Most of my writing as an academic had been formal, and later, it became more 'semi-formal' as I began to focus on self-help and personal growth issues. But I'd always had a hankering to do something different. As a writer, I was a bit nervous about the mixing of genres, so I thought I'd use my blog as a way of outlining some of my fiction.

I've always been interested in history. Many of the books I've read reflect that interest, from the more formal but accessible material by the wonderful Mary Beard to historical fiction by authors like Robert Harris. It wasn't until I stumbled on the author Simon Scarrow as a holiday read that I plucked up the courage to give it a go. 

Simon Scarrow had written an entire Eagles of the Empire series - real boys' own stuff - that I found very entertaining. I read the series (I think 20 or so) before I decided to put finger to keyboard. I was also drawn to targeting a youthful audience, as my memory of series reading began during my early teens. And so the first of The Atticus Trilogy came to fruition.

Like Harris and Scarrow, I attempted to mix facts with fiction. This approach helps the reader embed themselves in the story and brings it to life. The first of my trilogy, The Boy Centurion, was published in 2019.

The pitch for the book is:

A.D. 383. Emperor Magnus Maximus orders the northern legions of Britannia to withdraw. The lumbering retreat is fraught with danger, as local tribes and warlords seek to capitalise on the power vacuum left by the Romans. This is the story of Atticus, the 15-year-old son of a cohort Tribune from the 6th legion. Trapped behind the walls of a garrison, with only an ageing centurion and his men for protection, Atticus must use both ingenuity and bravery to survive.

Rather than reproduce a sample here, I'll leave it to anyone interested to check out the sample on Amazon. The Boy Centurion is available on Kindle and Audible.