Scarrow

**Q&A with Alison Morton**

September is the month of wonders and marvels here at Unusual Historicals. How does PERFIDITAS fit in?

Well, the whole background to the Roma Nova books is ‘wondrous and marvellous’ as it’s a story of alternate history, where at a point in the past the timeline diverged from the one we know and went in a different direction.

For Roma Nova, that split was in AD 395 as the Roman Empire was fading. The small colony struggled to survive into the 21^st century and managed to keep its Roman core values, but with a difference – it became egalitarian and is governed by women. If you would like to know why and how, there’s a potted history of the imaginary Roma Nova on my blog.

What made you bring the Roman theme up to the present day instead of setting your story in ancient Rome?

Although ancient Roman society had evolved significantly by the late fourth century and Roman women owned property, businesses and enjoyed more civil freedoms than several hundred years previously, they were still, to our modern eyes, second or class citizens. It would have been unrealistic for a heroine like Carina to live and work as a Praetorian in ancient Rome.

I wanted to explore the theme of a modern society, but traditionally Roman in style and custom. Alternate history allows you to explore the ‘what if’ questions and the juxtaposition of putting female members of a society we have always thought of as very male dominated onto more than equal terms with men was such a tempting one…

PERFIDITAS is the second book in your Roma Nova series, the sequel to your exciting debut novel INCEPTIO. Please tell us a little bit about the title.

PERFIDITAS means betrayal - our words ‘perfidy’ and ‘perfidious’ are closely related. To the Roma Novans who have invested their whole way of life over many centuries in their core values of rule of law, justice and service to the state, betrayal is deeply repugnant. And in PERFIDITAS the betrayal is political, professional and very personal.

How do you research an alternate history novel?

When you write alternate history, you need imagination as you are writing ‘into the void’; there are no sources.  However, you must be driven by historical logic and integrate your imagined country with the rest of the world. Of course, that rest of the world will probably be different from ours as well.

On a practical level, I have a general grounding in Roman history from reading classical texts, such as Pliny, Suetonius, Caesar’s Gallic Wars and modern history texts, plus my father introduced me to the Roman world at age 11. To me, it seemed perfectly normal to clamber over Roman aqueducts, walk on mosaic pavements, pretend I was a Roman actor in classic theatres all over Europe from Spain to then Yugoslavia, from Hadrian’s Wall to Pompeii. So I have a ‘feel’ for the Roman world. But I keep reading as there are new discoveries and new research appearing all the time.

As for writing the military scenes in PERFIDITAS, I spent six years in the reserve forces, which gave me experience of military life first hand. I know what it was like to crawl around woods, simulate battle, how to endure cold and move silently towards your objective.

The thing that keeps me digging is the determination not to give up even if the result is not what I expected. For instance, my characters catch bad guys in the 21^st century, but I wanted to find out if there were special forces and spies during the ancient Roman period so I could bring anything with a Roman flavour into my books. I searched for sources and came across Exploratio by Austin and Rankin about military and political intelligence in the ancient Roman world. Perfect, I thought.

It turned out that there was no centralized intelligence organisation and it was all chaotically arranged on a regional basis with a lot of infighting in Rome itself until the later Roman period. Sixteen hundred years on, I’ve made their descendants a great deal better organised!

How do you portray characters accurately in the alternative world while still captivating readers in the real world?

Ha! That’s the crucial question. There are twin elements: the first is our old friend research. Knowing about food, costume and work, but also attitudes to crime, life, death, servants, masters, marriage, trade, property will give any historical writer a firm knowledge base against which to work.

The second element is plausibility. The writer has to maintain the reader’s trust. One way to do this is to infuse, but not flood, the story with corroborative detail so that it verifies and reinforces the plot and narrative. Even though my books are set in the 21st century, the Roman characters say things like ‘I wouldn’t be in your sandals (not shoes) when he finds out.’ 

Human beings of all ages and cultures have similar emotional needs, hurts and joys. Of course, they’re expressed differently, sometimes in an alienating or (to us) peculiar way. But a romantic relationship, for example, whether as instant as Colonel Brandon when he sees Marianne in Sense and Sensibility or the careful but intense relationship of Eve Dallas and Roarke in the Death series, binds us into their stories.

The hardest element is the conflict between projecting standard western sensitivities and viewpoints on to people living in a completely different set of circumstances, whether it’s the past or a different country, or both. And it’s not always true that people today are more liberal and enlightened than those in the past.

Ancient Romans were very open about sexual matters as they regarded sex as allied to fertility and survival rather than embarrassment and guilt. They would have given you a puzzled look if you’d suggested love was they main reason for marriage. My Roma Novans live in the 21st century but retain a similar practical attitude. They often partner or marry to have children to continue their families or consolidate property. Carina and her partner, Conrad are unusual in that they are strongly emotionally bound to each other in mutual love. But it doesn’t guarantee they always will be…

So what’s next in Roma Nova?

Well, book three, SUCCESSIO, which has the twin meanings of ‘what happened next’ and ‘the next generation’, has just come out. The action takes place seven years after the end of PERFIDITAS and deals with a threat from the past which even Carina may not be able to deal with …

Perhaps I’ll come back and tell you about it another time. ;-)

Thank you for joining me today and warm thanks to Unusual Historicals for inviting me.

View the trailer:  http://alison-morton.com/blog/perfiditas-book-trailer/

PERFIDITAS is available through your local bookshop (paperback), Amazon (myBook.to/PERFIDITAS) and other online retailers here http://alison-morton.com/perfiditas/where-to-buy-perfiditas/.

PERFIDITAS will be at a special price of $1.99/£1.29 from 17 September through to 25 September.

About the Author

Alison Morton writes Roman-themed alternate history thrillers with strong heroines. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French, German, and Economics, a masters’ in history and lives in France with her husband.

A ‘Roman nut’ since age 11, she has visited sites throughout Europe including the alma mater, Rome. But it was the mosaics at Ampurias (Spain) that started her wondering what a modern Roman society would be like if run by women…

INCEPTIO, the first in the Roma Nova series, which was shortlisted for the 2013 International Rubery Book Award, and PERFIDITAS, the second in series, have been honoured with the B.R.A.G. Medallion®, an award for independent fiction that rejects 90% of its applicants. INCEPTIO and PERFIDITAS were shortlisted for Writing Magazine’s 2014 Self-Publishing Book of the Year Award. Alison’s third book SUCCESSIO came out in June 2014 and was selected in August 2014 by the Historical Novel Society as indie Editor’s Choice.

Links

Connect with Alison on her blog http://alison-morton.com/blog/

Facebook author page  https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison-morton

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

Amazon UK author page:   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Amazon US author page:  http://www.amazon.com/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Buying links (multiple retailers/formats):

INCEPTIO: http://alison-morton.com/inceptio/where-to-buy-inceptio/

PERFIDITAS: http://alison-morton.com/perfiditas/where-to-buy-perfiditas/

SUCCESSIO: http://alison-morton.com/successio/where-to-buy-successio/

Excerpt Thursday: PERFIDITAS by Alison Morton

This week, we're pleased to welcome author Alison Morton with the second in her Roma Nova series, PERFIDITAS. Join us again on Sunday for an author interview, with more details about the story behind the story. One lucky visitor will get a free copy of Perfiditas. Be sure to leave your email address in the comments of today's post or Sunday's author interview for a chance to win. Winner(s) are contacted privately by email. Here's the blurb.

Captain Carina Mitela of the Praetorian Guard Special Forces is in trouble – one colleague has tried to kill her and another has set a trap to incriminate her in a conspiracy to topple the government of Roma Nova. Founded sixteen hundred years ago by Roman dissidents and ruled by women, Roma Nova barely survived a devastating coup d’état thirty years ago. Carina swears to prevent a repeat and not merely for love of country.

Seeking help from a not quite legal old friend could wreck her marriage to the enigmatic Conrad. Once she’s proscribed and operating illegally, she risks being terminated by both security services and conspirators. As she struggles to overcome the desperate odds and save her beloved Roma Nova and her own life, she faces the ultimate betrayal…

“Sassy, intriguing, page-turning…  Roma Nova is a fascinating world” - Simon Scarrow

**An Excerpt from PERFIDITAS**

‘Captain Carina Mitela?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Who is this?’

‘Custodes XI Station. An emergency token with your code has been handed in. We’re holding the presenter.’

Juno.

I dropped everything and headed for the tunnel connecting our headquarters to the police station.  The duty sergeant, with a typical cop’s bland expression but trying to conceal a speculative gleam in her eyes, handed me the token without a word.

As we walked to the interview rooms, I stared at the thirty-nine millimetre diameter disc, made to imitate a casino chip, indigo blue polycarbonate shielding the tiny microprocessor. The last one I’d had in was from an informant handling incoming diplomatic baggage at the airport; her sharp eyes had spotted a very undiplomatic cargo of compact assault rifles. Sure, Roma Nova was a small country, hidden away between New Austria and Italy, but we weren’t stupid or sloppy. Working with the Intelligence section, I’d traced the weapons back to their Balkan Republic origins and led a covert service unit to destroy their warehouse.

The figure I saw today through the smartplex observation window of the public interview room was slumped over, elbows on the table, hands braced her under her chin, her long black hair looking like it hadn’t seen a brush for days. Mossia Antonia. She owned and ran one of the toughest, and most exclusive, training gyms in the country. Right now, she looked like a street vagrant.

I shucked off my uniform of beige shirt and pants and black tee, and pulled on the casuals the custodes duty sergeant had found in lost property for me, ignoring the smell of stale food and cooking fat clinging to them.

Mossia jerked her head up as I entered the room.

‘Salve, Mossia. What’s the problem?’ I plunked myself down on the other chair, crossed my arms and waited.

‘Bruna?’ She blinked and shook her head like she didn’t believe what she saw.

I opened my hand in a gesture inviting her to talk.

‘Aidan has disappeared,’ she said, looking down and rubbing the table with her index finger. Inlaid with coffee rings from careless mugs, the plastic surface reflected the impacts of hard-tipped pens and handcuff scrapes.

‘Are you sure?’

She nodded.

‘How do you know? Aidan has other clients apart from yours. Maybe he’s gone on vacation, or been called away.’

Her head came up at that. ‘His first duty is to me – I pay him a good retainer to look after my clients.’

‘So what makes you think he’s not coming back?’

‘This.’

She pulled out a folded piece of paper with black, sloping writing. I read it, laid it down on the table, and leaned back in my chair. Then I picked it up and read it again. I couldn’t believe it. He wrote he couldn’t bear it any longer; he’d had enough of her unfair working practices. He resigned with immediate effect and would make sure her clients knew exactly why he’d done it. I pinched the bridge of my nose to make sure I was awake.

‘He took nearly a thousand solidi from the cash drawer and my gold pen.’ Mossia jabbed the air with her finger. ‘Whatever. What really bugs me are those lies.’ Her face was rigid and her eyes blazing. ‘I could kill him for that.’ Her chair crashed backwards to the ground with the force of her jumping up. She started pacing around the room like a lion in the arena.

I wasn’t surprised at her anger. She worked her people hard, but looked after them. I knew her employment packages were first-class; as an anonymous shareholder, I’d seen her accounts.

‘You’ve reported him to the custodes as a missing person?’

‘I’m reporting it to you.’

‘Why? I’m not the custodes.’

‘Well, you’re something like that.’ Ninety-eight per cent of my colleagues in the Praetorian Guard Special Forces would take offence at that, but I let it pass.

She came to rest by the table and looked down at me.

‘What?’ I said.

‘It’s personal.’

‘Were you sleeping with him?’

Her shoulders slumped and she crossed her arms across her chest.

‘Silly sod.’

She pulled a small moue.

I stretched over and touched her forearm in sympathy. I shot a side glance at the watch on my outstretched wrist. Hades!

‘I’ll have the custodes log it,’ I said and stood up. ‘You go home now or, better, back to the gym. The custodes will let you know of any developments.’

She took a full stride toward me, so near that she was all but touching me. ‘What do you mean? Aren’t you going to do anything about it?’

‘Okay, it’s bloody annoying, it’s hurtful, whatever, but it’s hardly a case for an emergency token. Leave it with the custodes.’

I stepped away and pushed my chair under the edge of the table.

‘Come on, Mossia, time to go. Think of the money you’re not making while you’re wasting time here.’

She shot me a vicious look. The anger was rolling off her. She took a deep breath and gazed unseeing at the dirty beige walls for a minute or so.

Had I been too harsh? A stab of guilt prodded me. I’d known Mossia for years, but my schedule was crushing and I was behind already.

I knocked on the door which opened inward revealing a blue-uniformed custos.

‘We’re finished here,’ I told him.

I looked at Mossia’s taut, silent figure. ‘The custos will see you out. I’ll stop by the gym if I hear anything.’

‘Well, screw you!’ She turned her back to me and stalked out without another word.

View the trailer:  http://alison-morton.com/blog/perfiditas-book-trailer/

PERFIDITAS is available through your local bookshop (paperback), Amazon (myBook.to/PERFIDITAS) and other online retailers here http://alison-morton.com/perfiditas/where-to-buy-perfiditas/.

PERFIDITAS will be at a special price of $1.99/£1.29 from 17 September through to 25 September.

About the Author

Alison Morton writes Roman-themed alternate history thrillers with strong heroines. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French, German, and Economics, a masters’ in history and lives in France with her husband.

A ‘Roman nut’ since age 11, she has visited sites throughout Europe including the alma mater, Rome. But it was the mosaics at Ampurias (Spain) that started her wondering what a modern Roman society would be like if run by women…

INCEPTIO, the first in the Roma Nova series, which was shortlisted for the 2013 International Rubery Book Award, and PERFIDITAS, the second in series, have been honoured with the B.R.A.G. Medallion®, an award for independent fiction that rejects 90% of its applicants. INCEPTIO and PERFIDITAS were shortlisted for Writing Magazine’s 2014 Self-Publishing Book of the Year Award. Alison’s third book SUCCESSIO came out in June 2014 and was selected in August 2014 by the Historical Novel Society as indie Editor’s Choice.

Links

Connect with Alison on her blog http://alison-morton.com/blog/

Facebook author page  https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison-morton

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton

Amazon UK author page:   http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Amazon US author page:  http://www.amazon.com/Alison-Morton/e/B007JZ1XRS/

Buying links (multiple retailers/formats):

INCEPTIO: http://alison-morton.com/inceptio/where-to-buy-inceptio/

PERFIDITAS: http://alison-morton.com/perfiditas/where-to-buy-perfiditas/

SUCCESSIO: http://alison-morton.com/successio/where-to-buy-successio/