March to Other Worlds Day 31 River of Death by Gilbert M. Stack
March to Other Worlds Day 31 River of Death by Gilbert M. Stack
As we bring this year’s March to Other Worlds to a close, I’d like to spotlight my Legionnaire series and specifically, the fourteenth volume, River of Death, which I published this month.
I’ve been reading fantasy novels since at least the sixth grade when my mother bought me The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. That interest led me to pursue degrees in history where I was introduced to many wonderous periods in the human past. Eventually, I began to wonder why most fantasy literature was grounded in something akin to the European Middle Ages and one morning while listening to Mike Duncan’s podcast, The History of Rome, I found myself wondering what a fantasy series based loosely on the Roman Empire might be like.
And that’s the birth of my Legionnaire series. My Aquila is not Rome, but it shares a lot with that historical entity—especially its culture, its internal political problems, its border troubles, and of course, its amazing legions. Aquila and its world also differs mightily from Rome in a few regards—most particularly the existence and widespread practice of magic and an empire which includes and abuts places very different than those the Romans actually encountered.
The bulk of the series so far takes place in an area north of Aquila called the Jeweled Cities. The Cities are home to great wealth and are the only place outside of the mighty Qing empire where silk is produced—but that silk has heightened an already virulent plague of factionalism and sparked the outbreak of a vicious war and several smaller civil conflicts. Stuck in the middle of all of this is Marcus Venandus, Patrician of Aquila, Tribune of its legions, and now Prefect of the Jeweled City of Amatista. Marcus’ task in the north was to build a capable infantry fighting force—an oxymoron in the eyes of the Gota rulers of the region who cannot believe anything can ever stand up to their beloved cavalry. But then, they’ve never had to contend with a man like Marcus Venandus before, scion of a Republic who for centuries has fielded the best infantry the world has ever seen.
River of Death is the fourteenth volume of the series and shows Marcus taking the war deeper into enemy territory than those enemies—or even his allies—can believe.
River of Death:
https://www.amazon.com/River-Death-Le...
The Fire Islands (the first book of the Legionnaire series):
https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Islands-L...
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