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Hi Anthony
I am registered blind and have just finished listening to your new book Nemesis using my clear talk machine which reads a page at a time to me.I have really enjoyed the plot and the story .So differant from the Romans.Hope that this is just the first in a series.Well done for trying something new
Love your work. Have you ever considered a work on Marius?. His reformation of the army and his six consulships give him a greater claim to setting Rome on the path to imperialism than Caesar despite his supposed staunch support of the republic.
Thanks Eric! I have my work cut out with a full time job and a series that will grow to 25 book, I’m afraid. And besides, it’s been done (by Colleen McCullough of all people – apparently her publisher shat a cow when she turned the script in as all they wanted was The Thorn Birds! Well worth a read, I loved it.. And yes, Marius was a piece of work alright, the archetypal ‘I’m doing this for your own good’ dictator.
Cheers,
Tony.
Man I blasted through the empire series in like 2 months lol, as well as the centurion series fantastic read both of them truly. I was quite sad when [redacted] died, I did like the parts when him and Marcus and arminus interactions and who can forget the almighty lugos lol. It would be quite a read to have a crossover novel of characters from your series to your counterpart series of Kane, sidebottum, and fabbri. Can’t wait to get my hands on the scorpion strike.
Hi Alek, thanks for the kind comments. Yeah, it’d be interesting if we could ever get the time periods to match up…Enjoy Empire 10!
Where you aware that on the first map in your book “Betrayal” the compass heading is incorrect. North is out by 90° to the left.
Hah! Both maps in fact! Great spot! I’ll pass that on to the map gnomes who reside in the secret basement at Hodder Towers…
When does Pertinax appear?
Pertinax, a famous Roman senator and briefly emperor, appears as Scaurus’s sponsor in ‘The Emperor’s Knives’.
Hi Anthony
Totally addicted to your Empire and Centurian Series books, but like to intersperse them with the novels of others dealing with other periods in history.
I’ve just finished Retribution and loved it but one small niggle on p311 in paperback when ‘Twenty-first Legion …Right! turn!’ was ordered they would have ended up on their right, Batavi/German left flank. The order should have been ‘Left! Turn!’ In order to end up “sweeping past the enemy right flank at speed” (p313 para 2 line 5) as they seem to and needed to do! Sure someone else must have pointed this out by now.
Looking forward to “ The Scorpion’s Strike”
Regards
David
Hi David, thanks for the kind words, yes, you’re right and no, you are indeed the first! Thanks for the tip off…
Enjoy Empire 10!
Tony.
I have very much enjoyed reading the Empire series and also the Centurions Series. Having just read Retribution I had previously finished reading Robert Fabbri’s Vespasian series. I realise that these books are all novels but I was struck by two differences regarding the Batavian revolt. Your books tell that all the Batavian Imperial Guard were sent home before the revolt but in Fabbri’s book there are still some in Rome at the time Vespasian comes to power. You also have Kivilaz dying at the end whereas Fabbri has him surviving. Which is correct or is there doubt?
Hi Michael, the answers to your questions are…
– were the German imperial guard still in Rome when Vespasian came to power? Not according to the contemporary sources. They were sent home by Galba, at the behest of the praetorians, so Suetonius tells us, and Vespasian didn’t reach Rome for the best part of a year thereafter.
– and did Julius Civilis live or die at the end of the Batavian revolt? Nobody knows… The relevant passage in Dio Cassis ends with him facing off with Vespasian’s son in law Agricola, and just starting his rebuttal of Rome’s charges, but after that it’s all lost to history, I’m afraid.
The answers are well documented:
– The German guard were dismissed in AD68 by Galba, well before Vespasianus took the throne. Suetonius tells us this.
– and Julius Civilis’s fate is unknown. The relevant text in Dio Cassius’s account comes to an end on the bridge (Robert mentioned the bridge, right?) with Civilis declaiming his innocence. So, quite literally, nobody knows whether he lived or died.
Cheers!
Dear Anthony,
I like historical novels from the roman times with the consequence, that I have a bookshelf full of novels from different authors, including 3 books of A.Riches. On the other hand I am fascinated of scotland/history.
Therefore I always look for new historical sites to discover on my next travel. So every time I saw a new name of a roman site, I start searching for this on any map I could find (google maps, OS-Maps Roman Britain etc.).
In the german version of your book “Wounds of Honour/Die Ehre der Legion”, there is a map printed on the inside of the cover.
For my point of view there seems to be two little mistakes. Between the roman forts Trimontium/Newstaed and Bremenium/Rochester the are two forts located with the names Blatobulgium and Brocavum. As far as I now Blatobulgium is located 15 miles north-west of Carlisle and Brocavum is located 20 miles south of Carlisle. 🙂
Was this done for dramaturgical reasons?
Happy Christmas and a
Happy new Year
Bernd
Hi Bernd, and Happy New Year to you too. The map in ‘Die Ehre Der Legion’ isn’t my work, I’m afraid, and I was not asked to approve it, which is often the case with publishers in other countries. The fort names in the UK edition are Red River and Yew Tree Fort, which are ‘my’ derivations of the Latin names and based on what the etymologists think these forts were called (I always try to do this, so Brocolitia is, for example, Badger Holes in my map (which is that the Romans saw when they arrived and the reason for the name. So I’m afraid I have no answer for you…:-(
Cheers,
Tony.
I am recently in possession of all the Empire series, which I am enjoying. I have just finished Arrows of Fury. I was shocked when I got to page 216 to be told that Equitius, a Roman legate, said “You killed and wounded twelve hundred barbarians for the loss of less than fifty men? I would have expected a nought on the end of our side of that tally.” But the concept of zero was not invented for centuries later by the Hindus. Suddenly my belief in the veracity of the conversation was shattered. Besides how to you add a nought to L (Roman fifty)?
It is likely that you have been informed of this before, if so I am sorry to bring it up again.
Yes, good point Ron – just goes to show you can never know everything!
Cheers,
Tony.
Hi Tony, I looked forward to meeting you at the Eboracum Roman Festival this summer but you must have been busy elsewhere. I do like to meet and thank my favourite authors in person were possible. Actually the numbers in York were not great and your fellow authors must have felt a little miffed. Ben, Harry and Ruth gave good accounts of themselves and their novel’s heroes and I took to Simon Turney and his Praetorian Books. I’ll definitely attend 2019 in York and maybe meet you there. I have read all your books to date and obviously love the Empire Series, who wouldn’t and I can’t wait for Marcus’s return next year. I did struggle though with the Centurions Series, having read only two of the trilogy. All the jumping between the Roman Forts had me constantly looking up the names at the front of the book. I’m sure its an aging memory thing and not in any way your fault. The action is amazing and you colour the scene to the point you can feel the barbarians Baritus or worse still, hear the Batavi cavalry’s approach. Fantastic skills to capture and reproduce the sets for us to read through. Hopefully I’ll have the final book this week and will see how these four centurions hold up. I know that there has to be a winner but I want Achilles to join Marius and Aquillius together in a Legion in future stories. Keep up the excellent work and hope to see you one day. Cheers Pete McG.
Hi Peter, sorry to have missed you in York (we were on holiday unfortunately). I hope you enjoy Retribution and approve of the ending that the characters devised for themselves…:-). Empire 10 is now completed, and I think you’re going to enjoy it…
Cheers,
Tony.