When an amoral populist takes power

Man's face and covers of INSURRECTIO and RETALIO

Caius Tellus

The morning after the power grab by Caius Tellus on the night of fires in INSURRECTIO, people woke to find the proclamation below. The new regime had pinned it on noticeboards, on the doors of public buildings and in the forum in Roma Nova city.

By order of First Consul Caius […]

A trip to Mel's Dresden

Alison Morton and Anna Belfrage at the Basteibrücke

Schloßstraße, Dresden

Earlier in June, I waxed lyrical about Dresden in southeast Germany which was the scene for several chapters in my latest thriller Double Stakes. Never having been there, I had written heroine Mel and hero Jeff’s scenes using Google Maps.

What a shocking admission!

Moving a character through a place needs […]

Fate – Stories to catch your breath

Banner with Fate short story collection image

In previous centuries, belief in fate was strong. Kismet, karma, destiny, the will of a god or gods were the ways people accepted good or bad fortune. Going further back, Greeks and (the especially superstitious) Romans were extremely wary of the Fates.

Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos were the three Moirai, the version of the […]