Antonius: Second in Command's opening scene takes place along the Appian Way in Rome's necropolis--city of the dead.

The Romans were especially superstitious and wary of death. They had some rather unusual beliefs, including that if someone happened to be present at a relative's or friend's death, it was customary to make mouth to mouth contact with the dying individual at the moment of dying. This allowed the spirit of the dead to depart through the dying person's mouth and be caught up by the person who would live on. Death was considered to be an impure blemish and there were likely pagan rituals held to purify families who had either been in contact with a corpse or had kept a dead loved one in their home for viewing, as was often the case. 

The Appia Antica, the old Appian Way, is yet another favorite place of mine to visit. By walking along it, one will see countless tombs of Romans. In fact, it's also along this route that one passes catacombs from the early Christian era. They are all intriguing places to visit, although I'll admit to finding catacombs a touch creepy! 

Roman tombs come in many shapes and sizes, but one of the most popular forms was the ancient tumulus. These are drum-shaped places of burial that date all the way back to Etruscan times. In fact, it was probably from the Etruscans that the Romans adapted this shape for their own burials. Perhaps the most famous tumulus along the Appia Antica is that of Caecilia Metella. Caecilia was a noblewoman who lived in the late Republic, during the same period as my story-line takes place. Apparently, she married a very minor character mentioned in my book, Marcus Crassus the Younger. This tumulus is a fascinating place to visit, and is also an excellent example of columbaria--dovecote-like niches for cremation urns. Cremation was the typical method of interment during the late Republican era.

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Romans often visited deceased loved ones, as we do today. Therefore, funerary steles were also practical and less expensive for the revering of departed spirits and offering of libations. These monuments were much smaller than family tombs and would contain only one or several urns. Sometimes, there were holes in the top of the stele's altar, where libations could be poured.

​Inscriptions on funerary steles are especially poignant. In the Capitoline Museum, one funerary stele honors a baby. The inscription describes the exact age, literally down to months and DAYS of the infant's brief life-span. This child was obviously much-loved, . Each time I visit and read it, I feel the parents' grief two-thousand years later.

The Capitoline Museum is a wonderful place to view funerary steles and their inscriptions. Infants, slaves, freedmen, midwifes, legionary soldiers, and gladiators are all represented. Each inscription has been translated, and it is a place where it's easy to connect with the past. 

There is a natural reason that Marcus visits the necropolis at the beginning of Second in Command. If you already read Son of Rome, then you won't want to miss it. 

​Read ON!

People are constantly asking me--"When's the next book coming out?"

I keep answering, "Sometime in October-- I hope." I always insert a disclaimer, since in the world of book-publishing, one can face obstacles at every turn. But that being said, I hope to firm up an actual target date very soon.

To keep everyone abreast of "where" exactly I am in the process, my manuscript has already been professionally edited twice. Now it's currently being read by three people. I trust these "beta readers" to give me their impressions and make eleventh hour suggestions, as well as encourage me with what they like about it. After editing anything my betas find, I'll be sending it to be formatted. This part unnerves me, because if there are any mistakes I don't catch in the formatting process, they'll be in print. Ugh! Lastly, it goes to the publishing company and to Amazon for pre-sales.

The next most-asked question I get is, "Where will it begin?" To answer, I'll just say that in the opening scene, Marcus Antonius has returned to Rome from Egypt, and been there for a while. His plate will be full in this segment of his story, since he'll undergo major life-changes in this book; entering politics, becoming Caesar's second-in-command, and taking center-stage in the power-struggle that was constantly underway and shifting in late-Republican Rome. Character-wise, he changes too. Marcus still grieves over love lost, but will face marriage again, along with its responsibilities. Due to Roman marriages being "convenient", he's not a big fan of matrimony. He will also learn that ruthlessness is a necessary evil in his world, so that he's able to remain at the top of the heap. As the tale progresses, there will be plenty of BIG battle scenes, intrigue, personal problems, as well as more tragedy--something poor Marcus seemed to endure at every turn. All in all, the book will be fast-paced and exciting with a whole LOT of extraordinary things going on, sometimes all at once.

This summer, most of my time was spent editing my manuscript and then revisiting places in Rome that had to do with integral scenes in the book. And yes--I found mistakes--and corrected them! But the trip also kept in the forefront what a grand and enormous "empire" Rome was. The monuments are breathtaking, even to the 21st century tourist, who can only stand in awe of the scale and size of some of the buildings that remain.

I am getting jazzed and excited to share the next portion of Marcus's story with all of you--my readers. And I hope you're ready for a wild ride, which will take you onto battlements of hill-forts in ancient Britain and France, into storm-chopped waters of the Adriatic, underground into Rome's sewers, and finally onto dusty battlefields in Greece.

Hang onto your hats, people. Antonius: Second in Command is ON ITS WAY!

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Muddy waters of the Enipeus River in Thessaly, Greece, near the spot where Marcus Antonius commanded Caesar's left wing during the Battle of Pharsalus. 

If one climbs to the top of the Palatine Hill, walks clear over to the other side and peers into a shaded space next to the Domus Augustus, you'll behold some rings of stone--the remains of primitive huts dating from the 9th-7th centuries BC. This encompasses the time of the founding of Rome in 750 BC. Tradition holds that the first leader and king of Rome was Romulus. This would have been the Romulus who, along with his brother Remus, was suckled by a she-wolf. Historians continue to wait patiently for more proof to surface, showing that Romulus and Remus truly lived. However, Rome's Regal Period of kings lasted from from that archaic period until 509 BC.

So began the Republican Age, in which an elected Senate was responsible for law-making, defense of the city, and how the overall economic state should be handled. It was a time of immense growth and ushered in an expansion that made Rome the most powerful force in Italia, and eventually, in the Mediterranean. By the time the start of the 1st century BC rolled around, parts of Italia had managed to stay independent of Rome, but demanded the right to Roman citizenship and the right to vote. They considered themselves "socii"-- Rome's allies. However, to the Romans, they were merely pesky fleas. The Romans attacked these allies, wanted to preserve citizenship and right of voting for Romans, exclusively. If one considers that the "socii" were fellow Italians, then this marked the beginning of what would wind up being a period of almost one-hundred years of civil conflict. And what's interesting is, that the Romans both won and lost. They subjugated the final remnants of other Italian tribes, but in so doing, unified Italia and wound up granting all of these "non-Romans" the citizenship rights they wanted in the first place! 

The Social Wars, as they were called lasted from 91-87 BC. By this time, the Republic, which had dominated for nearly five-hundred years, was showing cracks. Several powerful generals, like Marius and Sulla were immensely successful in bringing new lands and peoples into Rome's dominion. However, the Senate began to fear their power. By the time of Julius Caesar's rise and Marcus Antonius's birth, political tensions both within Rome's city-state and outside, in its provinces were growing like a cancer. Politicians like Cicero and Cato were struggling to keep their Republic afloat, as their power was being eaten away, bit by bit. Conspiracies abounded and elections were manipulated. Generals would appoint their own staff, and senators' ranks were passed down from generation to generation, creating as much of a schism between wealthy nobles and plebs as there had been during the monarchy.

My main character, Antonius, was born into the bloody dictatorship of Sulla, and never had opportunity to see Rome truly operating as a real "Republic". Instead, he grew up in this turbulent period of the generals mentioned before, who were feared because of their great power. And if that wasn't enough, radical politicians were using force and mob presence to control the Senate and populace. 

In short, during Marcus Antonius's lifetime, Rome was one hot mess!

The period following Marius's and Sulla's regimes has been titled as the "Imperatorial Period". Imperators were powerful generals--Marius, Sulla, Pompeius, Caesar, and Antonius. This is the atmosphere in which my next book, Antonius: Second in Command begins.

Interestingly enough, the Latin term "imperator" is also where we get the word "emperor". That alone should give my readers a heads-up about what lies in store for my characters in the trilogy. Read on!

Rome's famous statue, known as the Capitoline Wolf has always held significance, due to its depiction of Romulus and Remus. However, radio-carbon dating has shown that it wasn't of ancient design at all, but instead dates from the 11th or 12th centuries. The two suckling infants were added later. 

Back on March 15, I became a published author. Never in my life have I been as excited, proud, thrilled, and terrified--all at once. It was exciting to see the whole project materialize before my eyes. The night I downloaded my own E-book onto my Kindle, I cried. My cover literally glittered, shimmering like a sunset. It was impossible NOT to feel pride, since I'd worked on this project for fourteen years. For a week, I walked on a cloud, never feeling as thrilled as I did when I logged in to Amazon to see my sales reports. And, it was terrifying, too. How were readers going to receive Antonius: Son of Rome? Would I get any 5-star reviews or would it simply be a mediocrity among millions of books on Amazon? 

I'm pleased to say that I've been holding my own in ratings, sometimes making it into the Top 50 Ancient History Fiction Books on Amazon. On my Amazon site (so far--and I'm knocking on wood here) I've gotten all four and five star reviews, which is a relief and a joy. Granted, the rating game changes literally every SECOND, so if one does make it into the Top 50 whatever, that doesn't always last for long. In early July, I actually made it into TWO Top 50 categories at once, which was awesome!

However, none of this can be done without my readers. Any of you who have been kind enough or interested enough to read my work, have been the biggest support an author could have. That being said, the biggest THANK YOU anybody can give any author is to write a review. Why? Literally, an author's success DEPENDS on their number of positive reviews on Amazon. Yeah, that's just how huge and influential Amazon is. That's just how MUCH they pull the strings on the publishing game. 

So, what's coming? My second book will be launching in either October or November, 2019!!! It will pretty much pick up right where Antonius: Son of Rome left off. There will be new adventures, perils, and intrigues in which Marcus will be the central figure as he assumes his place in the Roman political roller-coaster. To prepare everyone for the big reveal of my cover, story, and plot, I will be using my weekly blogs to showcase different places, people, and cultural information which will be a part of my upcoming book, Antonius: Second in Command.

I hope everyone's going to stick around for the ride! 

    Brook Allen in front of the Rostra in the Forum Romanum, where a pivotal scene in her next novel takes place.