27 Apr Alison Morton INCEPTIO #10Years INCEPTIO #RomaNovaSeries #AlternativeHistory #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub @alison_morton @cathiedunn

FEATURED AUTHOR: ALISON MORTON

It is my pleasure to welcome Alison Morton again to The Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Tour being held between April 17th — April 28th, 2023. Alison is the author of the Alternative History/Thriller, INCEPTIO (10^th Anniversary hardback; Roma Nova Series), released by Pulcheria Press on 28 March 2023 (original ebook and paperback on 1 March 2013) [390 pages]. 

I previously reviewed  JULIA PRIMA by Alison Morton, which immediately drew me in and kept me turning the pages to find out what happens next. The novel vividly describes a decaying Roman empire caught in a political whirlwind of Christian leaders striving to counter Roman law and culture established during the time when pagan beliefs were accepted in 370 AD.

Below are highlights of INCEPTIO (10^th Anniversary Hardback), Alison Morton’s author bio, and her fascinating post on what inspired her to write time travel back to ancient Roma Nova, the last remnant of the Roman Empire.

Blog Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-tour-inceptio-10th-anniversary-edition.html

HIGHLIGHTS: INCEPTIO (10th Anniversary Hardback)

INCEPTIO

Roma Nova Series

By Alison Morton

Blurb:

“It’s about Roman blood, survival and money. Mostly yours.”

In an alternative New York, Karen Brown is running for her life. She makes a snap decision to flee to Roma Nova – her dead mother’s homeland, the last remnant of the Roman Empire in the 21st century. But can Karen tough it out in such an alien culture? And with a crazy killer determined to terminate her for a very personal reason? 

Stifled by the protective cocoon of her Roma Novan family, deceived by her new lover, she propels herself into a dangerous mission. But then the killer sets a trap – she must sacrifice herself for another – and she sees no escape.

A thriller laced with romance and coming of age, this first in series is Roman fiction brought into the 21st century through the lens of alternative history and driven by a female protagonist with heart and courage.

This 10thAnniversary hardback edition includes bonus content: Three character ‘conversations,’ two short stories and the story behind INCEPTIO.

Buy links:

INCEPTIO 10th Anniversary special edition hardback:

 International Buy Link     Amazon UK     Amazon US     Amazon AUS     Amazon CA    Barnes & Noble     Book Depository

Your local bookshop or library

All other formats (ebook, paperback, audio)

AUTHOR BIO: ALISON MORTON

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her ten-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has survived into the 21^st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue. INCEPTIO starts the adventure…

She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading historical, crime and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. 

Six full-length Roma Nova novels, including INCEPTIO, have won the BRAG Medallion, the prestigious award for indie fiction. SUCCESSIO, AURELIA and INSURRECTIO were selected as Historical Novel Society’s Indie Editor’s Choices.  AURELIA was a finalist in the 2016 HNS Indie Award. The Bookseller selected SUCCESSIO as Editor’s Choice in its inaugural indie review. The Historical Novel Society recently selected JULIA PRIMA, the first Foundation story set in the 4^th century, the accolade of Editors’ Choice.

Alison lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double Pursuit. Oh, and she’s writing the next Roma Nova story.

Social media links:

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova site     Facebook author page     Twitter     Alison’s writing blog

Instagram     Goodreads     Alison’s Amazon page     Newsletter sign-up

INSPIRATION FOR WRITING ROMA NOVA SERIES

Thank you so much for inviting me back to your blog, Linnea. I was delighted when you took JULIA PRIMA to your heart last October with your insightful review.

JULIA PRIMA was a departure for me as I usually write about her 21^st century descendants. In fact, the Roma Nova series starts in a modern period but that timeline only exists because of Julia’s journey to search for Lucius sixteen centuries before.

So, why did I choose to start in the present with INCEPTIO whose 10^th Anniversary hardback I am celebrating today? Strong Roman themes were essential in any story I was going to write – I’d been a ‘Roman nut’ since age eleven and clambered over most of Roman Europe. The military element was important – Rome was a military society.  Added to that, I had served six years in uniform in the UK armed forces so that way of life was an easy one for me to draw on. I can never forget the robust camaraderie and the common purpose of that life.  Very Roman!

The next influence was that of Robert Harris and his alternative timeline thriller, Fatherland, a thriller set against the supposition that that Nazi Germany had won the war in Europe. Beautifully and succinctly written, it was revolutionary and caused a storm in Germany and around the world. In this way, I discovered the enticing idea of changing the historical timeline – alternate history.

However, I wanted a woman leading the action, not merely playing a victim, assistant, consultant, girlfriend/partner/wife or token female, which was not possible in an Ancient Roman society, so I brought the story setting up to the 21^st century. My heroine makes her own voyage of self-empowerment from Karen Brown, ordinary although restless young woman, into Carina Mitela, a purposeful citizen serving Roma Nova but experiencing a legendarily rocky path to love!

Roma Nova is, in a way, a thought experiment: challenging and a research dream/nightmare. However, it does carry a message: what if thrillers were set in a world of unconscious equality where its inhabitants didn’t even think about gender roles Jamie Bond rather than James Bond? it simply wouldn’t occur to them to assign them – gender-mirroring that was so inherent and natural to the characters that it was instinctive. The world of Roma Nova pushes it further with the natural bias toward women. It’s not far past that equality midpoint but it does switch natural succession in favour of women.

While I’m trying to provoke thought, my main aim is to provide several hours of solid entertainment and an escape from the real world. But Roma Nova does try to discuss serious themes of self-empowerment, betrayal, breakdown, loyalty, fear, rebellion and liberation within its stories along with the banter, friendships, pratfalls and love. These are not just Roman experiences, but human ones.

But how to make it believable?

To write alternative history authentically, you need to research as carefully as an author writing a conventional historical novel. Alternate history starts when the timeline diverges at a point in the past from the one we know, in Roma Nova’s case in AD 395. You research thoroughly up to that point, then jump into the void and follow historical logic.

The key is to keep everything plausible and consistent, so I use familiar anchors to prevent readers becoming alienated and throwing the book on the floor. Roma Nova is a Roman type society with values and mentality similar to the classical period of Ancient Rome. Some things will have evolved over the centuries since the time split, other things will be different from the modern timeline we know. Hopefully, the combination of these changes to history and the present gives INCEPTIO (and the rest of the series) an intriguing, possibly exotic feel, but not such a strong one as to jolt readers out of the story.

Many aspects, both for the characters themselves and their environment, will be the same as ours. For instance, even in a country occupied by 21^st century Romans, a blue uniformed figure driving a car with door markings and a flashing blue roof light will inevitably suggest modern law enforcement to the reader. But in 21^st century Roma Nova they are called custodes, inheritors of the vigiles who had policed Roman Nova from the late fourth century until the early 1980s.

Another technique is to mine elements from the historical record. In my books, the heroine becomes a special forces operative, so I reached back into history and plucked the Praetorian Guard forward into the 21st century. Not only does this build on the thoughts of toughness, a dash of ruthlessness, a sense of duty and glamour that we may already have about them, it uses their historical name to anchor them as archetype Romans guarding the ruler and the state. I’m aware they became corrupt in real history and eventually disbanded but, as in all historical fiction writing, in alternative history you can bend the rules a little.

Things will have progressed through the alternative historical timeline, and you can use elements harking back to the original culture. My 21st century Roma Novans stand at the forefront of the digital technical revolution as an echo of their engineering, craft and organisational expertise in ancient times.

But you need to be careful when ‘mining’. The Roman Empire in AD 395 was significantly different from how it had been in the time of Augustus in the first century. For instance, the sestertius, the archetypal silver Roman coin that pops up in TV and films, had disappeared by the late third century. The gold solidus served as the standard unit at that time, so my modern Roma Novans use solidi, including for their online banking.

Roma Novans hold their culture and history very dear and see it as both a purpose and method of survival. In INCEPTIO, our heroine finds a forum, senate, a family based social system, all ruled by an imperatrix. The military elite is called the Praetorian Guard and service to the state is valued before personal pleasure or gain. Well, in theory!

Roma Novan homes even in the 21^st century are based around an atrium with a set of ancestor busts and statues (imagines) in the hallway. Although Latin is the official language, naming conventions have evolved along with the social system.

And finally, as with all historical fiction, my characters must act, think and feel like real people. The most credible ones live naturally within their world, i.e., consistently reflecting their unique environment and the prevailing social attitudes. Thus, Roma Novans are tough and ingenious and their language, including slang and cursing, reflects this. Of course, it makes a stronger story if the permissions and constraints of their world conflict with their personal wishes and aims. But that’s what happens in all good fiction!

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