Blog | Alison Morton's Thrillers

So what does SUCCESSIO mean to me?

Writing a book is hard work but a privilege. Sitting down, slogging away, oblivious to neck and shoulders becoming rigid, you ignore the blurring eyes, the ache creeping up over the crown of your head because you are lost in the imaginary country of your book’s world.

Your characters smell the pines, shiver at the fresh mountain air and grumble about hot, tired feet enclosed in hiking boots. In the town, they swerve to avoid the bad guys chasing them, curse at the traffic holding them back, shudder when another car screeches, hitting the paintwork of their car.

The heroine’s heart thumps on the adrenaline high of the chase, or melts as her child’s arms encircle her neck and hug her tight, or her lover’s eyes travel up and down her body, settling on her face, and he smiles warmly at her with eyes full of love. She laughs with her friends and colleagues, relishes her work, happy and comfortable in her home.

Then you put her in a totally impossible position – her personal world crumbles, her job becomes more impossible day by day, her country is threatened by a ruthless and manipulative wrecker who slips through everybody’s fingers.

How can an author subject the heroine to such horrors? But then you see your heroine’s grit, her fortitude despite her fear and heartache and you live every minute, even every second as she struggles to find a way out. It’s an emotional experience like no other!

Publishing a book is when you wrench yourself out of that world and enter the long, long process of edits, production and consultations. But when you first see the cover proof, you know exactly how your heroine feels in the heart-thudding department.

When I opened the first .PDF file for INCEPTIO, I sat speechless, my eyes fixed on the computer screen, marvelling at the beauty of the rich imperial purple and gold design blending modern graphics with strong Roman symbols. When I saw the new 2019 one (right), my reaction was x 10!

Both editing and cover design involve working as a team with professionals – their expertise is at your command. However, it’s a two-way process and they have the talent and knowledge to guide you in the best direction.

I was excited when I received the very first shipping notice in my inbox shipping notice but when door bell sounded 36 hours later, I ran up the stairs from my basement office like an Olympian in training and flung open the heavy wooden door to find a smiling courier with four boxes of books.

And it’s exactly the same experience for every book I’ve ever written!

Telling all your friends about it is mildly embarrassing at first, but exciting – just watch their faces! They tell me they find it hard to believe that you, their friend, has written a book, and such a beautiful book, too! (Well, that’s what they say; they’re a polite bunch.)

They sit entranced at your launch; they’re desperate to glimpse inside your imagined world and to know the story of how this came to be. And they look at you and wonder what on earth has been going on in your mind all these years…

Selling your book is the biggest thrill, not just receiving the notes, coins, or plastic, although that’s very nice, thank you. You are handing your world over to be shared, loved and hopefully cherished. When the reviews come, you worry about reading them. But when a true fan emails you direct, tweets or posts about how much they enjoyed your book, and how it now ranks in their top books, your (rather over-worked) heart nearly bursts with joy (and pride)!

Publishing SUCCESSIO was the third time I’d experienced this, and believe me, the work doesn’t get any less, but the fun and thrills don’t either.

SUCCESSIO was the book that was darker that the previous two, the riskier, the more gut-wrenching to write. Everybody failed in some way, psychologically as well as professionally, but they kept to their core values and and ended up far stronger.

If you’re a reader, you can find this Roma Nova adventure in ebook, paperback or audio here.

Happy reading!

If you’re a writer as well, never stop the hard work because seeing and feeling your book in your hands will make you laugh and cry with pleasure for years.

This is an updated version (2021) of an original post celebrating the launch of SUCCESSIO.

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.

Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email newsletter. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

Nik Morton - We are history

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Nik Morton (no relation!), who also writes as Ross Morton and a few other names besides… Ex-Royal Navy, ex-IT, expat living in Spain, he works as an editor and writer of short stories, articles and novels. Added to this he draws cartoons and illustrates comics, stories and magazine covers. To date, he has 20 books published, the latest of which is Sudden Vengeance, out this last week. As he writes thrillers in a modern historical context, I asked him to give us his perspective on history.

At school – a long, long time ago – history was one of my favourite subjects. The others were English, Geography and Art. I’d draw images from the past – using statues or photos – to illustrate my essays; maybe it was an excuse just to draw! The history bug never left me, however. I read voraciously, not only fiction but non-fiction. I devoured the books spawned by the Second World War – Carve Her Name With Pride, Odette, Boldness Be My Friend, etc. – and books about Empire. The Washing of the Spears by Donald R. Morris and Shaka Zulu by E.A. Ritter being a couple. Little did I realise I would eventually serve on the RN frigate HMS Zulu and visit Zululand some years later. Fiction informed me about history too. I enjoyed the Flashman books, and the Dennis Wheatley novels; I recall a teacher pointing out to the class that fiction writers bring the past alive, more than dry history books. Of course, the authors have to use those ‘dry history books’ in their research, and usually give credit where due.

I started writing when I was about fourteen, on a Remington portable typewriter. I’d written two novels by age sixteen, but they had little to do with history. It was a long haul from those days to now. Still, I soon became aware that the times we were living in – the 1960s – were historic. Silly, really, since whatever period we live in the now, it will become history. But that’s the point. We are history.

When I started writing in earnest (a small county of the mind), I began researching material. My first serious foray was in 1975, delving into Czechoslovakia. A troubled country that had more than its fair share of history by then already – and more to come, of course. I suppose that’s when I caught the bug. The book was eventually put aside until later, and I researched other interesting material – the history of psychical research, for example. That story, which began as a short piece, grew and grew over the years and became the first in a series about a psychic spy, Tana Standish. A series about the 1970s and 1980s – history I’d lived through. The series covered the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the toppling of the Shah during the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the Soviet ‘invasion’ of Afghanistan, and the Falklands War; the series is projected to cover many other events in our recent past.

Concurrently with that series, I wrote about a nun who used to be a policewoman. It’s not unusual for nuns to take orders from varied walks of life. Her journey harked back to her past, when she was a policewoman. That’s the beauty of fiction – you can flashback to crucial events that shape the protagonist – delve into their personal history. The invented order that Sister Rose joined had a history going back some hundred years and the nuns suffered greatly for their cause.

Western books!

History beckoned in another guise, more or less at the same time. I embarked on my first Western. I’d hankered after writing a Western for many years but didn’t believe I could be authentic enough. Fortunately, research and maturity helped and I’ve had seven Westerns published to date – plus a guide on how to write a Western in 30 days! The Old West is history and is rich in material and true-life stories that can be adapted for fiction. Several of these novels are built on a present that is being warped by events in the past; history will have its say.

So will history always catch us in the end? What do you think?

Find out more about Nik here…
Website – www.freewebs.com/nikmorton
Twitter – @nik_morton
Blog – http://nik-writealot.blogspot.com
http://auguries-magazine.blogspot.com
Facebook – nik.morton.10@facebook.com
Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/Nikmorton

What’s Nik’s latest book, Sudden Vengeance about?
When justice fails, a vigilante steps forward.

In the broken Britain of today, faith in the police is faltering. Justice and fairness are flouted. Victims are not seen as hurt people but simply as statistics.

Paul’s family is but one example of those victims of unpunished criminals. In the English south coast town of Alverbank, many others are damaged and grieving. It cannot go on. There has to be a response, some way of fighting back.

A vigilante soon emerges and delivers rough justice, breaking the bones and cracking the heads of those guilty individuals who cause pain without remorse.

Who is the vigilante? He – or she – is called the Black Knight. The police warn against taking ‘the law into your own hands’. But the press laud the vigilante’s efforts and respond: ‘What law?’

Will the Black Knight eventually cross the line and kill?

Paul and his family seem involved and they are going to suffer…

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, and PERFIDITAS. Third in series, SUCCESSIO, is out June 2014.