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HEROICA - Why three stories?

Cover image of HEROICA HEROICA has a strange origin. Revolution?, the first part, started as a little story I wanted to write for myself – an indulgence. Then it grew and grew. The heroine, Carina, goes off piste as usual (see the first four Roma Nova thrillers!) and her investigation became ever more complicated and the ‘short story’ became a much longer one, almost a novella. Then I thought up a twist in the tail. There’s always a price to pay and/or a secret to uncover in Roma Nova stories!

Throughout the series, the two heroines, Carina and Aurelia, are or become, courageous, determined and completely loyal to Roma Nova. But occasionally, we hear references to past history and to previous generations of the Mitela family. What was the influence of that family on Roma Nova’s affairs throughout the centuries or on wider European events?

I began to think about some of the major turning points in European history. Could the Mitelae have played an important part? I thoroughly enjoyed writing a short story for the 1066 Turned UpsideDown anthology when an 11th century Mitela was instrumental in preventing the Norman Conquest. Although I had to firmly put my research hat on my head, that was fun!

Suppose they had been involved in other key historical events? Suppose a Mitela had been key to the success of a battle or a political revolution? Or its failure? There are so many turning points to choose from! Erik Durschmied’s The Hinge Factor (since retitled How Chance and Stupidity Have Changed History) is a fascinating read about the tiny and not so tiny interventions in events that push the history of the world down an entirely different path than it would or should or could have gone.

In Honoria’s Battle, set in 1683, Christian Europe saw the Moslem Ottomans as an existential threat. The latter had conquered much of South East Europe including next door Hungary and were besieging the great bastion of Vienna, the seat of the Holy Roman emperors. It was vital that Vienna did not fall as it would open the gateway to the rest of Europe. People have argued about this since the 17th century, but at the time, this was as they saw it. So Honoria Mitela goes to Vienna to help.

Chamboz at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

The dual time line story, The Idealist, is set in the present and the mid 19th century, a period that fascinates me – the time of revolutions in various European countries. 1848 is the year that stands out, but the years before and after were equally busy! Change is always interesting, however it turns out.These are points in history when we see what humans are capable of, whether it’s cruelty or courage. Giuseppe Mazzini was a revolutionary politician, but he was also a philosopher active at the time Italy was going through the Risorgimento – the resurgence of the idea of a united Italy.

Italy 1843 User:Gigillo83; derivative work: User:Enok CC BY-SA 3.0

But it took several decades for that reunification to be complete. In 1870, forces of the Kingdom of Italy (founded 1861) took control of the city of Rome itself and of the Papal States. After a plebiscite held on 2 October 1870, Rome was officially made capital of Italy on 3 February 1871, completing the unification of Italy. History on the Italian peninsula is always about the capture of Rome, it seems…

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You can pre-order the ebook of HEROICA now:

Amazon (universal): https://mybook.to/HEROICA_RomaNova
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/en/ebook/heroica-5
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id6761337368
B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/heroica-alison-morton/1149795262?ean=2940185019030
Books2Read: https://books2read.com/HEROICA

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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. JULIA PRIMA and EXSILIUM, set in the late 4th century, tell the story of Roma Nova’s foundation. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity and Double Pursuit start a new contemporary thriller series. The third, Double Stakes 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. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

Amazons: Myth, Fear, and the Long Memory of Warrior Women

Armed Amazon, her shield decorates a Gorgon head; Tondo of Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BCE, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Berlin (Public domain)

The Amazons stride through ancient myth with spears, bows, and a reputation that unsettled the ancient world. These warrior women, said to live beyond the edges of the known Greek world near the Black Sea, were described as superb horse-archers, fiercely independent, and stubbornly resistant to male control.

Whether they really existed as a distinct people is debated, but archaeology from the Eurasian steppe has uncovered graves of armed women among Scythian and Sarmatian cultures—enough to suggest that the legend may have grown from encounters with societies where women did, at times, ride and fight. We all know how the rumour mill works and I’m sure it was the same in the ancient world.

To the Greeks, Amazons were both fascination and warning: a mirror held up to their own gender order. To the Romans, who inherited Greek myth along with so much else, Amazons were something more complicated – a symbol of chaos, exoticism, courage and a distinct challenge to Roman assumptions about power, family and citizenship.

Romans and Amazons

Diving deeper… Romans encountered Amazons first through Greek art and literature, then through their own retellings. In the epics and histories circulating in the Roman world, Amazons appear at pivotal moments. The Amazon queen Penthesilea fights at Troy and falls to Achilles – a scene beloved by artists for its tragic intensity. The hero Heracles must seize the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta as one of his labours. These stories circulated widely in Roman mosaics, frescoes, and carved sarcophagi.

The Dying Amazon, 2nd century AD copy of a Greek original of the 2nd century BC. National Archaeological Museum, Naples (Author photo)

Roman writers such as Virgil included Amazon figures in their works. In the Aeneid, the warrior maiden Camilla is not an Amazon by name, but she is unmistakably cast in their image – swift, deadly, devoted to martial life but ultimately doomed. Camilla is admired, even honoured, but she cannot be allowed to survive into the orderly Roman future Virgil is constructing. She belongs to a wild, heroic past.

That is telling about ancient Roman attitude.

Romans admired courage wherever they found it; it’s deep-rooted in their culture. However, they were deeply invested in a social order in which women’s power was expressed through family, lineage and influence behind the scenes – not on the battlefield. We have many stories about that influence and about Roman women taking a courageous stand or demonstrating incredible fortitude.

But the Amazon was an altogether different type of woman. She fought openly, rejected male authority and lived outside the social and civic structures that Romans believed defined civilisation. To a Roman mind, that placed her somewhere between noble savage and existential threat.

Yet there was also respect. The Amazon was not mocked. She was formidable. Roman art often depicts Amazons as dignified, athletic, and beautifully equipped. They are enemies worthy of heroes. The very care taken in their portrayal suggests a grudging admiration for their martial skill.

In short: the Romans did not dismiss the Amazons. They contained them—by placing them in myth, in the distant past, or on the far edges of the world.

Why did the idea trouble them?

Because Ancient Rome itself had a complicated relationship with women and power. Roman matrons could own property, run households, influence politics, and shape dynasties. Women like Livia, Agrippina, and Julia Domna exerted enormous influence. But it was influence within a framework. The Amazon suggested what might happen if that framework vanished.

The Amazon was a thought experiment: What if women did not accept the roles assigned to them? What if they claimed the spear as well as the spindle?

The answer, in Roman storytelling, was usually tragedy.

A Roma Novan perspective on Amazons

Now imagine a modern, Roman-descended society such as Roma Nova where the society evolved differently over the centuries. Women have, out of the practical needs for survival and then thriving, held formal authority, commanded troops, and shaped state policy not from behind curtains but from the centre of power.

To Roma Novans, Amazons would not be aberrations. They would be ancestors of the imagination.
A Roma Novan historian might smile at the old Roman discomfort. Of course, women can fight. Of course, they can command. Of course, courage and discipline are not gendered traits. The real question, from a Roma Novan perspective, would not be why Amazons existed, but why other societies found them so unsettling.

Roma Nova would likely interpret Amazon legends not as fantasy, but as distorted memory – garbled reports of cultures that organised themselves differently from Greece and Rome. Where Romans saw myth, Roma Novans might see early evidence that martial ability among women is neither new nor unnatural – merely suppressed or ignored in certain traditions.

And they would probably have a certain dry amusement at Virgil’s Camilla; admired, but conveniently removed by death before she could in any way complicate the Roman future.

In Roma Nova, she would have been promoted.

What women in warrior roles bring to the fight

Beyond myth and fiction, the modern world has demonstrated something the Amazons hinted at: when women serve in military roles, they bring distinct strengths alongside shared human qualities of courage, endurance, and skill. I can endorse this from my own six years in uniform.

1. Adaptability and problem-solving
Women entering historically male spaces often develop acute situational awareness and adaptive thinking. This translates well to asymmetric warfare, intelligence work, and complex operational environments.

2. Cohesion and communication
Mixed units frequently report improved communication and team cohesion. Women are often trained – socially, culturally and professionally – to read group dynamics closely, a valuable trait under stress.

3. De-escalation and cultural access
In modern conflict zones, female soldiers can interact with local women in societies where male soldiers cannot. This provides intelligence, builds trust and reduces friction with civilian populations.

4. Psychological resilience
Those who have had to prove themselves repeatedly tend to develop formidable mental resilience. The need to earn one’s place can forge exceptional discipline and commitment. (Nothing new under the sun about that, I hear you say.)

5. A broader leadership model
Women leaders often employ collaborative leadership styles alongside decisiveness, broadening the tactical and strategic options available to a unit.

None of this suggests women fight like Amazons of myth. Rather, it shows that capability in war is human, not male.

The enduring power of the Amazon idea

The Amazon endures because she represents a possibility that societies have alternately feared, admired, suppressed and rediscovered something very powerful: that women can be visible, effective agents of force. For the Romans, she had to remain safely in legend. For Roma Novans, she would be a familiar concept – less a mythic outsider than a symbolic foremother.

And for us, she remains a reminder that history is not only what happened, but what people believed could not happen.

Women's history? Or herstory?

‘The Monstrous Regiment of Women’

Wikipedia defines women’s history as follows, ‘Women’s history is the study of the role that women have played in history, together with the methods needed to study women. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman’s rights throughout recorded history, the examination of individual women of historical significance, and the effect that historical events have had on women.

Inherent in the study of women’s history is the belief that more traditional recordings of history have minimized or ignored the contributions of women and the effect that historical events had on women as a whole; in this respect, woman’s history is often a form of historical revisionism, seeking to challenge or expand the traditional historical consensus.’

Women history graduates

Hm. Maybe I haven’t drunk enough coffee this morning, and there’s a lot to unpick in those sentences, but I read it as if a favour is being granted; “Let’s allow the girls to have a whole section of history to themselves. They’ll be able to go off and write serious stuff that other girls will love and it will keep them out of our mainstream hair.”

When I was younger and questioning the under-representation of women and the male dominance of history, heroines such as Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I and Florence Nightingale were quoted at me as strong, exceptional, female models.

Exceptional.

Exactly.

The unremarked lives of other women, duchesses to beggars, who made up fifty per cent of the population, were treated as peripheral and confined to traditional women’s auxiliary roles as wives, mothers, sisters, servants.

Both historical accounting and public awareness of history are moving on; it would be harsh to say otherwise. In the media we have the splendid Mary Beard, Bettany Hughes, Lucy Worsley and Alice Roberts among others leading us into grand sweeps and minute details of places and lives of both women and men. But even with women talking about life and death in Rome, Socrates in Athens or Kensington Palace and British crime, are we much further on?

You may remember the virtual attacks on Professor Mary Beard for not confirming to female norms in respect of appearance and behaviour?

Her clever and often witty insights into past lives and her wealth of knowledge were ignored in torrents of spite about her hair, clothes and teeth and the fact she had spoken out at all. Vicious and rather sad. But Professor beard has – luckily for us – gone on from strength to strength in her mission of informing us and challenging us all about ordinary women’s lives in the past.

Almost unbelievably, Caroline Criado-Perez (far right) was told to ‘shut up’ and threatened with rape when she campaigned for at least one female historical figure to be portrayed on UK bank notes as Elizabeth Fry was to be dropped from the £5 note. Happily, Jane Austen appeared on the £10 note from 2017 but even in the 21st century, it’s depressing to see that in some quarters traditional male attitudes to female speakers and active participants in life are still welded to ancient roots. (And yes, that is Mark Carney, the current Canadian prime minister when he was governor of the Bank of England.)

In brief, there are two strands here: the historical account itself and dissemination of that account. Perhaps this is where ‘good’ historical fiction comes in, ‘good’ meaning meticulously researched and well written: no fictional spouses; no anachronistic food or clothes; no characters saying ‘great’ or ‘no way’ in response to a suggestion in the seventeenth century; muskets and spathae in their correct wars.

Works of fiction are by their nature made up, or fictionalised versions of known stories. Historical fiction in the hands of a competent writer can fill out the known account and suggest logical developments even when there are very few substantiated facts. Sarah Johnson from the Historical Novel Society produced some thoughtful guidelines to what historical fiction is, and can do. Although written in 2002, they still provide a helpful definition.

A rich collection of books, both fiction and non-fiction, about women’s roles in the past can be found on the HNS site under the search category ‘women’. A number are about remarkable women, because their lives are more or less documented, but others include or even focus on ordinary women and trends around their lives.

Historical novels are an increasingly popular genre with readers, and more women’s stories set in the past are being portrayed by, for instance, Philippa Gregory, Diana Gabaldon, Amy Tan and Tracy Chevalier. Making women as present as men in historical events and stories should be the norm.

While it isn’t possible for every female historical protagonist to be a kick-ass heroine like Buffy the Vampire Slayer – women and men both live within the context of their time – writers are bringing forward more positive and active representations of women as courageous, decision-making and resilient. And stories of known events, but from a female point of view, are filling the real and virtual bookshelves.

Historical fiction also reflects values and concerns prevalent at the time of their publication. Perhaps that’s another reason why interest in women’s historical fiction is now growing.

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, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.

HEROICA - Why three stories?

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