BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--INTERVIEW WITH HISTORICAL FICTION AUTHOR GINA DANNA

Today we sit down with author Gina Danna who writes historical fiction and historical romance set in Ancient Rome, Regency England, Victorian England, and the American Civil War. Learn more about Gina and her books at her website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

Probably in my twenties when I read a ton of Regencies and other historicals and realized I knew the plot in the first few pages. I thought, wow, I could do this! Mulled with the idea for years. Took my son going to college to actually start.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Three years after starting to write.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I am a hybrid author.

Where do you write?

Just about anywhere. Get the most done at home, of course, but I take my laptop to work to write on my breaks or on a plane when I’m traveling.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

At home and anywhere else, I’d prefer silence but work is crazy so there, I’ll put on a soundtrack to listen to, like the recent one I’ve been going to is Ken Burns American Civil War (that PBS series).

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Well, this last series is on the Civil War, so from real life (Grant, Lee, Rosecrans, etc). And there are a few from my real life, who shall remain nameless. J

Describe your process for naming your character?

Always a hard one! In this series I’ve been writing, mostly from my family, since my mother’s family has been here since like the 1700s. I always get the Hero/Heroine kinda told to me by them and then the rest? Always difficult!

Real settings or fictional towns?

For most – real; for Regency – made up

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

In my personal life? My choices in men and in college degrees. Love history! But wow, hard to market outside museums (and I did have a wonderful career in museums – educator/curator; but when there’s a financial cut, they’re hit hard). And men? Well…

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves? A ton of books, great wine and a dog. J

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Branch Office Admin at Edward Jones – hated it from day 1! But needed a job. BORING plus, I failed accounting in college (I’m a mathematician – accounting makes no sense to me)

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

Hard to decide. Woodiwiss/Heath/Bob Mayer (his Civil War book, which he’s now cut into 3 books)/wow..so many more

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean!!!!! (I’m in landlocked Dallas now – I’ve lived near water all my life up to 3 years ago; so weird!)

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

City girl here

What’s on the horizon for you?

More writing. Working on a Christmas novella (which is a challenge – I’ve never had a short book) and researching for book 4 of the Civil War series.

Rags and Hope

Hearts Touched by Fire series, Book 3

Thanks to his father’s political machinations, grieving widower Colonel Pierce Duval only wants to leave his family home in New York and return to his Union command in Tennessee. A chance and harrowing encounter with a true-blue Southern belle stirs emotions he thought long buried. When her safety is at stake, how can he not help her? 

Cerisa Fontaine ran away from her wealthy Louisiana home to build a new life away from her family’s awful secret. But her controversial marriage and southern drawl make her a pariah in New York. Her situation becomes downright perilous when her husband is killed in battle. Alone and penniless, Cerisa is forced to seek employment at the only establishment that will accept her: a brothel.

Each for self-serving reasons, Pierce and Cerisa embark on a journey to Tennessee posing as a married couple. But as secrets stand between them, passion wages its war within them. All too soon, they must make a life altering choice: remain loyal to their cause, or give in to their heart’s desire.

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STEPPING BACK IN HISTORY TO ANCIENT ROME WITH AUTHOR ZARA ALTAIR

Zara Altair writes traditional mysteries set in the time of Ostrogoth Rule in Italy in The Argolicus Mysteries. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

The New Year: A Time for Games In Ancient Rome

The latest Argolicus mystery, The Roman Heir, is set in Ostia just outside Rome in January 512 CE. The young heir thinks his greatest problem is getting his father to let him go to the new year Games hosted by the new Consul. His father is viciously murdered and the young man changes from teenager to adult.

The games were extravagant events that went on for days. They were entirely free to the public but cost politicians so much they often went deeply into debt. Chariot races were the main event held at the Circus Maximus, which could hold 250,000 spectators. Aside from the cost of horses, chariots, charioteers, and all of their attendant grooms, the games also provided entertainment with musicians, wild animal hunts, acrobats, and other acts all paid for by the politician.

Even though the Games were held in January, inclement weather like rain or snow did not stop the Games. Whatever the weather, people flocked to the Games for the annual holiday.

Charioteers were like famous sports personalities today, gaining popular support with the people. They belonged to Factions represented by colors. By the time of the story, there were two main Factions - the Greens and the Blues. Loyalty to Factions was strong, often passed down through generations. Enthusiasm and support for Factions was high-strung resulting in fistfights in pubs and street fights much like soccer team support today. The closest modern day example of the fervor is the Palio horserace in Siena, Italy, where faction loyalty consumes the city.

The charioteers wore Faction colored jackets over their tunics so they were easily identified by the spectators. Around their waist was an arrangement of leather straps that protected them from the reins of the four horses. The reins wrapped around the charioteer’s waist. He guided the horses around the dangerous turns at each end of the Circus Maximus by leaning his body.

The Passion of the Games

The passion of the games were a mammoth spectacle that began with a parade of the game’s sponsor with musicians, acrobats, mounted guards, etc. Faction members held traditional positions to spur the crowd to cheers with chants and loud noisemakers.

Crowds loved the chariot races as there were no lanes and no rules. With 24 races every day, the Games were filled with excitement, drawing people from outside the city to celebrate the holidays. Chariot races were filled with danger. Wheels fell off, and charioteers lost their balance on the lightweight wood and leather chariots and were dragged behind the running horses by the reins wrapped around their body.

A Teenager’s Freedom

Teenagers enjoyed the Games as a time of no-holds-barred excitement much like young people in Europe today flock to the running of the bulls at the Feast of San Fermín in Pamplona, Spain. They went not just for the event but for the freedom from usual social constraints. The Games offered an environment for young men and women to meet without the usual Roman parental guidance.

Philo, the Roman heir, gives up his dream of going to the Games as Argolicus searches for clues. The Games are background to the mystery. I hope you are tempted to add this story to your New Year’s reading.

Happy New Year!

The Roman Heir, An Argolicus Mystery

A naive teenager. A sister with secrets. A corrupt patrician. Argolicus unravels the threads.

Argolicus and Nikolaos deliver a gift but arrive hours after a brutal murder. They look for an answer until they find that a man’s secrets do not go with him to the grave.

With just days to find the killer before his ship leaves port, Argolicus must probe the politics of the dying town. But with every investigation he makes, the circle of possibilities grows. Success seems out of reach and he must disappoint the family until a ruffian accosts him and pieces fall into place.

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#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.

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TRAVEL WITH SERENA--THE ANCIENT CITY OF POMPEII

Pompeii with Vesuvius in background

In 79 AD Mount Vesuvius erupted, instantly killing the citizens of Pompeii and burying the city in upwards of twenty feet of ash and pumice. The city was soon forgotten until it was rediscovered by accident in 1599 during the digging of an underground channel but was soon forgotten again. In 1748 it was rediscovered, and excavation began in earnest. However, many of the discoveries were reburied due to archeological censorship because the Romans of 79 AD were far more sexually liberated than eighteenth century Europeans.

Statuary and household items found during excavation

Due to the lack of air and moisture, the city and most of its artifacts were almost completely intact when discovered. Pompeii is one of few sites where an ancient city has been so well preserved. Life was literally frozen in time on that fateful day. Plaster was used to fill the areas between the ash layers to make casts of the exact positions of the citizens at the moment of their death.

A street in Pompeii

As you walk the streets of Pompeii, you see incredible details—bars and bakeries, bathhouses, streets with tracks for carriages to provide smooth rides. There’s even a house with a mosaic plaque warning visitors to “Cave Canem” or “Beware of the Dog.” 

Altar inside a private home

Frescoed walls in private home

Frescoes still adorn interior walls of homes and bathhouses. Street signs discretely direct men to the Lupanar, the ancient brothel adorned with pornographic frescoes.

Bathhouse

Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years and is still not fully excavated. It’s a must-see for anyone traveling to Italy.