BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AN INTERVIEW WITH MARY REED AND ERIC MAYER'S JOHN, LORD CHAMBERLAIN

Today we sit down for a chat with John of the John, Lord Chamberlain, Byzantine Mystery series by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

A quiet one! After I left the life of a mercenary I expected to begin farming in a rural area of Greece, but then I fell in with a troupe of peripatetic performers whose main act was a recreation of bull dancing. I never anticipated visiting Constantinople, much less achieving the high office I eventually occupied.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I am loyal. It was this that led to my leaving exile in Greece to go to Rome to help Felix, an old friend and newly minted general, who asked me for assistance with a pressing but unspecified difficulty. We both knew leaving exile without Emperor Justinian's permission was likely to lead to my execution, but still I had to go to Felix's aid. He would have done the same for me.

What do you like least about yourself?

Although I control it better now, I have not yet completely conquered the black rage I feel over emasculation and being sold as a slave.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Among many strange events my authors introduced into my life, events that spring to mind was when they sent myself, my wife Cornelia, and an elderly servant who invited himself along to Egypt to investigate why sheep were committing suicide. At one point this led to my reluctantly taking part in a street performance presenting a glimpse of the life of Empress Theodora, not to mention making the acquaintance of a purveyor of faux cat mummies who bred his own material and a second remarkable individual, a diminutive magician. A complete fraud, the latter's act brought him to Constantinople to perform for the imperial couple. Despite his impudent patter and snake fitted with an obviously counterfeit human head act he kept his own head. My authors chronicled our adventures in Six For Gold.

Do you argue with your authors? If so, what do you argue about?

My authors have no time to argue with me because they argue with each other!

What is your greatest fear?

That my Cornelia will die and I must live on alone.

What makes you happy?

Sitting with her in the ruins of a temple on the edge of my estate overlooking the sea.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would be a free man living on a small estate in Greece. It was after my enslavement and subsequent freedom I began my journey to holding the office of Lord Chamberlain. Incidentally, I first met Felix while I was still a slave. We were ordered by Emperor Justinian to investigate a particularly delicate matter involving a murder in broad daylight in the Great Church in Constantinople. My authors chronicled that adventure in Four For A Boy.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

Clementia, Felix's latest mistress. She continually demonstrates she thinks I am willing to replace him in her affections and further, I have come to believe, she is not always to be trusted to tell the truth, which is vital in any investigation.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

If it were possible, I would drop a few decades and trade places with Viteric, the young soldier escorting me around Rome. At the same time, as was naturally to be expected in the circumstances, he is keeping an eye on what I was doing and reporting back to Diogenes, the general in charge of the city garrison. I would describe Viteric as a good fighter, brave, intelligent, observant, quick-acting, in short the sort of man worth his weight in gold in a battle.

Tell us a little something about your authors. Where can readers find her website/blog?

My authors have been writing about my life for some years now. An Empire For Ravens is the latest installment, and will appear in October from Poisoned Pen Press. Their website may be viewed here  and their blog, largely devoted to reviews of Golden Age novels, here.

What's next for you?

I was hoping for a less eventful life, but it appears this is not likely, given my authors are hinting at further eventful times, so I suppose I shall find out what they have in store for me when everyone else does!

An Empire For Ravens

Emperor Justinian's former Lord Chamberlain John receives a letter from his longtime comrade Felix asking for help, and, placing loyalty to a friend above his own safety, risks defying imperial edict by leaving his exile in Greece for Italy, where Felix is serving under General Diogenes in fighting for Rome against the besieging Goths.

John's covert entrance into Rome is ambushed, driving him deep into ancient catacombs before he exits into the heart of the city. Arrested, John learns that Felix is missing. Sent to lodge at Felix's quarters, John finds the household in disarray, evidence that Felix has taken a questionable lover and run up his usual debts, not to mention someone is rifling supplies. Then a young woman servant, also missing, is found dead. John has many mysteries to solve before Diogenes' courier to Justinian can return and prompt John's immediate execution.

Buy Links

hardcover 

paperback

ebook 

#TRAVEL TO A RECONSTRUCTED ROMAN FORT WITH GUEST AUTHOR SANDRA SCHWAB

The main gate of the Saalburg

Sandra Schwab is an author, artist, and translator with a PhD, a sketchbook, and a very large library. Since the release of her debut novel in 2005, she has enchanted readers worldwide with her unusual historical romances. She lives in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Learn more about Sandra and her books at her website. http://www.sandraschwab.com

I blame it all on Twitter. Yes, indeed, Twitter made me do it.

Back in the summer of 2014, I joined a combo on Twitter where readers talked about the relative lack of romances set in Ancient Rome. I mentioned that I happen to live near a former border of the Roman Empire, the Upper Germanic Limes—and the next thing I knew, I had somehow been talked into writing a romance set in Ancient Rome. When I had only ever written historicals set in the Regency era or the Victorian Age. Splendid.

What do you do in such a case, apart from buying oodles of new research books? You go on a field trip! Luckily, I don't just live near a former border of the Roman Empire; more importantly, I live near a reconstructed Roman fort.

The Saalburg lies on the crest of a range of hills called the Taunus, and along those hills ran the border, which at first was nothing more than a series of watchtowers connected by a path. It was the Emperor Hadrian who ordered the border to be strengthened by a wooden palisade (~ AD 130). Around the same time, the small timber fort on the site of the Saalburg was replaced by a larger fort with stone walls.

The military standards at the Saalburg

The Saalburg has the same basic layout that can be found in all forts and fortresses across the Roman Empire: The headquarters building, the principia, that also houses the shrine of the standards, stands in the middle of the fort, along with the praetorium, the residence of the commander. Granaries and workshops are close by, with the wooden barracks typically situated in the front and back of a fort. Tugged along the ramparts, you could find bread ovens as well as lavatories. Some forts also had a hospital and a bathhouse; however, in many cases, the latter could be found outside the fort itself and was part of the vicus, the civilian settlement next to a fort. The vicus housed the families of the soldiers (who couldn’t legally marry, but often entered informal connections) and also included the workshops of craftsmen, eateries, shops, and temples.

Centurion Ducky sitting atop the remains of the walls of the bathhouse

Living at the edge of the Roman Empire did not mean that you had to go without niceties. Finds from the Saalburg, which are exhibited in the reconstructed granaries, include pretty leather shoes, beautiful brooches, jewelry, and lovely tableware, among other things.

Kitchen vessel and pretty brooches from the Saalburg

Excavations at the Saalburg started in the mid-19^th century—before that time, the locals used the site as a stone quarry—and the first phase of the reconstruction lasted from 1897 to 1907. The Kaiser himself supported the project, and while this was no doubt beneficiary, he also influenced aspects of the reconstruction. The most obvious example of this is the legionary eagle standard in the shrine of the standards: Like most other forts along the borders of the Roman Empire, the Saalburg only ever housed auxiliary troops (which were recruited from inhabitants of the provinces) rather than a legion (soldiers serving in the legions were all Roman citizens).

Moreover, new research in the 20^th and 21^st centuries has proven some of the assumptions made during the first phase of reconstruction to be incorrect. Thus, we now know that the defensive walls as well as the stone-buildings in the fort would have all been plastered white with mortar seams painted on in red. The whole effect must have been striking!

I made the Saalburg the setting of my second Roman novel, Eagle's Honor: Ravished, but it wasn't just the museum itself that inspired me. There are numerous workshops and festivals throughout the year where visitors can learn many more details about Roman everyday life. Last year, I attended a Roman cookery workshop…

…and earlier this year, I attended a Roman market at the Saalburg, which also included a military show. Very inspiring indeed!

Eagle’s Honor: Ravished

A barbarian warrior, an enemy of Rome.

A sheltered young woman, the daughter of a Roman officer.

An unlikely love, threatened by the bloody strife at the borders of Roman Empire.

AD 190: When a fever ravages her father’s fort and kills her family, Livia has to leave Britannia behind and make a new home for herself in Rome. Lost in a world of grief, she finds little delight in the glittering capital of the empire. Nothing can penetrate the grey fog of her grief—except for the cool blue eyes of the slave Leontius, a barbarian warrior, a former gladiator, a man she ought to fear. And yet, she cannot help but crave his touch, even though he is an enemy of Rome; even though, should he ever manage to flee, he would unleash the anger of his tribe upon the border of the empire.

Buy links:

paperback

ebook