Blog | Alison Morton's Thrillers

Roma Nova - a thought experiment?

Travel in the mind is a very popular concept at present as the Covid-19 global pandemic has put a stop to the great flow of personal physical travel. But even before that it was an idea familiar to writers. Indeed, blogger and podcaster Joanna Penn invited me to talk about Roma Nova as a place that my imagination took me to and a place that readers seem to enjoy visiting. Some even want to book a ticket on Air Roma Nova or even go and live there!

So what goes on in a writer’s mind when they build a completely new world and people it with characters who have adventures, emotional journeys and quests? is it a calculated construction or something that’s emerged over years, or triggered by an event?

One of the most familiar alternative universes is that of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter. She put a seemingly uninteresting boy into a realistic and consistent world that was a mixture of the familiar and fantasy. She wove in magic, the teenage world, good guys, bad guys, friendship, mystery and self-discovery. Oh, and saving the world. We probably all have a different idea of what she was saying underneath all the action and magic.

Now I’m not comparing Roma Nova to the world of Hogwarts. However, the process of building a different universe is the same. It should be realistic and plausible, consistent and dynamic. But where does it all come from?

Whatever genre they write in, writers have some kind of bee in their bonnet. It can be an urgent message to give to the world, a burning desire to explore a transgressive idea or perhaps a way of working through a problem, consciously or unconsciously. Or perhaps it’s escape to a safer or more exciting place and/or with more interesting and idealised people. I suggested in another post that we might still be attracted to the idea of a Ruritania for that very reason.

Roma Nova began as a fantasy version of an idealised world in a very young mind. It grew over the years and became darker and sharper and moderated by more mature ideas of relationships, politics, failure yet retaining ‘noble quests’. The message behind the characters’ motivations was always ‘doing the right thing.’

In the real world, we can try to do this, but we are often let down as reality bursts in on us. I’m not being cynical, but Real Life is a lot messier, interconnected and unpredictable than a fictional world. Even if that world is chaotic or dystopian, we are still the master/mistress of that universe and can exercise control over the story and characters (or delude ourselves we can do it.)

Roma Nova is, if you want to be fancy, a thought experiment: suppose women ran the place; suppose it had a strong historical heritage, say the Romans and suppose the characters had a strong sense of purpose? Throw in switching of roles – Jamie Bond rather than James Bond – gender-mirroring that was so inherent and natural to the characters that it was instinctive and you do have a thought experiment, hopefully a subversive and provoking one.

Roma Nova is fun, challenging, a research dream/nightmare, but it does carry a message: what if the thriller stories were set in a world of unconscious equality where its inhabitants didn’t even think about gender roles? it simply wouldn’t occur to them to assign them. The world of Roma Nova pushes it further with the natural bias toward women. It’s not far past that equality mid point but it does switch natural succession in favour of women. There I go again, trying to illustrate a point.

You’ll be relieved to know that men form nearly half of my readers; they know a thriller when they see one and seem to enjoy the alternative timeline. Plus it’s well-known that women are the major buyers of crime and thrillers, and which female reader doesn’t like the idea of women running things?

While I’m trying to provoke thought, my main aim is to provide several hours of solid entertainment and a bit of escape from the real world. But Roma Nova does try to discuss serious themes of self-empowerment, betrayal, breakdown, loyalty, fear, rebellion and liberation within its stories along with the banter, friendships, pratfalls and love.

Happy reading!

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.

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 update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

Alternative history isn’t just about Nazis!

The Man in the High Castle (original story by Philip K Dick, 1962) and SS-GB (Len Deighton, 1978) have been the most prominent ‘what if’s on the screen recently. Apart from the terrific production values, these stories gripped our imaginations as the most horrific thing that could have happened to Western Europe/America in the modern period. Of course, Robert Harris’s Fatherland (1992) gave Nazi althist a good nudge and then along came C J Sansom’s Dominion in 2012. Perhaps the first two are a projection of fears about the Cold War, the second two a re-examination after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Or is it just Rufus Sewell in a beautifully tailored black and silver uniform?

But as the Tudors (whispers: or even the Romans) are not the only historical period, so the Nazis are not the only alternative history. What a wealth of other choices there are out there! Our cousins in the US enjoy speculating about the outcomes of the War of Independence or the American Civil War, while any respectable French bookshop inevitably has a large section on the ‘what if’ of Napoléon winning at Waterloo.

What if King Harold had won the Battle of Hastings in 1066? Or if Julius Caesar had taken notice of the warning that assassins wanted to murder him on the Ides of March? Or the Spanish Armada had defeated and conquered England in 1588? If Washington hadn’t crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776? Suppose Christianity had remained a minor Middle East cult? Intriguing questions, indeed.

Alternative history is nothing new
Roman historian Livy speculated on the idea that the Romans would have eventually beaten Alexander the Great if he’d lived longer and turned west to attack them (Book IX, sections 17-19 Ab urbe condita libri (The History of Rome, Titus Livius). In 1490, Joanot Martorell wrote Tirant lo Blanch about a knight who manages to fight off the invading Ottoman armies of Mehmet II and saves Constantinople from Islamic conquest. This was written when the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 was still a traumatic memory for Christian Europe.

Alexander the Great (author photo)

Alternative or alternate?
Before we go any further let’s get the name thing out of the way. ‘Alternate’ to British English speakers means one of two taking turns with the other, e.g. alternating current in electricity. Staying with them, ‘alternative’ signifies any possible other e.g. what alternative solutions do you propose? So ‘what if’ scenarios are alternative, i.e. any number of different timelines could exist.

In North America, ‘alternate’ works hard to carry both meanings. So just on numbers, the ‘alternates’ have it and ‘alternate history’ has become the generally accepted name. But we Brits are a plucky lot and stubborn with it, so we hold out and still call it ‘alternative history’. I’m a fence-sitter and duck out and use the short form ‘althist’ which offends nobody.

Phew!

So what is alt hist when it’s at home?
Like any genre there are ‘da rulz’ when writing althist stories:

– the event that turned history from the path we know – the point of divergence – must be in the past.

– the new timeline follows a different path forever – there is no going back.

– stories should show the ramifications of the divergence and how the new reality functions.

The world can partially resemble our timeline or be very different. Sometimes there are documented historical characters, sometimes entirely fictional ones or a mixture of both. In no case are alternative history stories parallel or secret histories such as The Da Vinci Code or fantasy like Noami Novik’s excellent Temeraire series. Nor can you have time travel machines, heroines falling through time, time travellers dropping in to sort out history then popping back out, or goddesses putting it all back as it was. Once it’s done in althist, it’s done.

Althist is a speculative genre with has two parents: history and science fiction. Its fiction can sit anywhere along a sliding scale from the well-researched counter-factual following historical logic and methodology to the completely bonkers story designed only to be cool. I explain the types in full detail here; I stand at the historical end because I’m a historian as well as a thriller writer.

I was delighted to be included in 1066 Turned Upside Down – a collection of stories by nine historical fiction writers speculating abut English history’s biggest ‘what if’. Could one of my Roma Novans have influenced either Harold or William – both tough, ambitious and determined men – and changed history?

Some alternative althist stories
England has remained Catholic – Pavane, Keith Roberts or The Alteration, Kingsley Amis
Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn have a son and Elizabeth I and Philip II of Spain have a daughter – The Boleyn Trilogy/Tudor Legacy Series, Laura Anderson
Alaska rather than Israel becomes the Jewish homeland – The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon (Very witty as well as thought provoking)
Roosevelt loses the 1940 election and right-wing Charles Lindbergh becomes US president – The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from St. Helena and winds up in the United States in 1821 – Napoleon in America, Shannon Selin
Is John F. Kennedy killed by a bomb in 1963? Or does he chose not to run in 1964 after an escalated Cuban Missile Crisis led to the nuclear obliteration of Miami and Kiev? – My Real Children, Jo Walton
A secret fifth daughter of the Romanov family continues the Russian royal lineage –The Secret Daughter of the Tsar and The Tsarina’s Legacy, Jennifer Laam
An England in which James II was never deposed in the Glorious Revolution, but supporters of the House of Hanover continually agitate against the monarchy – Children’s favourite The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
Prolific writers of althist especially from the US viewpoint include Harry Turtledove, Eric Flint and S.M. Stirling.

Or if a remnant of the Roman Empire had survived into the present day, but with a twist – the Roma Nova thrillers. 😉

So what’s althist for?
Like any other story written in any genre, there must be a purpose to an althist story. It can’t be “Look at this new world I’ve invented, aren’t I clever?”

It needs a strong story. As a reader of fiction I want to be entertained, to learn something and be encouraged to think. That’s what writers are supposed to deliver to the reader. Alternative history gives us a rich environment in which to develop our storytelling and let our imaginations soar. Like all speculative fiction and a fair bit of historical fiction, althist may well reflect concerns of the time when it’s written. But above all it allows us to explore unthinkable, frightening or utopian worlds from the safety of our favourite reading chair.

Oh, and steampunk? Now that’s a whole other question!

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)