03-14-2012, 11:50 PM
Hello everyone:
This is a group mailing to friends, fans, fellow writers, and colleagues in the Roman army community and at the US Cavalry School who have taken an interest in my literary endeavors and have made my novel LEGION a success. This is the quickest way to notify everyone that my second Roman novel, HORSES ON THE STORM, is now in press and should be available this week in hardcover, softcover, Kindle, and NOOK.
When I inflicted LEGION on an unwary public several years ago, I intended it as a stand-alone book and by no means part of a series. Afterward, I had great fun writing APACHERIA, a western novel about a cavalry officer in my own area of southern Arizona. I’m still averse to writing a Roman series—or, for that matter, any series—so this second assault should not be taken as the ominous threat that I’ve begun one. After LEGION appeared, some fans wrote to me and asked when the sequel would come out. It’s the novelist’s cross, borne for his many sins, that his admirers always want more of the same, but he wants less. Any writer who isn’t just a cynical hack loathes the idea of repeating himself. However, as time passed, I realized that there were issues of leadership, as well as honor, that I desired to explore further. Hence, HORSES ON THE STORM. Being a horse owner and having done re-enacting as a student at the US Cavalry School on the Little Bighorn battlefield, I took a particular delight in this undertaking. On the banks of that fabled river, I quickly appreciated the fact that anyone who has used a saber on horseback, or has engaged in cavalry charges downhill into a screaming and shooting throng, has learned—to use Mark Twain’s observation about the unfortunate fellow who grabbed a bull by the tail—sixty or seventy times as much as someone who hasn’t.
One thing that I was certain I did not want to do was to write another tale about life and death at a frontier fort in the forests of Gaul. No work of fiction, least of all mine, is flawless, but LEGION is as good as I’m capable of being on that topic. It stands as my complete statement on the matter. So what to do? Having majored in archaeology in college, and having studied the ancient Near East fairly extensively, I thought I might venture there. I had been introduced to the culture of ancient Judaea by the legendary Professor James B. Pritchard at the University of Pennsylvania, and that charming and erudite gentleman had made a lasting impact. Also, I’ve spent the last third of my life living in a desert, and so I have hard-won experience of its joys and horrors, on foot and on horseback.
Since it was not uncommon for units of the Roman army to be detached for service elsewhere, Rufio and his men were now destined for a long journey. It’s unlikely that any such detachment—called a vexillation—was ever sent so far, and I’ve never found any evidence that a centurion brought along his common-law wife (although it would have been uncharacteristic of my passionate Italian ancestors not to have bent the rules in that regard). In any case, the character of Flavia (with whom many of you are already acquainted) is far too audacious to be left at home. So the wild woman makes the trip, pedants be damned. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle observed, it’s unwise to become a slave to trivial details, and sometimes a writer simply must be masterful.
I’m profoundly grateful for your support, as well as your patience, all these years. I hope the new novel repays your time. If you enjoy it, I’d greatly appreciate your considering writing a review for Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Legendary mystery novelist Raymond Chandler once said that a writer cannot claim title to his own reputation, but, rather, he holds it in trust. I take that very seriously. Thank you, and may your trust always be repaid.
Your friend,
Bill Altimari
[url=http://]http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/horses-on-the-storm-william-altimari/1039660605?ean=9780972872645
This is a group mailing to friends, fans, fellow writers, and colleagues in the Roman army community and at the US Cavalry School who have taken an interest in my literary endeavors and have made my novel LEGION a success. This is the quickest way to notify everyone that my second Roman novel, HORSES ON THE STORM, is now in press and should be available this week in hardcover, softcover, Kindle, and NOOK.
When I inflicted LEGION on an unwary public several years ago, I intended it as a stand-alone book and by no means part of a series. Afterward, I had great fun writing APACHERIA, a western novel about a cavalry officer in my own area of southern Arizona. I’m still averse to writing a Roman series—or, for that matter, any series—so this second assault should not be taken as the ominous threat that I’ve begun one. After LEGION appeared, some fans wrote to me and asked when the sequel would come out. It’s the novelist’s cross, borne for his many sins, that his admirers always want more of the same, but he wants less. Any writer who isn’t just a cynical hack loathes the idea of repeating himself. However, as time passed, I realized that there were issues of leadership, as well as honor, that I desired to explore further. Hence, HORSES ON THE STORM. Being a horse owner and having done re-enacting as a student at the US Cavalry School on the Little Bighorn battlefield, I took a particular delight in this undertaking. On the banks of that fabled river, I quickly appreciated the fact that anyone who has used a saber on horseback, or has engaged in cavalry charges downhill into a screaming and shooting throng, has learned—to use Mark Twain’s observation about the unfortunate fellow who grabbed a bull by the tail—sixty or seventy times as much as someone who hasn’t.
One thing that I was certain I did not want to do was to write another tale about life and death at a frontier fort in the forests of Gaul. No work of fiction, least of all mine, is flawless, but LEGION is as good as I’m capable of being on that topic. It stands as my complete statement on the matter. So what to do? Having majored in archaeology in college, and having studied the ancient Near East fairly extensively, I thought I might venture there. I had been introduced to the culture of ancient Judaea by the legendary Professor James B. Pritchard at the University of Pennsylvania, and that charming and erudite gentleman had made a lasting impact. Also, I’ve spent the last third of my life living in a desert, and so I have hard-won experience of its joys and horrors, on foot and on horseback.
Since it was not uncommon for units of the Roman army to be detached for service elsewhere, Rufio and his men were now destined for a long journey. It’s unlikely that any such detachment—called a vexillation—was ever sent so far, and I’ve never found any evidence that a centurion brought along his common-law wife (although it would have been uncharacteristic of my passionate Italian ancestors not to have bent the rules in that regard). In any case, the character of Flavia (with whom many of you are already acquainted) is far too audacious to be left at home. So the wild woman makes the trip, pedants be damned. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle observed, it’s unwise to become a slave to trivial details, and sometimes a writer simply must be masterful.
I’m profoundly grateful for your support, as well as your patience, all these years. I hope the new novel repays your time. If you enjoy it, I’d greatly appreciate your considering writing a review for Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Legendary mystery novelist Raymond Chandler once said that a writer cannot claim title to his own reputation, but, rather, he holds it in trust. I take that very seriously. Thank you, and may your trust always be repaid.
Your friend,
Bill Altimari
[url=http://]http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/horses-on-the-storm-william-altimari/1039660605?ean=9780972872645
