In my last blog, I reviewed Alison Morton's exciting new novel, Julia Prima. (You can read the review here.) I'm delighted that Alison was able to join us today to let us know more about her work.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your books.
The
writing bug bit me in late 2009 when I was watching a beautiful film spoilt by
badly chopped up dialogue and clumsy continuity. I thought I could do better.
It took me three years to learn through classes, mentors, courses and
manuscript assessments that it wasn’t that easy. Being a voracious reader able
to string sentences together grammatically wasn’t enough; structure,
characterisation, plot layering and dialogue were essential crafts to master.
Inceptio, the first Roma Nova thriller came out in March 2013. The setting is south central Europe where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived through the centuries and today is governed mostly by women. Now there are ten books in the series – three novels and a novella featuring my 21st century heroine, Carina, and the same number with 20th century Aurelia driving the action. Roma Nova Extra is a collection of short stories. Now, Julia Prima goes back to the 4th century and begins a new ‘Foundation’ strand in the series.
Why
the Romans? What is it about them/their history that appeals to you?
Ah,
the Monty Python question…Well, the sheer longevity for a start – 1,229 years
in the West and over 2,000 years, until 1453, in the East. Of course, the scrubby
little village in Latium on the west coast of Italia in the 8th century BC and
the glittering, exotic 15th century AD ruin of Byzantium have little
in common, but their inhabitants considered themselves Romans over that whole
period.
The other attraction is the complexity and polarity within the Roman world whether you examine the early Republic, the transition from republic to empire, the crises, the scandals, the high culture and technology, the sophisticated trading network, the courage, ruthlessness, superstition, lawgiving and their talent for adapting and evolving.
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| At the Roman baths in the fourth century. |
Why this moment in the late 4th century AD?
The timeline split for the Roma Nova world was triggered in AD 395 when Emperor Theodosius (pushed by Ambrose of Milan) finally outlawed any non-Christian religious activity on pain of death. Julia Prima is set in our ‘real’ historical timeline between AD 369 and 371, i.e. twenty-five years before that point, at a time when the Roman world was riddled with religious strife and on the brink of transformation. That transformation hasn’t kicked off yet in this new novel, but it’s hovering. No moment in history is fixed; it has its causes – direct and indirect – and its consequences – short term and long term. Behind the personal story of Julia and Lucius, Julia Prima shows how the signs of decline are well and truly there and sets the scene for the start of the collapse.
What
made you decide to write alternative history stories as opposed to “straight”
historical fiction?
As a
‘Roman nut’ since the age of eleven, I’ve had a deep interest, possibly an
obsession with history, especially Roman history. When the creative writing bug
bit me I knew there had to be a strong Roman element. Coupled with that was a
desire to write a female lead who drove the story. Ancient Roman society was a
strongly militarised one with no scope for women soldiers. A dilemma. I’d
served in the British forces for six years so I knew that women were perfectly
capable of working and fighting, if necessary, alongside men.
Then I read Robert
Harris’s Fatherland and discovered you could write ‘alternate’ history. So if
I wanted to have an active female lead in a military context, I would have to rewrite
history along a different timeline. Enter Carina and Aurelia, 21st and 20th
century heroines, both Praetorian Special Forces officers serving in Roma Nova.
Alternate
history takes off from a point of departure (POD) triggered by an event, large
or small. Although they are writing into a void, I don’t believe ‘althist’ writers
should go completely off-piste and make up a load of implausible nonsense. They
need to use the conditions prevailing at the point of departure as the basis
for developing their alternative timeline along historically logic lines.
In
essence, alternate history gives rein to the imagination to consider the ‘what
if’ of history and possibly to provoke readers to look ant their own world
differently.
You
also write modern-day thrillers. Which genre do you prefer writing?
Perhaps
I shouldn’t admit this, but all my books have a
thriller element…It’s even there in
Julia Prima. More
seriously, I was challenged by historical fiction writer Conn Iggulden when he
was endorsing Insurrectio to write a contemporary (non-alternative
history) thriller featuring a European woman agent. I’ve always wanted to set a
book with a heroine in France, which is where I live, so Double Identity
and Double Pursuit were the result. But I still drag a bit of Rome into
them. ;-)
One
of the things that struck me about Julia Prima was the amount of convincing
detail of everyday life – the clothes, food, travel, weapons and so on. I
wondered if you used re-enactment as one
of your research tools. So, how do you go about the research?
I
think readers like to find themselves in the place of the story, but without
pages and pages of description. In our normal lives, we need clothes, shelter,
light, food and if we wish to travel, a car, train or plane. We use cups,
glasses, plates, close doors, open windows, go shopping almost without
thinking. We owe it to our characters to place them in their normal and natural
world where they eat and drink, work and travel. We compare Wifi speeds and
curse when the internet falls down; they compare swords and daggers and curse
when the household slaves misbehave.
I
use a mix of book and online research, archaeology studies, re-enactment and my
own experiences. The quality of re-enactors varies, but I’ve been impressed by
the dedication and expertise of those at the Eboracum and Colchester Roman
festivals.
There’s
also an impressive sense of place – countryside, city, farm and town, weather
and so on. I know from reading your newsletter that you visit as many Roman sites
as possible. Given it’s all ruins now, do those trips help you realise the historical
settings, and if so how?
There’s
nothing like standing on a Roman road, by the Aurelian wall in Rome or near the
Pont du Gard aqueduct in southern France, closing your eyes and letting your mind
wander. You have to clear away the modern cars, people and roads and bring in
your knowledge to supplement your imagination. It’s easier in more remote parts
away from the built environment such as in the spaces between the barracks at
Carleon in Wales (Isca). You see the same countryside, smell the same weather,
look at the same sky that those legionnaries experienced.
For everything else, there’s Google Maps street view. (Sorry!)
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| Alison at the Forum... |
What
next for Julia and Apulius? Is Julia Prima the last we’re going to hear
of them?
Ha!
As usual, I had too much story for one book. I’ve started on the next
foundation story set twenty-five years later in AD 395 when the real crisis
pinched.
Do
you think you might ever tackle any other historical period or are there still
lots of stories to tell about Roma Nova?
I
really don’t know. I’ve ventured into short stories – an alternative to the
Norman conquest in 1066 Turned Upside Down, an 1849-set story of ‘The
Idealist’ in Betrayal: Historical Stories; and I even wrote on my blog how
Roma Novans helped relieve the siege in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. We shall
have to see!
Where can we find out more about your work?
Roma Nova and thriller website: https://alison-morton.com
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton @alison_morton
Alison’s writing blog: https://alisonmortonauthor.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonmortonauthor/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton
Alison’s Amazon page: https://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon
Newsletter sign-up: https://www.alison-morton.com/newsletter/
Thank you so much, Lucienne, for setting me some great questions for this interview, the last stop on the JULIA PRIMA launch tour. What a lively post to finish on!
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