Buildings in and Around the Forum

Here is a superb video from Altair4.com which brings the Rome of 50 BCE - 100 CE alive - well, at least the buildings.

HELLO ... Hello ... hello

To quote Pink Floyd:  "Is there anybody out there?"

No matter. I shall keep nattering away to myself in spite of the fact that it feels like I'm in solitary facing a life sentence.

Another self-promoting announcement:  only 17 days left to download "Bow" for free before the swarm of creditors, accountants, auditors and attorneys force me to put an actual price tag of $2.99 on the book. For any of the 136 friends who have already snagged it and perused it, I would welcome any and all comments, criticisms, diatribes, etc.

The Bow, Redux

Starting Book II today. Gave myself a six day vacation, during which time I worked at my real job. Click on the Map Page at the left to see enlarged images from Book II.

My Friend Bill

It's the ten year anniversary of the horrific tragedy of 9/11. All of us are patriots, liberals and conservatives alike. Having said that, I couldn't express how I feel any better than Bill did on his Facebook page:  "I don’t need to be reminded of 9/11 – it was, you know, a major event and only 10 years ago. I don’t need to fly a flag to remember. I don’t need a sticker on my car to remember. I don’t need a special t-shirt to remember. I don’t need to watch the hundred exploitative TV specials about 9/11 that have been on this week to remember. And I don’t need to post on Facebook to remember."

A Difficult Labor

On the eve of publication, let me tell you a little about the gestation period of this novel, which has been about six or seven years. Back when Bow was just a gleam, or an irritating grain of sand, in my eye, I thought, what a bizarre people those Romans were to get a kick out killing thousands of animals, slaves and each other in the arena. They wore their neuroses on their sleeves, unlike some other civilizations I could mention.

I toyed with the idea of writing a book about gladiators, you know ... the real story. Is there a single gladiatorial moment in Book I? Of course there isn't, but there may be, around Book III or IV. Thumbing through a dozen or so books about daily Roman life, I came across a fellow I like to call the Unknown Triumvir - Marcus Licinius Crassus. You may remember Laurence Olivier taking a semi-homoerotic turn at playing him in Stanley Kubrick's 1960 classic Spartacus. By the way, in a perfect world I'd be writing scores for films, so right there you know that the world is far from perfect. But if you're like me are almost more interested in the music of a movie than the plot, take a listen to the love theme from Spartacus. My Crassus is quite a different fellow.

Okay, so sometime in 2008 I sent out queries about what was already a 750 page manuscript for the original Bow. (As I look back at the way I'm abbreviating the title, it makes me think of someone strangling a dog mid-bark.) I blush to tell you that I had six different offers from agents representing authors of historical fiction. I'm blushing because I'm lying. I did not hear a peep back from any of over fifty inquiries. Was I disheartened? You bet your ass. Did I give up? For awhile.

Three complete rewrites later, including changing an entire version from first person to third person, then back to first person told by a different character, I was ready to try again. Would I allow the brick-and-mortar houses to pummel my ego again? I would not. And that's why Bow (woof) will be arriving via the ether at the virtual bookstore of your choice thanks to Smashwords. Just because there're far too many words in this post and not enough pictures, here is an alternative cover for Book I.

I had to nix it because Smashwords is not fond of nudity, which is a bit prudish, if you ask me. In any case, I decided to go with hollow eyes instead of hollow cheeks.