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Salve Russ,

 

You dealt with the topic more freely while James Duffy's gladiators were very authentic and the way he described the training it felt for me if I was walking onto the training ground myself (though at the time I read the first volume I had a ruptured muscle fibre in my left calf and wished I could train instead of lying on the sofa).

 

Anyhow, I look forward to your sequel to "Gladiatrix".

 

Vale optime,

Medusa

 

Just kidding, man. I really enjoyed enjoyed Jim's books too - he also did loads of re-enactment training as research!

 

Cheers

 

Russ

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As I mentioned in my first post about these books they are about gladiators. The main figure become gladiator by some mischance and they are very well researched and well written. Unfortunately the homepage of the author where he advertised this series no longer exists.

I shall take a look at them. I have been looking for a good gladiator book for a while now.

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I don't believe it ! No one has mentioned The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough from her series Masters of Rome

 

Her historical characters are very detailed an vivaed.

 

The first two volumes were really thrilling but the later books of that series are not that good anymore.

 

I'll have to agree with you on that one, sometime she puts too much emphasize on the scribing the atmosphere and characters that she forgets about the plot sequence.

Although I also enjoyed the last book in the series Antony and Cleopatra.

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I love the Simon Scarrow books but my favorites are not that widely known:

 

James Duffy

"Sand of the Arena"

"The Fight for Rome"

 

The author had intended to write a trilogy but since he did not sell enough of the first two volumes he cancelled this project which makes me very sad since they are the best novels on gladiators I've read so far.

 

I'm glad to read that you liked these two books. I thought they were terrific...perhaps stronger than Scarrow in terms of "pop" fiction. The action is absolutely terrific. I'd highly recommend both of these.

 

I'm sad to read that the third book is canceled. I kind of thought that might be the case based on my reading between the lines on Duffy's website. That's a shame, because he had a real good thing going.

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My favorite Roman fiction novel is M. Yourcenar - Memoirs of Hadrian.

 

I've had this in my Amazon wishlist for a few months now.

 

How does it compare to I, Claudius?

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My Top Ten in Roman Empire Fiction:

I, Claudius - Graves

Eagle in the Snow - Breem

Claudius the God - Graves

Eagle of the Ninth - Sutcliffe

The Light Bearer - Gillespie

Under the Eagle (#1 in Scarrow's series) - Scarrow

Sand of the Arena - Duffy

Eagle's Conquest (#2 Scarrow) - Scarrow

Fire in the East - Sidebottom

Fight for Rome - Duffy

Gladiatrix - Whitfield

 

(hmm...that would be my Top 11...I'm soooo Spinal Tap)

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For me, in the realm of non-fiction, The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found by Mary Beard.

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Modern Fiction

Pompei by Robert Harris

 

Modern Non-Fiction

I agree that Holland's Rubicon is definitely worthy of the praise it generally receives.

 

Christian Meier's "Caesar" is probably the first serious treatise of ancient Rome that I ever read and it still holds a very special place in my memory.

 

Ancient source

While each source has its particular value or importance, I'm partial to Appian of Alexandria probably because of core subject matter (Later Republic and Civil War era).

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I'm sad to read that the third book is canceled. I kind of thought that might be the case based on my reading between the lines on Duffy's website. That's a shame, because he had a real good thing going.

 

 

It really is - last time I spoke to him, he said that he could extend the series to nine books, he had it all mapped out, this is such a shame :(

 

Cheers

 

Russ

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My Top Ten in Roman Empire Fiction:

I, Claudius - Graves

Eagle in the Snow - Breem

Claudius the God - Graves

Eagle of the Ninth - Sutcliffe

The Light Bearer - Gillespie

Under the Eagle (#1 in Scarrow's series) - Scarrow

Sand of the Arena - Duffy

Eagle's Conquest (#2 Scarrow) - Scarrow

Fire in the East - Sidebottom

Fight for Rome - Duffy

Gladiatrix - Whitfield

 

(hmm...that would be my Top 11...I'm soooo Spinal Tap)

 

You flatter me, Mr G. ;-)

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You flatter me, Mr G. ;-)

 

L - yours is the only book that can "go to eleven".

 

What's our ETA on your sequel?

 

J

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You flatter me, Mr G. ;-)

 

L - yours is the only book that can "go to eleven".

 

What's our ETA on your sequel?

 

J

 

I had an email today from Myrmidon saying they were going to go for it, so that's good news. I think...October or something like that.

 

I'm made up about, really really chuffed. Its loads different from Gladiatrix, but Myrmidon seemed to like it and that's the first hurdle to get over (and the toughest!)

 

Cheers

Russ

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I'm sad to read that the third book is canceled. I kind of thought that might be the case based on my reading between the lines on Duffy's website. That's a shame, because he had a real good thing going.

 

 

It really is - last time I spoke to him, he said that he could extend the series to nine books, he had it all mapped out, this is such a shame :(

 

Cheers

 

Russ

 

I had been in e-mail contact with James Duffy where he told me that he dropped the Gladiators of the Empire series. I always thought of suggeting Book on Demand to him because his publisher claimed that he did not sell enough copies.

 

Russ, could you get him over to Myrmidon books, then maybe he had the right publisher behind him for this kind of book?

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Congrats! I guess I assumed you were already signed for the second book.

 

Great news...

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I had been in e-mail contact with James Duffy where he told me that he dropped the Gladiators of the Empire series. I always thought of suggeting Book on Demand to him because his publisher claimed that he did not sell enough copies.

 

Russ, could you get him over to Myrmidon books, then maybe he had the right publisher behind him for this kind of book?

 

I'll PM you on this, Medusa, we don't want to derail the "all time fave books" thread ;-)

 

J: Thanks man, but no, I'm not on a contract, so it was totally nerve-racking *lol*. Any road - back to the books!

 

Cheers

 

Russ

Edited by Lanista

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