The Inspiration behind Spoils of Olympus by Christian Kachel

Greek and Roman antiquity have always fascinated me.  I've read countless works of fiction and non-fiction regarding these eras and many great novels have been written on both time periods.  The large amount of Roman fiction already available pointed me more in the direction of writing a novel during Greek antiquity.   The 300, the Punic Wars and Alexander have all been covered pretty extensively, however very few works have focused on the wars of succession immediately following the death of Alexander the Great.  

This period has always stood out to me since I first studied it because of the sheer enormity of action conducted by his surviving generals on a truly global scale- from Afghanistan to Italy. This struggle produced some larger-than-life personalities such as Antigonus 'The One-Eyed', his son Demetrius 'The Besieger', Ptolemy 'The Savior', and Pyrrhus of 'Pyrrhic Victory' fame. The wars of succession eventually settled in a tacit peace between three Kingdoms, ending in the eventual Roman dominance of Alexander's former Mediterranean holdings- culminating with the marriage between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra (the great-granddaughter 12 generations down the line from Ptolemy).  In addition to the obligatory blood and guts (there's certainly a lot of that in the book) I wanted to further differentiate this book by including espionage/spy plot lines between warring secret societies fighting over Alexander’s heirs and his legacy.

In the historical fiction genre there are three books which I hold above all others: Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield;  I, Claudius by Robert Graves; and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.  Pressfield's epic novel about the infamous 300 Spartans sets all standards on writing about Greek military training and battles.  Grave's masterpiece flawlessly integrates the entirety of Roman life into his story- giving the reader an incredible sense of immersion with deep and fascinating characters.  Dickens' famous work of historical fiction displays a true mastery of the English language.  These literary heroes inspired me to write a military epic that immerses the reader in the times while delivering a polished style of writing worthy of my audience. 

About the Author

I am a Long Island, NY native and current resident of Northern Virginia. While attending the University of Maryland- College Park, the events of September 11, 2001 inspired me to join the U.S. Army ROTC program and volunteer for three tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan upon my commissioning into the Army Reserves in 2003. I hold three Master’s degrees and work in the defense industry.

The Spoils of Olympus has been a 2 1/2 year project that began in a Marriott hotel room in San Antonio, Texas while attending pre deployment training for a tour in Afghanistan in late 2011. The wars of succession immediately following the death of Alexander the Great have always fascinated me despite being overshadowed in the history books by the life and times of Alexander himself. Many great novels have been written about ancient Greece and Alexander but few fictional works have explored this forgotten era in western civilization where Alexander’s generals, who were once allies, battled each other for control of the largest empire on earth.

By the Sword is the first novel in The Spoils of Olympus series and introduces us to the story’s protagonist, Andrikos. The book follows him from an adolescence of criminality and capriciousness to his forced enlistment in the wars of succession; taking him from the battlefields of Asia Minor to the Achaemenid palaces of the Persian Empire. It is my hope readers will enjoy the story while learning about this important time in history.

For more information please visit Christian Kachel’s website. You can also find him on Facebook.

About the Book

322 B.C. The Macedonian Empire is on the verge of civil war following the sudden death of Alexander the Great.

As a boy, Andrikos watched as Alexander’s army marched through his homeland of Greek Ionia after defeating the Persians at the Granicus River on their way to the total conquest of the Persian Empire. Soon he will be embroiled in their world, forced to flee his old life due to an unintentional crime.

Thrust into the army, Andrikos struggles to cope with the brutal yet necessary training which his superiors put him through to prepare for the coming wars of succession as Alexander’s surviving generals seek to divide and conquer the spoils of Olympus.

But Andrikos is not destined to be a nameless soldier; by chance he is chosen for a clandestine mission – and is immersed in a world of intrigue, violence and brotherhood.

The path that lies ahead of Andrikos requires him to shed his immaturity and take on the responsibilities and emotions of a man beyond his years as he struggles to save Alexander’s legacy from those who wish to usurp it.

The Spoils of Olympus: By the Sword is a historical epic which follows the advancements of one soldier from boy to man set during a time of global conflict.

Heartache by Lauren McKellar

The Problem With Heartache, the third book in my Crazy in Love series, is—you guessed it—about the healing of a broken heart. In the first book in the series, The Problem With Crazy, eighteen-year-old Kate loses someone she loves dearly, and that loss has stayed with her for the past six months. Her life has turned from colour to grey scale; she’s not living, not feeling, simply floating, eating, breathing and running. Running so hard and so fast, just so she can get some sleep.

It’s hard to write about loss, and I couldn’t imagine doing so if I hadn’t lost someone myself. When I was eighteen, my father passed away, and while this didn’t happen to Kate in The Problem With Crazy, I used that experience as a direct comparison, and I think it helps. Let’s be honest: there’s not a person reading this who hasn’t lost someone in their lives, and that common grief, that shared ache that is a physical pain, not just a mental one, it can change who we are. For better or for worse.

How you deal with grief and move forward can shape you as a person for the rest of your life, and while Kate, my lead character, didn’t deal quite so well at first, she soon rises to the challenge. She fights, and she fights hard, because she realises that she wants to feel again. And sometimes that numbness has to be released.

The Problem With Heartache is about love, loss and learning that moving forward doesn’t have to mean letting go.

About Lauren McKellar

Lauren K. McKellar is an author and editor. Her debut novel, Finding Home, was released through Escape Publishing on October 1, 2013, and her second release, NA Contemporary Romance The Problem With Crazy, is self-published, and is available now. She loves books that evoke emotion, and hope hers make you feel.

Lauren lives by the beach in Australia with her husband and their two dogs. Most of the time, all three of them are well behaved.

You can connect with Lauren via: Website | Facebook | Twitter

About The Problem With Heartache

The problem with heartache is that there’s no one-size-fits-all relief package. You can go to classes; you can try to embrace change. But when you wake up at two in the morning, a smile on your face because you’ve dreamt about the could have—the should have—nothing will console you.

Because seconds later, you remember.

And remembering can rip you apart.

Kate will do anything for her family. It’s why she took the job with Lee. It’s why she’s attempting to forget her pain. But it's hard to forget, when you're desperate to hold on. Even if Lee Collins is the perfect package.

Lee will do anything for the ones he cares about. It’s why he hired Kate.

It’s why he keeps his secrets; and it’s why he cannot, will not fall in love. Not with Kate—not with anyone.

Ever.

The one thing he can’t forgive.

The one thing she can’t forget

Buy The Book

10 Things About The Eleyi Saga by Nazarea Andrews

1.    Writing a gladiator was returning to my roots—my first story was set in a gladiator school in ancient Rome. (No it’s not published.)

2.    The twins fascinate me, in part because I have older brothers who are twins. 

3.    Juhan was very straight laced, the very definition of a good guy. The process of changing that was heartbreaking. 

4.    Chosi was never supposed to have friends. Not in the jakta. But as I wrote it, I realized she wouldn’t survive without someone. 

5.    Jemes was one of my favorite characters to write. He surprised me, because he was never planned. 

6.    The story did not allow me to explore as many worlds as I would like, but Renlarte is still my favorite. 

7.    I began writing Gentle Chains before I got pregnant with my youngest child. 

8.    Gentle Chains was it’s fourth title.

9.    Part why I wrote Gentle Chains was to write a book without any romance. (Spoiler alert: I failed) 

10.    Book 2, Violent Freedom, concludes the story begun here, and comes out Fall 2015.

About Nazarea Andrews

Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.

You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Booktropolous.

About Gentle Chains

When slavers steal Juhan and his twin sister Chosi from their home planet of psychics, their only comfort is in the fact that they’re together. When they are separated at auction, Juhan swears to find his sister, no matter the cost.

Juhan is bought by the spoiled daughter of a political scion. Caught in her glittering world of intrigue and politics, Juhan is startled to find Sadi playing a long game to change intergalactic politics and Juhan is merely a pawn in her game. But as his vow and Sadi's lies takes them across galaxies, he begins to wonder if his young owner is more than an arrogant rich girl. And he has to consider the cost of his promise—especially when people they both care for begin to die.

A galaxy away, Chosi is sold into blood sport. With her psychic ability, she earns a precarious position of value within the gladiator school, training the draken—wild creatures of smoke and fire—for the arena. In the midst of that hell, she forges a friendship with the slave Jemes and the draken she cares for. But when her defiance comes with devastating results, Chosi contemplates suicide as an escape from her chains. Yet, she can't forget the brother who promised to find her, and even as she welcomes the risk of death, she clings to that promise.

Spun across space and exotic worlds, Juhan and Chosi try to find each other, and home in a stunning story about the lengths love will take you. 

Creating a Loveable Fictitious Character by Peni Jo Renner

Everybody wants to be liked, right? Would you say that goes for fictitious characters as well? Not necessarily.

Initially, Daniel Eames, my own 8th great uncle, was going to be the protagonist of Letters to Kezia, and even though he was a bit of a rake, I hoped my reader would still root for him. As it happened, the female character took center stage. Similarly, I didn’t want her to have all the personality of a cardboard cutout and I hope I was successful in bringing some dimension to all my characters. That, as a writer, is one of my biggest challenges.

I try to give my characters flaws; selfish, impatient, crude, whatever. It’s so fun to breathe life into a fictitious character! I consider mannerisms and habits. I imagine my reader seeing in her mind’s eye my character in full period attire scowling, crying, desperately holding back laughter. If a reader tells me, “I can see everything happening in my mind,” I know I’ve done my job!

When I was younger, I wrote very wishy-washy stories where everyone lived happily ever after because I didn’t want to be too hard on my characters! Isn’t that silly? They’re my characters to do with as I wish! So it really helped my writing when I decided to flesh out my characters and make them more human.

So, as you read Letters to Kezia, I hope your mind will be filled with images of Colonial Connecticut. I want you to see the people, smell the campfire smoke, feel the rough-hewn wood, taste the venison and hear the birdsong. If I’ve succeeded, I hope you’ll decide to check out my first novel, Puritan Witch, and look for my continuing stories in The Puritan Chronicles!

About the Author

PENI JO RENNER is the author of the IPPY award-winning novel, Puritan Witch: the Redemption of Rebecca Eames. Originally from North Dakota, Peni now lives with her husband in Maryland where she is currently researching for the third book in the Puritan Chronicles series.

For more information please visit the Puritan Witch Website and Facebook Page. You can also follow Peni Jo Renner on Twitter.

About the Book

It is 1693 in Hereford, Connecticut, when Mary Case, the spinster daughter of a Puritan minister, finds herself hopelessly smitten by the roguish thief, Daniel Eames. Betrothed to a man she does not like or love, she is soon compelled to help Daniel escape from jail. Suddenly, she finds herself on the run, not only accused of being Daniel’s accomplice, but also of murder.

The fugitive pair soon finds solace-and a mutual attraction-among the escapee’s Algonquin friends until two men from Daniel’s dark past hunt them down. After Mary is captured and returned home to await trial, a tragedy takes the life of her younger sister, revealing a dark secret Mary’s father has kept for months. But just as Mary learns she is pregnant, she makes a horrifying discovery about Daniel that changes everything and prompts her to develop an unlikely bond with his mother, Rebecca, who soon saves Mary from a shocking fate. It is not until years later that her daughter, Kezia, finally learns the truth about her biological father and family.

Letters to Kezia shares a courageous woman’s journey through a Puritan life and beyond as she struggles with adversity and betrayal, and discovers that loyalty can sometimes mean the difference between life and death.

A Look Behind The Memoir by Elisabeth Amaral

You can spend your life planning it, or you can more or less sit back and let it unfold in front of you. That is what happened to me when I was a young wife and mother living in New York City’s East Village. It was the Summer of Love, 1965. My husband and I were walking down Second Avenue with our baby when my husband announced that he wanted to move to Boston to study mime.  We gave up our apartment and his job to move north, and that was the beginning of our improbable adventure.
 
At first we supported ourselves by creating large, heavily beaded earrings and selling them, as well as incense, kurtas and beads, in the stores and streets of Cambridge. Through an unlikely path, that activity led us to open an upscale children’s boutique. Then, a year or two later, while sitting in our store during a blizzard, we decided, in a flash of inspiration, to open a restaurant.
 
Our adventure took an unexpected turn when we realized that my husband was gay. Homosexuality was barely understood, and rarely discussed during that era, and I began a slow, sometimes, dangerous journey down a road paved with growing self-doubt and lowered self-esteem. While our marriage was full of warmth and love, it suffered from the obvious. The lack of sexual gratification eventually propelled me toward risky behavior as I sought, and eventually re-discovered, my own sexual identity.
 
These memories had long been either forgotten or repressed. For the most part, my life with my first husband and our young son was filled with friends, fun and creative pursuits. Those were the memoires I chose to remember. But my focus changed suddenly while I was at a Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City. I was next in line to pitch a mystery novel to a literary agent when I realized that what I really wanted to write about was those Cambridge years and that thrilling era. I had experienced a lifetime by the time I was thirty, and was now at an age where I felt a strong need to preserve those memories. Not quite the journey of my grandparents from Russia to the Lower East Side, but my journey. My self-discovery. A story for my new granddaughter, when she is old enough. My era of youthful experimentation during the Woodstock years. I had a sudden, fervent need to recall all of it, even the sex, the drugs, and rock and roll.
 
I reached out to acquaintances from that time, and my ex-husband put me in touch with staff from Duck Soup, our former Harvard Square restaurant. He also reminded me of so much:  our first date when the car broke down on a deserted road, decades before cell phones; our wedding in an unheated house when a state trooper showed up with our marriage license; his memories of young fatherhood, and the joys we shared as parents.
 
My own memories flooded back, making the early writing of the memoir a joy. At first the memories were all good, not only mine and my ex’s, but also those from former friends and colleagues.  And then, well into the writing came the memories of my youthful pain, my confusions that had led me to a second marriage with a different set of problems, and a deeper despair. Writing about it all with the honesty it deserved was difficult, but it was one of the most important, satisfying things I have ever done.
 
When I look back on that time of my life I am amazed at how much was accomplished, and how far ahead of the times both the children’s boutique and the restaurant were. I believe we were the first in New England to sell toddler’s bell-bottom jeans, Finnish rainwear, wooden clogs. The first to have a slide and a hiding place for the kids. I was the buyer, the seller, and the bookkeeper. In the restaurant, we served only the freshest, homemade soups, salads and chili. We made our own mayonnaise, steak sauce, and dessert breads - in 1970! We ground the coffee frequently and sold it for a dime, with free refills. And it wasn’t just the healthy and delicious food or the comfortable and flirtatious ambience. The endless soundtrack that included Billie Holiday, Gershwin, Django Reinhardt, Fred Astaire, and much more, held professors, students, poets, locals and hangers-on there for hours. And everyone was welcome for as long as they wanted to be there.
 
It was such a good time in our lives that whomever I approached from those years had their own stories, recipes and photographs to share. I have included it all. It took me almost three years to finish the memoir and it was quite a ride. As I look back, I am fascinated at how it all unfolded. And I am glad I can share it. 

About the Author

A native New Yorker, I have lived in the city for much of my life. My first jobs after graduating from NYU were jewelry design and case worker for the Departments of Welfare of New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts. This was followed by co-ownership of a children’s boutique (Czar Nicholas and the Toad) and a restaurant (Duck Soup) in Cambridge near Harvard Square. I then worked as an industrial purchasing agent in New Jersey, and for the last 25 years have been a real estate broker in Manhattan, accumulating stories of the wonder and madness that is this city. I published a book of short stories (When Any Kind of Love Will Do), wrote two children’s books and a memoir (Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup), and am currently working on a novel.

You can reach Elizabeth via: Website | Facebook 

About the Book

The mid-1960s through the mid-1970s was a heady, turbulent time. There was a lot going on back then, and author Elisabeth Amaral was in the middle of it all: the fights for women’s rights, racial equality, a music revolution, be-ins, love-ins, riots in the streets, the rage against the Vietnam War, and sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was an amazing time to be young.

In Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup, Amaral shares her recollections of those times. She and her husband gave up their jobs in New York City, relocated to Boston with their infant son because of mime, unexpectedly started a children’s boutique, and opened a popular restaurant in Harvard Square. Most of all it is a coming-of-age story about herself and her husband as they embarked on an improbable and moving journey of self-discovery. 
With sincerity and humor, Czar Nicholas, The Toad, and Duck Soup offers a personal and revealing account that reaches out to those who find themselves striving to make a relationship work that, by its very nature, may be doomed. But this story is also one of friendship—and of finding the courage to move on.

"A truly wonderful memoir that reads like great fiction.  The characters come alive on the page."  – Elizabeth Brundage, author of The Doctor's Wife and A Stranger Like You.
 
“The story of how Liz Amaral and her husband became successful at the epicenter of counterculture businesses near Harvard Square / Cambridge from 1967-1975 with their boutique and restaurant is told with humor and insight. Swirling around them are all of the entrapments of the era, the drugs and free love and betrayal, as well as the politics that defined the times. 
With a fierce dedication to her son and husband, Liz Amaral triumphs in this stunning memoir where she discovers that, while love isn’t always what we think it is, it remains, in all its multi-faceted transformations, the driving force of who we are and how we live our lives.”  – P.B. O’Sullivan, writer and mathematician

“In her intimate and humorous memoir, Liz Amaral reveals the challenges of a young family establishing a home in Cambridge amid the tumult of the late 1960s. You will discover the disconcerting truth about her marriage and the painful path she takes to find herself again. A true adventure of the heart.” – Kathrin Seitz, writer, producer, and coach

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Believers: Truth In Deception by Tamara D. Taylor

1) I wrote the book to prove to my children that there is no dream to big to accomplish with a lot of hard work and determination.

2) Aunt Ruth is based on my Great Aunt Ruth, who taught me how to read by giving me a penny for each word I read correctly.

3) Mary’s personality is based off of a mix of personality traits of my three best friends.

4) Believers takes place in the Bay Area California where I was born and raised and has scenes in Omaha Ne, where I now live.

5) The social pull of the medi’s and non medis mirrors the discontent that we see today between Liberals and conservatives. The story is meant to show that there are good people in both camps even though they do not always agree politically. 

6) In the beginning of the book Adam Easter is found dead and questions surround his apparent suicide. In the final book,  circumstances of his death will be revealed along with who was involved.

7) When I first started writing Believers the anti-aging medication was called age-stop however after a good friend read it she suggested I change it to Xenvie.

8) The scene in the Limo, where Mari throws up on Joseph, is loosely based off of an incident that happened to me when my oldest child threw up on a male friend of mine.

9)The pork chops that Mari eats at the Montana Ranch is a real recipe that my mother has made for our family since we were small children.

10) I almost changed the title of the book Believers to Pistuo however all my friends and family liked Believers.

About Tamara D. Taylor

Tamara D. Taylor was born and raised in the East Bay of California until she moved to Omaha, Nebraska to attend Creighton University. Today, Tamara still resides in Nebraska where she and her husband, John, are raising their five young children.

A life long lover of all forms of the written word, Tamara is an avid reader, and has been writing short stories and poetry since elementary school. After watching her son struggle with succeeding in school, she decided to finally write the novel she had been thinking about for years in an effort to show her son that no dream is too big to achieve.

Her latest book is the YA, Believers: Truth in Deception.

You can connect with Tamara via: Facebook | Twitter

About Believers: Truth In Deception

Mary lives in a world of the future where an anti aging drug has torn society apart, creating an insurmountable divide between the wealthy and the poor. Her life is thrown sideways after she receives an unsolicited promotion at work, which leaves her as assistant to one of the most notorious playboys of the wealthy elite.

Mary struggles to find solid footing in a world that drastically conflicts with her humble upbringing. Her moral compass is tested as she finds herself falling in love with a man she knows she should not trust,  compromising her relationship with her childhood sweetheart.

After her life is threatened, she fears for her safety and that of her family. Will she be able to guard her own secrets to prevent even further danger? Will death be the consequence of falling in love with the wrong man?