Friday, 15 May 2015
Aurelia by Alison Morton
Series: Roma Nova #4
Release Date: 5th May 2015
Publisher: Silverwood Books
Publisher: Silverwood Books
Genres: Historical Fiction
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks, JB for inviting me
here today to talk about how I researched my new book out this month, AURELIA.
It’s the fourth in the Roma Nova thriller series, and goes back to the late
1960s to feature the early story of Aurelia Mitela, a character we met in her
later life in the first three books. It’s a stand-alone story of adventure,
love, danger and justice with a sprinkling of humour and a tough heroine with
inner doubts. You don’t have to have read the others in the series to enjoy it.
Here’s what it’s about…
Late 1960s Roma
Nova, the last Roman colony that has survived into the 20th century. Aurelia
Mitela is alone – her partner gone, her child sickly and her mother dead – and
forced to give up her beloved career as a Praetorian officer.
But her country
needs her unique skills. Somebody is smuggling silver – Roma Nova’s lifeblood –
on an industrial scale. Sent to Berlin to investigate, she encounters the
mysterious and attractive Miklós, a known smuggler who knows too much and Caius
Tellus, a Roma Novan she has despised and feared since childhood.
Barely escaping a
trap set by a gang boss intent on terminating her, she discovers that her old
enemy is at the heart of all her troubles and pursues him back home to Roma Nova...
Some
thoughts on researching for this book
Writing of any
sort needs research whether it’s a modern shoes-and-shopping story, crime
thriller or a historical epic.
Almost every
story written hinges on a set-up or a problem the writer has purposefully
created, but it must be plausible.
Readers will follow as long as the writer keeps their attention and, most
importantly, their trust. Strongly coupled with this is keeping the book’s
world internally consistent, crucial
in any science fiction, fantasy or historical setting.
To get these two
things right and build a credible world, we need to look at scenery, weather,
what the inhabitants look like, their clothes, whether they accept strangers,
what they believe in, do they use buses, trains, horses, or just plod
everywhere on foot? Can they vote and/or are they subject to a lord or lady’s
whim? What jobs do they do, what does the money look like? Do they live in
modern towns or medieval hovels? What weapons do they use and crucially, who
holds the power? You can see the questions are infinite…
Even though I
write alternative history stories set in the present about the imaginary Roma
Nova, I still need to research, especially if I’m dipping back into Roma
Nova’s past before it diverged from the standard timeline in the late fourth
century. And if I’m researching surveillance equipment or telephone
systems available at the time, I need to check the specifications very
carefully as they may be vital to the plot development.
My personal memories
of the late 1960s in the real world were hazy; learning German past participles
or the tales of Maupassant, applying for uni, passing my driving test, going to
a glamorous cousin’s wedding – she had the most impossible beehive hair-do -
and listening to ‘A Whiter
Shade of Pale’ – a typical
teenager’s restricted world view! So before I started writing AURELIA, I read fiction
written and set at the time plus straightforward reference material, and watched
news videos about events, people’s lives and the attitudes of the times.
After three books
set mostly in Roma Nova itself, I knew it well in my mind. In AURELIA, the
heroine goes to Berlin for part of the book to investigate silver smuggling and
illegal trading – an enormous research area in itself! However, in her alternative world, Berlin was
intact as there hadn’t been a Second World War, so I had to imagine a 1960s
city with still a lot of the old buildings there. On to the Internet to
research images! The station where Aurelia spots the bad guy, the Anhalter Bahnhof,
was obliterated in our real time line by bombing, but in my stories it’s there,
so I had to go and find some pre-war images in order to describe it for that
scene.
When I re-read my
first draft, I re-checked facts, figures and settings, marking up anything that
looked the least bit dubious for further investigation. Every scene had to
sound and feel authentic for the reader, even though the main focus was on the
thriller story. As readers don’t want to wade through a big lump of background
information, hard-won though it may be, up to 90% of what I had collected in
my early research didn’t get into the book. It disappeared into my mental and
digital archive. But no research is ever wasted as we find out in the next Roma
Nova adventure…
Watch the trailer
for AURELIA: https://youtu.be/K5_hXzg0JWA
About Alison
Even before she
pulled on her first set of combats, Alison Morton was fascinated by the idea of
women soldiers. Brought up by a feminist mother and an ex-military father, it
never occurred to her that women couldn’t serve their country in the armed
forces. Everybody in her family had done time in uniform and in theatre –
regular and reserve Army, RAF, WRNS, WRAF – all over the globe.
So busy in her
day job, Alison joined the Territorial Army in a special communications
regiment and left as a captain, having done all sorts of interesting and
exciting things no civilian would ever know or see. Or that she can talk about,
even now…
But something
else fuels her writing… Fascinated by the mosaics at Ampurias (Spain), at their
creation by the complex, power and value-driven Roman civilisation started her
wondering what a modern Roman society would be like if run by strong women…
Now, she lives in
France and writes Roman-themed alternate history thrillers with tough heroines.
INCEPTIO, the
first in the Roma Nova series
– shortlisted for
the 2013 International Rubery Book Award
– B.R.A.G.
Medallion
– finalist in
2014 Writing Magazine Self-Published Book of the Year
PERFIDITAS, second
in series
– B.R.A.G.
Medallion
– finalist in
2014 Writing Magazine Self-Published Book of the Year
SUCCESSIO, third in
series
– Historical
Novel Society’s indie Editor’s Choice for Autumn 2014
– B.R.A.G.
Medallion
– Editor’s
choice, The Bookseller’s inaugural Indie Preview, December 2014
Fact file:
Education: BA French, German & Economics, MA
History
Memberships: International Thriller Writers, Historical
Novel Society, Alliance of Independent Authors, Society of Authors
Represented by Annette Crossland of A for Authors Literary
Agency for subsidiary and foreign rights.
Links
Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova blog: http://alison-morton.com/blog/
Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova blog: http://alison-morton.com/blog/
Facebook author
page https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor
Twitter https://twitter.com/alison_morton
@alison-morton
Buying link
(multiple retailers/formats):
Competition
Win a signed Paperback copy of the book!
Win a signed Paperback copy of the book!
Thank you, I've read some of Alison's writing so would love to win.
This sounds like an intriguing read. I've not read any of Alison's work and would love the chance to discover a new favourite
I've got the first two in the series so would love to read all of them - just need more time!!!
Thank you so much for commenting so positively, Jacqueline, Manda and Julie.
And I'm delighted Jacqueline and Julie are already Roma Nova fans. ;-) Perhaps I can persuade you to visit Roma Nova soon, Manda!
Happy (further) reading!
Alison