Living at the Roman dusk

Ruins of the imperial residence, Palatine, Rome

Modern Roma Nova?

In the Roma Nova story, over four hundred Romans loyal to the old gods trekked north out of Italy in AD 395 to a semi-mountainous area similar to modern Slovenia.

Led by Apulius and his friend Mitelus at the head of twelve senatorial families, they established a colony based initially […]

Roma Nova - a thought experiment?

Four images of 'Roma Nova' arranged as a postcard

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 […]

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 […]