L.J. Trafford's Blog, page 2

So what do I write about next?

Despite still having one book left to write I find myself thinking beyond The Four Emperors series with one question: What next?

Now 70 AD is actually quite a fascinating year Vespasian doesn’t reach Rome till later in the year. Which leaves 18 year old Domitian as the figure head. But is he really in charge? There are two of Vespasian’s men jostling for supreme control around him.

So lots of scope there for political machinations.

And 70 is also the year Domitian marries Domitia. Of course when they meet she’s already married to someone else. So potentiality for a love story and angst aplenty.

The other option is to go backwards in time and write a prequel.

I’ve always thought the tail end of Caligula’s reign would make a suitably dramatic setting.

No Mina, Alex, Teretia or Sporus as they have yet to be born.

Lysander and Philo would be toddlers.

But we do have Epaphroditus who we know (in my books not historically) worked for Callistus secretary to Caligula and father of Nymphidia Sabina. Callistus was involved in the plot to kill the emperor.

So again lots of political machinations.

And potential for an Epaphroditus/Aphrodite love story.

Plus the opportunity to finally clear up how Straton got that scar.

Expanding Characters

The great thing about writing a series of books, particularly four of them, is that it gives you the space to expand characters and fill in some of their back story.

Lysander is a good example. In Palatine he functions as the announcer. We learn that his friends with Philo but otherwise he is fairly blank.

In Galba’s Men Lysander gains his freedom and we get a little more insight into his character. There is his desperation to bag himself a ‘freebie’, that is a freeborn girl and a hint of the insecurities that lay behind this. We also have mention of his mother and stepfather.

In Otho’s Regret we hear more about his mother, Lysandria and some further insights into his and Philo’s background and friendship.

Epaphroditus has always been a very sketchy character and he likes it that way. But in Otho’s Regret with the introduction of his former mentor Antonia Caenis there is a hint as to quite why he feel the needs to put it about so much.

Straton gets a bit more depth too. At the end of Galba’s Men we learn the name of the person who inflicted his dreadful throat injury. In Otho’s Regret further details are dropped in regarding this and Straton’s life before he became a slave overseer.

Unfortunately Otho’s Regret is so jam packed full of plot I had to drop some scenes of Felix’s home life. But I still have one book to go so I hope to include them in Vitellius’ Feast because I’ll admit to being intrigued by Felix and particularly his relationship with his wife Vallia.

New for June 2016 – Galba’s Men

Palatine, book one in the Four Emperors series concluded in August 68 AD with the horrible end of the man responsible for Nero’s overthrow.

Galba’s Men picks up the action in October of the same year with the arrival of new emperor Galba in Rome.

Below is the pivotal scene of the book. It is because of this conversation that much of the action and disaster in Galba’s Men occurs.

A preview of Galba’s Men:

Otho was casually examining the contents of Epaphroditus’ stern-looking desk: an apple and a jar of pinky ointment which he gave an exploratory sniff.

“Otho.”

Holding the jar up he asked, “What is this for?”

Epaphroditus, cricking a pain out of his neck, hurriedly shut the door and snatched the jar from Otho. “Nothing to concern you.”

“For a nasty then.”

Placing the jar back in the drawer he looked suggestively at Otho’s thick locks, commenting, “Weren’t you bald the last time we met?”

Settling himself on a chair Otho told him, “You know how you always claimed that entreating the gods was a waste of effort? Turns out it isn’t. I sacrificed a load of cattle and behold, my barber invented this ingenious toupee. Wonderful isn’t it? Not a slip, I can even bathe in it.”

“I am very happy for you. What do you want Otho?”

“I’ve been up at the palace. Apparently you’re dead. I came to pay my respects to your widow, and your doorman suggested I come and talk to you personally. You can imagine how surprised I was.”

“A necessary fiction.”

“Quite so,” smoothed Otho. “Especially if Galba should wish to crack down on all those men who flourished under Nero.”

“Well, you would know more about that than I,” stated Epaphroditus coldly.

Otho raised his black eyebrows, “You’re mad at me aren’t you? Is it because I declared for Galba?”

Epaphroditus didn’t answer.

“He’s a fine fellow. Full of reforming zeal and old school discipline.”

“I wouldn’t have thought that would appeal to you. I seem to remember that you could outdo Tigellinus in the fornication stakes.”

“Don’t mention that name to me, Epaphroditus, please.”

It was Tigellinus the former Praetorian prefect who had pushed for the Nero/Poppaea marriage. Otho who had been married to Poppaea at the time had never forgiven him for it. Smoothing down his toupee he asked, “How is it that your lovely wife has failed to notice you have a nasty?”

“I do not have a nasty.”

“You should always go for virgins, that was what Nero used to say. That way you know they’re clean and you can train them up to your own particular standards. Talking of which I met the very wonderful Statilia Messalina.”

“Statilia Messalina is not a virgin, trust me on that one.”

“I liked her. She has a certain”, Otho paused, gazed up at the ceiling and then concluded, “gleam.”

“Gleam?” queried Epaphroditus, who’d always found the empress cold.

“Yes, gleam,” he sighed. “I might have to marry her.”

Epaphroditus threw himself onto his chair and regarded Otho with a twisted smile. “So now we come to the crunch. This is all some twisted revenge on Nero for Poppaea isn’t it? Declaring for Galba, interesting yourself in his widow.”

“Not at all. I happen to believe Galba is the best guy for the job and all.”

Epaphroditus frowned and asked suspiciously, “What are you up to, Otho?”

His companion beamed, threw the apple into the air and caught it in his palm. “Never could get anything past you, could I? Tell you what, I’ll do you a deal.”

“A deal?”

“You tell me how your wife doesn’t know you’ve caught a nasty and I’ll tell you about my scheme.”

Epaphroditus thought hard. Though he’d enjoyed his break spending time with his family he was starting to get just a little bored. An Otho scheme was always worth hearing, if only for the sheer level of preposterousness it invariably held.

“Deal,” he said and shook on it.

“So?”

“I am distracting her with other methods of pleasure while things clear up.”

“I am sure she is glad of the break. Don’t you have a ridiculous number of children?”

“Your scheme?” insisted Epaphroditus, who disliked having his private life dug into in such a fashion.

“Galba is an old man, right?”

“Positively ancient.”

“And he is childless right?”

“Oh gods no, Otho you’re not?”

Otho smiled happily. “I am going to convince Galba to adopt me as his son.”

Once Epaphroditus had swallowed this idea he asked, “Why would Galba adopt you?”

“Why so sceptical? I can’t see why he wouldn’t. My own father was exceptionally fond of me.”

“He had more time to adjust to your eccentricities.”

“Galba is very old, he has no children and is unlikely to have any. He has quite spectacularly become emperor of most of the world. Which is quite an achievement. He is not going to want his legacy to die with him. He will be looking for an heir.”

“And you think he will naturally choose you?”

“Not at all, you misunderstand.”

“I do?”

“Obviously it is an aim that will need work. It will need a plan, strategic thinking and all that. I thought you might like to join the team.”

Epaphroditus laughed, hard. Actually, he thought, it was worth the discomfiting disclosure regarding his inflamed genitals. “You are insane. You will never do it. Galba is not daft and by your own admission, old school, whilst you are …?” he finished by raising an eyebrow.

Otho rubbed his hands together. “But surely that is the fun of it? How utterly unlikely that I, Marcus Salvius Otho, should become emperor in waiting. It will blow the senate away.”

“That it will. Gods I wish Nymphidius Sabinus were alive to hear this.”

“Will you do it?” Otho asked eagerly. “Come on, it will be fun like old times.”

“Yes and I remember all the trouble you got me into back then,” commented Epaphroditus. “Besides I have retired from politics.”

“What a waste!” exclaimed Otho, leaning forward. “When these are such interesting times. Think about it, some old fart who everyone thought had died years ago comes from Spain with nothing but his name and destroys a dynasty that had lasted a hundred years. Juno, Epaphroditus, if that’s possible, anything is possible.”

“Otho for emperor.”

“Otho for emperor,” he agreed. “So what do you say? Will you be my campaign manager?”

Otho could sell sand to a Parthian camel merchant; he had a knack for making even the most ludicrous idea seem plausible. His enthusiasm was infectious and Epaphroditus began to sway. Aphrodite would hate it. He wouldn’t tell her.

“I know that I am going to regret this.”

“Trust me, you won’t. Remember when you told me that I would make a lousy governor?”

“I will confess you surprised me on that score.”

“Quite, and remember that wonderful girl you said was way out of my league?”

“You married her.”

“And remember that time when we were at that hellish dive in the Subura and you said that pickled egg was off and would make me sick to my stomach?”

“It was off Otho, it stank. It had mould on it. Even the damn rats were turning their noses up at it.”

“But”, smiled Otho, “I was not sick.”

5 Quotes on Philo from Galba’s Men

For Philo fans, five quotes from Galba’s Men.

1) Philo’s pleasures were few; he liked tidying things, he liked reading, and he was very fond of the spiced almond cakes his landlord’s daughter Teretia baked for him each day.

2) Philo sympathised, he keenly recalled Felix describing him to Epaphroditus. “We all thought he was a fucking mute but apparently he can talk. Just ain’t got nothing to say have you, Philo?”

3) “Be together. Us. Always. You love me?”

Philo thought this last bit a statement: it was the sort of mad assumption Straton had frequently made about him, but seeing the overseer’s eager face he realised it was a question and that there was an expectation that he would answer it.

4) Otho was looking at him with concern and kind eyes. “Come on, try me. Let me help. I am sure there is some solution we can hit upon between us.”

He sounded so sure, so positive that Philo felt a tiny sliver of hope build in him.

“You think?” he asked.

“Absolutely,” Otho assured him cheerfully, with little idea of the problem he was about to blunder his way into.

5) At the mention of treason his knees gave way. Philo had lived through Nero’s reign: he knew what happened to traitors. He made one last attempt at pleading with Laco. “I don’t know. I swear. I don’t know anything. I can’t, I can’t tell you anything. Please, Laco.”

An extract from Galba’s Men

As discussed Straton is surprisingly popular for a sadistic rapist. So here for all those Straton fans here is an extract from the forthcoming Galba’s Men when the fellow is being once again selflessly heroic.

Mina was convinced that this was a very bad idea. Ignorant of what Straton’s mission encompassed, she knew it wasn’t good from the overseer’s grim demeanour. Insistent that she had to follow him now, quickly, she padded behind him in bare feet and her nightgown, whip clasped in her hand.

“Straton,” she hissed. “Straton.”

He gestured for her to keep moving.

“Where are we going?”

“Mission.”

Which told her diddly-squat. He did not look right to her either. Straton always moved with surprising grace but tonight he was heavy footed, stopping to lean on walls, rubbing his forehead with desperate motions. It was hard to miss the enormous lump that had formed on the back of his head, Mina assuming the two things were connected. He was determined, though, a sack on his back containing a stack of lethal looking weapons which she hoped would compensate for his wobbliness.

Outside their destination Straton stopped and pulled out a vicious looking nail-studded cudgel. Mina’s eyes opened very wide, Straton telling her gruffly, “Could get nasty.” He handed her a lighter version.

“Whack,” he demonstrated a slap using both hands, taking a wide swing. Too wide, since he lost his footing and had to prop himself against the wall until the dizziness passed.

“Can we not do this tomorrow? You don’t look very well. You’re sort of green.”

Straton went to shake his head, but realised in time that this was not a great idea given the way the floor was rocking for him. “Needed now,” he said and then, “Help me. Please.”

He’d never used that word before, had never needed to. It fell oddly from his tongue. Mina could see he was desperate, truly desperate, and recalling the time he had rescued her from Juba, she nodded. Because that’s what friends did, wasn’t it? They helped each other out.

The Surprising popularity of Straton

I get a fair few comments from readers that they like Straton.

Here’s an extract from Galba’s Men (out next June). I’m afraid I’m with Epaphroditus on this one!.

 

He’d always had a bit of a soft spot for Straton, seeing him as a protective bear of a man. The sort of view only the freeborn who’d never had much to do with the overseer could ever possibly hold. He once expressed a little of that sentiment to Epaphroditus, commenting that Straton “was the sort of man you’d want covering your back”.

Epaphroditus’ response had been a look of sheer disbelief and horror.

Characters in 5 Quotes: Lysander

Lysander in 5 Quotes:

1) Lysander was a tall man, elegantly so, well proportioned, trim. He was a pleasing addition to any room positioned by the door, with his fine voice and words. What he wasn’t was strong, nor much of a fighter. He’d never needed to be. He was an announcer, all he had to do was talk and stand; you didn’t need muscles for that.

2) Lysander, head bowed, not from respect but from the memory of the last time he’d delivered bad news to the empress and she’d flung a shoe at his head.

3) Lysander’s mother Lysandria had been a hairstylist to Agrippina, mother of Nero. Now retired she had got through a surprising number of husbands since her freedom. To be widowed once was a misfortune, twice a tragedy, five times bordered on the suspicious.

4) Apollodorus’ top breeder for the last thirteen years was going to be put out to pasture finally. The announcer was secretly relieved, though publicly he crowed his successes to anyone who wasn’t fast enough to flee; privately he had found it more and more dispiriting to have sex with girls who clearly didn’t want to have sex with him.

Freebies, as the announcer always referred to freeborn girls, were different to Lysander’s mind. If they slept with you it was because they wanted to not because they’d been told to or because of what you might be able to secure for them, a promotion or cash. They would be soft and willing, and Lysander could not wait to try one out.

5) All that seemed normal in the palace was considered quite differently in the outside world. This Lysander had discovered when he’d commented over supper one night on how Apollodorius had paired Ampelius with Penelope in the breeding programme and what a duff match it was because everyone knew she hated him and she’d been so keen not to be sown by him during the last round that she’d shoved a vinegar soaked sponge up her _. Which was the point at which Philo abruptly, and rather rudely Lysander thought, changed the subject.

Characters in 5 Quotes: Felix

And I thought it was difficult to pin down Sporus to only five quotes!

Rummaging through Palatine, Galba’s Men and Nero in Greece: The Tour! I found so many great Felix quotes.

After much deliberation I have selected the below that best reflect the ‘cross red bearded man’ as Empress Statilia Messalina describes him.

Felix in five quotes:

1) He was a barrel of a man rivalling Straton for sheer bulk with thick red knuckles and possessed of the sort of explosive temper that had flattened Carthage.

2) “How do you think I ended up married? Yes, let my lovely wife be a lesson to you. Keep your legs crossed or pay your way. The alternative is a lifetime of sheer horror.”

Having met Felix’s wife, Lysander knew the truth of that statement. She resembled a marginally attractive orang-utan

3) Philo sympathised, he keenly recalled Felix describing him to Epaphroditus. “We all thought he was a fucking mute but apparently he can talk. Just ain’t got nothing to say have you, Philo?”

4) “Felix?” asked the centurion with a gulp.

So far that evening the centurion had defeated a band of marauding heavily armed slaves, casually executed the remaining prisoners, murdered the jailer and then lied shamelessly to his superior officer. What he was not about to do was get Felix out of bed. Some assignments were just far too dangerous.

5) It was Felix’s experience that behind every suspicious Imperial death there was a Greek secretary staring up at the ceiling pretending he knew nothing about it.

Nero in 5 quotes

Characters in Five Quotes – Nero

To celebrate 13th October the day Nero became emperor here are five quotes from Palatine relating to him.

http://www.karnacbooks.com/product/palatine-the-four-emperors-series-book-i/36826/

1) You could always tell when Nero was about to enter a room. The air was sucked out, there was a momentary silence, and then you were hit in the face with a full blown typhoon. It was, Epaphroditus imagined, like hearing the whistle of a ballista bolt above your head just before it obliterated you off the face off the earth.

2) “You will leave. You will all leave. I wish to spend time with my Poppaea. Rome needs an heir as everyone keeps telling me. It is my duty. Our duty.”

Good luck with that one, thought Epaphroditus as he departed to the sounds of a giggling eunuch and his amorous emperor

3) Where it had fallen down was the timing, which was his department. He wasn’t going to beat himself up about it, though. Who would have thought to check the delivery schedule for the day? And why would anyone have thought it necessary to inform him about the delivery of a water organ? And how was he supposed to know that water organs were Nero’s newest and greatest passion? Nero’s passions were so numerous it was impossible to keep track of them all. And water organs? Why water organs?

4) Nero, placated, attempted a smile. “Answer me honestly, Epaphroditus.”

“I always have, Caesar.”

“Tell me, am I a good lyre player?”

Epaphroditus affected incredulity. “Caesar, you have spent many years in a painstaking cultivation of the art.”

“I have, haven’t I?”

“How could one fail to be a good player after such a length of study?”

It was a good question and one Epaphroditus had wondered about for years.

5) “We should expel all the Gauls from Rome, don’t you think? They are going to be in on it and they’re just waiting for the signal and then they’ll kill us all in our beds. We should execute them first. Can you look into that?

“I am going to Gaul. No, don’t protest. I am going. When the troops see their emperor and see him weep before them …

We could use the elephants. The ones from that show last year, we could ride them to Gaul, across the Alps. Like Hannibal. Vindex would never expect that. Poppaea could sit on the trunk dressed up like an Indian. I can just see you in a turban, you’d look so sweet. Get Calvia to design an outfit

Fabulous review from UNRV

A rather wonderful review from a reviewer who has spent time contemplating the characters and themes of Palatine.

http://www.unrv.com/book-review/palatine.php

It is interesting to see Philo described as innocent.

It is a topic that crops up in the books and i am not sure it holds up.

Despite his apparent naivety, working for Epaphroditus Philo is complicit in the assassinations and interrogations of probably innocent people.

In Palatine he is given the task of sourcing a good assassin to depose of Galba.

At no time does he even question this order or ask what Galba has done to deserve this fate.

It is this tendency to blindly follow orders that leads Philo into grave peril in Galba’s Men.