Showing results by author "S.J.A. Turney" in All Categories

It is the eve of destruction. Gaul seethes and bucks more than ever in revolt against the Roman invader, with even Caesar's allies beginning to question their loyalty. A conspiracy of Druids and Kings move the pieces into position in their great game of independence, all led by the powerful exile Vercingetorix. The lands of the Belgae burn in the vengeful aftermath of a winter that saw countless Romans butchered by the Eburone King: Ambiorix.

The war in Gaul is over, but the fight for Rome is only just beginning. Denied his consulship by the senate and nearing the end of his term as governor, Caesar waits at Ravenna with one legion, making a last attempt at reconciliation. Threatened with prosecution if he returns to Rome, just one path is becoming clear: war against the senate. Fronto and Galronus are bound to the service of the Proconsul, facing a war against other Romans, and able neither to prevent nor avoid it.

Anno Domini 1040. Christianity has swept unstoppably across Scandinavia, leaving few enclaves of the old ways clinging on to their fading world as King Olof of Sweden works to convert his people. A young warrior, Halfdan, has witnessed the ‘mercy' of the Christian lords, watched his people attacked, his village burned and the Odin stone toppled as heretical. Watched his father cut down by an ambitious Christian jarl and his zealous priest. Among the ashes of his world, he vowed an oath of vengeance before all the gods.

AD 1043. Having escaped Constantinople with their lives—barely—but not their ship, Halfdan and the wolves of Odin are now mercenaries in the Byzantine army, sailing to Apulia in Italy to help retake territory from the Normans. But cracks are beginning to show among the tight-knit wolves. Gunnhild, having forsaken the fate woven for her by the Norns in order to continue her journey with Halfdan, has lost her ability to communicate with the goddess Freyja, and so glimpse the future.

It is 56 BC. As Fronto and his friends’ winter in Rome and Caesar in Illyricum, trouble is brewing in the north. The tribes of Armorica, driven to desperate action by the harsh rule of Crassus, raise their standards in defiance of the Roman eagle, causing a chain reaction that threatens everything the legions of Caesar have achieved. Meanwhile, in Rome, the conspiracies against Caesar take an unexpected turn, plunging Fronto and his friends into a world of crime, violence and intrigue that threaten everything the legate cares about.

46 BC. Pompey is dead, Egypt is settled and Rome is controlled by the loyal Marcus Antonius. As the new year looms, Rome's greatest general and dictator Julius Caesar moves precipitously to take on the last stronghold of the rebel faction: Africa. Crossing against all advice in the middle of winter, with minimal forces and little forward planning, the campaign almost dies before it begins, legions scattered across the sea by vicious storms, the general putting ashore with just a single legion and his most trusted veteran commander: Marcus Falerius Fronto.

It is 50BC and Caesar winters with his legions in the north - all Gaul conquered but a triumphant return to Rome denied him by the senate who seek his blood. Yet unrest stirs in unknown lands, as the tribes of mountainous Aquitania rise under a terrifying new leader and drive out their Roman occupiers. Marcus Falerius Fronto, exiled from Rome, seeks out his former commander in an effort to build a future and soon finds himself in command of a most unusual legion with a remit to restore peace in Aquitania.

51 BC. In the aftermath of the dreadful siege of Alesia, the tribes of Gaul lie broken and sparse, and yet the fires of rebellion still burn in the hearts of a few. As Caesar and his army continue to pacify the land wherever revolt can be found, a new conspiracy is rising. Lucterius of the Cadurci, survivor of Alesia, seeks to raise a new great revolt, building an army in his homeland, while a small group of dangerous warriors embark upon a secret and dangerous mission to rebuild all that was lost in that great siege.

The war in Africa is over and the rebel cause hangs by a thread. With opposition to Caesar now led by Labienus and by Pompey’s sons in Hispania, Caesar is one step from ending the civil war that has plagued Rome for years. Before the war can be pursued, though, Caesar has matters to attend to in Rome. And against a backdrop of glorious triumphs and civil friction, the general’s old warhorse Marcus Falerius Fronto begins to uncover a series of events that may have a cause in common.

As competition for the imperial throne intensifies, Constantine and Maxentius realise their childhood friendship cannot last. Each man struggles to control their respective quadrant of empire, battered by currents of politics, religion and personal tragedy, threatened by barbarian forces and enemies within. With their positions becoming at once stronger and more troubled, the strained threads of their friendship begin to unravel.

55 BC and Caesar's army gathers in the north of Gaul, preparing to drive away invading Germanic peoples and to traverse the dangerous northern ocean bringing punishment to the tribes of Britannia for their assistance of Gaulish rebels. But Fronto's troubles don't stop there. As his burgeoning relationship with Lucilia steps to a new level, so do his responsibilities at home, a situation exacerbated by the disruptive influence of the villainous Clodius in the city, causing trouble and endangering those about whom Fronto cares most.

Winter, 48 BC. Caesar and his small force are trapped in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Caught up in the dynastic struggles of the House of Ptolemy, the consul has sided with the clever and ruthless Queen Cleopatra. Her brother and fellow monarch, Ptolemy XIII, languishes in the palace, a hostage of Caesar's, while a huge army under the command of the Egyptian General Achillas closes on the city to free him.

57 BC. The fearsome Belgae have gathered a great army to oppose Rome, and Fronto and the legions assemble once more to take Caesar's war against the most dangerous tribes in the northern world. While the legions battle the Celts in the fiercest war of Caesar's career, the plots and conspiracies against him, both at Rome and among his own army, become ever deeper and more dangerous.

It is 58 BC, and the mighty Tenth Legion, camped in Northern Italy, prepare for the arrival of the most notorious general in Roman history: Julius Caesar. Marcus Falerius Fronto, commander of the Tenth, is a career soldier and long-time companion of Caesar's. Despite his desire for the simplicity of the military life, he cannot help but be drawn into intrigue and politics as Caesar engineers a motive to invade the lands of Gaul.

Fleeing the machinations of William the Conqueror in France, the Wolves of Odin set sail for Britain. They make for the north of the country, heading to Jorvik–Viking York. Its earl, Sigurd, doesn’t believe they have arrived with peaceable intentions. To prove their good faith, he challenges them to fix a problem for him.

As tensions build in Gaul and the druids manoeuvre the tribes towards general rebellion, Priscus and the diminishing senior staff of Caesar's army prepare to return to Britannia, this time with a vast army and a will to crush the tribes of that mysterious island. Meanwhile, Fronto contemplates a non-military future as he settles into the life of a married nobleman, socialising with Rome's elite and coming to terms with the decline in his fitness.

The villain Cleander has fallen, his wickedness gone from the imperial court, but his influence lives on. Amongst the Praetorians, a network of spies, killers and thieves remain, clawing on to the power they have enjoyed. Rufinus, returned to the Guard at the hands of the devious Frumentarii, Rome’s imperial secret service, is intent on bringing the entire web of villainy to justice. But Commodus’s reign falters and Rome is in peril. Wolves are at the door and every man with power prepares to make a bid for the purple.

AD 1041. After successfully avenging the death of his father, Halfdan and the crew of the Sea Wolf seek adventure in strange new lands, far from their Scandinavian home. They join the fleet of Harald Hardrada, the legendary Viking commander, sailing back to Constantinople from the battlefields of Georgia. There they join the Varangians, the personal bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperors populated almost exclusively by Viking warriors. But Constantinople has changed during Hardrada's long absence.

Rome has a new emperor; a strong emperor. Septimius Severus, a lion of the battlefield, now moves east to face the usurper Pescennius Niger, contesting with a clever opponent with the ultimate prize in the balance: the throne of Rome. But with civil war raging all across the East, problems abound. One of the frumentarii, the emperor's military agents, has gone missing in Arabia, and with him has gone a list of the service's personnel.

AD 312 is a year of horrific and brutal warfare. Constantine's northern army is a small force, plagued by religious rivalries, but seemingly unstoppable as they invade Maxentius' Italian heartlands. These relentless clashes, incidents of treachery and twists of fortune see Maxentius' armies driven back to Rome.