Blog | Alison Morton's Thrillers

A little drop of magic and spellbinding

A Roman magic stone

My fellow writer, Janice Horton, is throwing a “Spellbindingly Fun Blog Party” today and as a little light relief, I’m joining in.

Magic was an integral part of Roman life – astrology, amulets, incantations, spells, healing and cursing formulas. Pliny’s conclusion, however, was cautious: though he dismissed magic as ineffective and infamous, it nevertheless contained “shadows of truth”, particularly of the “arts of making poisons”. Yet, Pliny states, “there is no one who is not afraid of spells” (including himself presumably!). He neither commended or condemned the amulets and charms that people wore as preventive medicine but instead suggested that it was better to err on the side of caution, just in case a new kind of magic, a magic that really worked, might be developed at any time.

The emperor Constantine I in the 4th century AD issued a ruling about all charges of magic. He distinguished between helpful charms, not punishable, and “antagonistic” spells. Roman authorities specifically decided what forms of magic were acceptable and which were not. Those that were not acceptable were termed “magic”; those that were acceptable were usually defined as traditions of the state or practices of the state’s religions. Talk about rationalisation!

So, on to Janice’s Spellbinding party. All participants have to prepare a spell (hopefully not counting as “antagonistic”) and may mention their object of desire at the end. At the end of the spell, you may not be totally surprise by my object of desire, given my previous post.

The spell:
Feather of a golden eagle, brush the dragon’s tears and stardust into one. Crush three wild rose petals into the mix and add five drops of snake venom. Chant the incantation, dip your finger into the potion, touch your head and heart with your fingertip then pour the mixture over the parchment paper on which your desire is written.

My object of desire:

INCEPTIO
Kindle Edition
Average Review: ***** (52 reviews)
Current Sales Rank: #1 in Kindle Store

INCEPTIO
Paperback Edition
Average Review: ***** (38 reviews)
Current Sales Rank: #1 in Crime, Thrillers & Mystery
#1 in Alternate History

Huge news!

I have signed a publishing agreement with SilverWood Books. INCEPTIO will appear in paperback and ebook format. We are looking at Spring 2013. If it changes, I’ll let you know!

So what is my book about? Romans, alternate history, romance, action-adventure, loss, self-growth, recognition? All of those.

Suppose you’re an ordinary young woman in New York, nearly twenty-five years old. You work in an office Monday to Friday. It’s pretty routine. You don’t have a college degree so other people overtake you, but you don’t mind too much. Well, sometimes, but generally not.

Why? Because you have the best weekend volunteer job in the world, in the city park – a huge green paradise over 800 acres. Breathing fresh air, helping people, laughing with kids, losing yourself in the trees. It reminds you of your happy childhood home, the one you lost when your father died when you were twelve.

It’s what you live for, it’s what keeps you sane.

That’s your life – five days so-so, two days exhilaration. Life is safe, if a tad boring and going nowhere.

Then you throw a stoned kid and his two friends out of the park for beating up an old man. Problem is his father’s the second most powerful person in the country. Result – you get sacked from your beloved volunteer job. You are devastated.

But you get a promotion at work and meet an attractive foreign spy disguised as an interpreter. He’s from a mysterious European country founded centuries ago by Romans.

Soon a sinister enforcer from your own government is trying to wipe you out. And the pretty hot foreign spy is trying to convince you he’s the good guy.

But this world isn’t the one this blog is written in – it has a different history and different rules…

——–
2016 update: INCEPTIO was indeed published Spring 2013 – more here.
——–

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO and AURELIA. The fifth in the series, INSURRECTIO, will be published on 12 April 2016.

Find out Roma Nova news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways by signing up for her free monthly email newsletter.

Photo contest – WINNER!

I decided to have a new author photo to use across all platforms. Sometimes, I may use it in black and white, other times colour. Like a true Libran, I was dithering. So I ran a poll to ask readers which did they think was best.

STOP PRESS 26 OCTOBER 2012: The winner is Photo2! (70%). Second was Photo1 with 20% and Photo3 was a valiant third with 10%

Many thanks to all those who took part.