Launch! INCEPTIO special edition hardback is now out!

Well, here it is. It’s a big project for me – a celebration of 10 years publishing in a niche part of the book world. Although the ‘alternative history’ label could put people off, a thriller is a thriller is a thriller. But essentially, INCEPTIO is a story of people; young/old, tough/sensitive, daft/clever, thoroughly bad/honourable and courageous despite their fear.

I hope you enjoy reading this celebration edition as much as I’ve enjoyed producing it.

To make this edition even more special I’ve included some new, exclusive content not available in the ebook, audio or paperback versions:

Three character ‘conversations’:

  • Captain Conradus Tellus on going to New York to deliver a message
  • Silvia Apulia, Imperatrix of Roma Nova on meeting Aurelia’s newly arrived granddaughter
  • Aurelia Mitela on confronting Conrad after the visit to Silvia

Two short stories:

  • When Flavius met Apollodorus
  • The Mystery of Marina Mitela

The INCEPTIO story

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Available from:  Barnes & Noble   Book Depository  Waterstones Online
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Here’s a little from The Mystery of Marina Mitela as a taster of one of the additional stories

1989, New Hampshire, Eastern United States

Although I was driving my beautiful red Saab that William had especially imported for me, I dreaded reaching the end of my route and talking to that horrible man. He’d used a patronising tone, rude even. What on earth had he meant when he’d said it was about national security? I didn’t know anything about that. And why would it have been a threat to William if I’d mentioned the meeting to him? The man had said William was in danger and only I could save him, so I had to find out. I wasn’t tough and brave like Mama, but I would see this man and make him tell me what he meant. I was a Roma Novan after all. Then that would be the end of it.

William was my beloved husband of four years and father of my dear little Carina. I didn’t call her by her Roma Novan name except when we were alone together, but I’d sent a letter registering her with the Roma Nova legation in Washington when she was born. William said she was Karen Brown and that was it; she had no need of any other name in the EUS. I sighed. I loved him unconditionally and he loved and protected me.

It had been a dreadful time six years ago when I’d first met William. Caius Tellus was plotting a coup to take over Roma Nova and Mama was trying to stop him. After William’s first contract in Roma Nova had finished, he’d returned to the EUS. I’d been very unhappy that William had left. I’d written and he’d replied, saying he would apply soon for another entry visa and would speak to Mama then. He said it might be a few weeks, but I had faith in him. I knew I would never love another man the way I loved him.

I was sitting in the atrium at home one evening drinking coffee after dinner with Mama and was gradually recovering from the attack by Caius’s thugs on that petrifying night three weeks before. I blinked hard to push it from my mind even now.  When William was announced, I’d jumped up, then stood statue still watching him approach. He smiled. My heart pounded wildly. He had returned as promised. I smiled back, then walked up to him and put my hand in his outstretched one. We said nothing. We didn’t need to. After some seconds, he broke his gaze and then greeted Mama.

William had been asked to install some very clever new security systems at our house so that Caius couldn’t touch us at home. When he walked alone with me in the garden a week later, he said he had to return to the EUS the day after tomorrow. He bent down and kissed me.

‘Will you come with me, Marina?’ he said in a low voice. ‘I love you and want to care for you and protect you. I will never let you be attacked again. You will be safe.’

I knew instantly what my answer would be.

‘Of course I will come. We belong together. It’s that simple.’ I glanced up at him. ‘I must tell Mama.’

‘In the morning,’ he said and kissed me passionately.

First thing the next day, I packed a suitcase and asked my maid to send all my other things on. I slipped in a photo of Mama and me taken just before that frightening business out at Castra Lucilla when Caius Tellus’s thugs had tried to take over our farm. I looked healthier and happier in it than I the one taken last week. William and I stood in the atrium, hand in hand.

‘I’m going with William, Mama,’ I said.

‘Yes, I see you are,’ she said. ‘And I know he will be kind to you and look after you.’

‘It’s not that – we love each other,’ I protested.

‘I know, darling. Of course.’

She looked at him. He returned her gaze as steadily as if he was passing a message back to her.

I’m sure Mama thought I was an innocent and I’d have no idea of what I would be facing. But William would look after me and protect me physically, and he was comfortable financially. His company, Brown Industries, made defence equipment and systems and had contracts with our government here as well as in the EUS, the United Kingdom and many other European states. He’d told me about his first wife, that he’d divorced her and how he’d settled a house and money on her. People in the EUS thought differently about families and what women should do, but William would guide me.

The next morning, Mama embraced me so hard at the foot of the steps to the plane that I could hardly breathe.

‘It’s all right, Mama, I’m not disappearing from the world. I’ll fly back and see you soon. Or you can come and see William and me.’ I gave her a little smile and touched my middle. ‘Who knows? There may even be three of us.’

Mama stared at me. The wind flapped my hair on my face and I pushed it back.

‘Marina, are you sure?’

‘That I want to go? Of course.’

I smiled up at William who kissed the top of my head. He looked at his watch.

‘We must leave now or the pilot will lose his window. Goodbye, Aurelia.’ He shook Mama’s hand briefly, caught mine in his and guided me up the steps. I turned and gave Mama a last wave.

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Buy this hardback edition book from Barnes & Noble   Amazon   Book Depository  Waterstones Online or through your local bookshop. (UK link)

 

 

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers –  INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO,  AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO  and RETALIO,  and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories.  Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.

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