#steven saylor

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

Ancient Roman murder mystery that starts when a guest turns up dead in Lucullus' library at one of his fancy dinner parties. Steven Saylor are you hearing me. I can pay you in breakfast tacos and amigurumi Romans pspspsps

[quotian]

Romans had never worshipped animals as gods. Nor are they sentimental about household creatures. How could it be otherwise with a race that esteems human life so very little? Beneath the numbing apathy of their masters, the slaves of Rome, imported from all over the earth but especially from the East, often lose whatever notions of sacred life they may have acquired as children in faraway lands. But Bethesda retained a sense of decorum and awe in the face of an animal's death, and in her way she grieved for Bast. roman blood - steven saylor

[cljordan-imperium]

[writerswritecompany]

Quotable – Steven Saylor

Find out more about the author here

[hamletofficial]

[ID: A quote in black text over a white background that reads: "'Of course. I only mean-'

'I know what you mean. When some men die, it's like a grain of sand thrown into a river - there's not even a ripple. With others, it´s like a great boulder. Waves splash onto the bank. And with a very few -'

'Like a meteor falling out of the sky', said Eco." /end ID]

- Steven Saylor, A murder on the Appian Way.

[man-reading]

Steven Saylor a.k.a Aaron Travis

Steven Saylor (b. 1956, photo above) is a Texas-born gay author of popular historical novels about ancient Rome. He studied history and classics at the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated with honors in 1978. From 1979 he wrote heavy S/M gay erotic fiction under the pen name Aaron Travis. This year fourteen of the Aaron Travis books have been re-published in Nook and Kindle e-reader formats. One of the short stories, “Blue Light”, a psychological mind-bender, has become an S/M classic. Every gay man should acquaint himself with this 35-page tale of erotic seduction fantasy; trust me, this story will remain in your head for days and weeks: $.99 in Kindle format.

(full story: here)

[allaboardtheloonyexpress]

My Suggestion for a Final “Roma Sub Rosa” Book

1. It is 43 B.C. In one year, Octavian and Marc Antony will go defeat Cassius and Brutus at Philippi. Currently, Rome is on a knife edge, with supporters of the “Liberators” (Julius Caesar’s killers) and the Second Triumvirate (Antony, Octavian and Lepidus) at each other’s throats.

2. The murder victim should be Gordianus the Finder himself! He is poisoned at a dinner for his whole family: Eco, Meto and Diana are there. The question that should run throughout the book is whether the poison was intended for Gordianus or Meto.

3. The main detective should be Diana, with Davus (her husband) serving as her Watson/public face, since women are not allowed the same freedom Gordianus had.

4. It should be a recurring point that Meto, a former soldier of Julius Caesar, is getting especially close to Octavian and his friend Agrippa. Antony views this as a sort of betrayal, as he and Meto served together under Caesar. Antony seems to speculate that Meto was bringing Gordianus into Octavian’s camp.

5. At first, it seems like the killer was Antony. He tried to kill Meto as revenge for his betrayal. Gordianus just happened to drink the wrong cup.

6. In fact, much to Diana’s horror, the killer was none other than old family friend Cicero! Cicero wanted to stir up chaos between Antony and Octavian, and chose to kill Meto. He knew that several of Meto’s old soldier buddies would turn on Antony for the murder. This would weaken Antony, who Cicero viewed as the stronger general, and help Brutus and Cassius.

7. Diana confronts Cicero with Davus. He admits to the killing. He also admits it was personal revenge on Gordianus for his alliance with Caesar. The last words Diana says to Cicero are, “So it was personal? Good. So’s this.” At her signal, Davus kills Cicero, as per the proscriptions.

8. The book ends with her delivering Cicero’s head to Antony. There, Meto meets her, informing her that their family has received a share of the wealth from the proscriptions. Diana reflects on  the barbarity of it, and how her father hated politics. But in the end, she admits, they were drawn into it, like it or not. She takes her share, and wishes her brother good luck in the upcoming war.

[nemo56234]

Throne of Caesar by Steven Saylor

A good solid story surrounding the Ides Of March. If you are into the Caesar stories and need another Historical Fiction book, treat yourself to this one. ****

[bythealone-forthealone]

Writing a first novel takes so much effort, with such little promise of result or reward, that it must necessarily be a labor of love bordering on madness.

Steven Saylor

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

I really like how Steven Saylor made the protagonist of Roma Sub Rosa a Roman who'd traveled extensively. Although Gordianus is a product of his time, with period-typical prejudices, he's also aware that culture differs from place to place, and sometimes he can look at Rome's problems almost like an outsider would.

I also like that Gordianus has a kind heart, but it's filtered through his culture and social station. By Roman standards he's too soft, lets his kids and slaves be too headstrong, and is irresponsible in letting his daughter marry a slave. By modern standards we'd condemn him for owning slaves at all. But the traits that make him a weak paterfamilias in his own culture, traits he's embarrassed of, are traits that make him more likable to us. He also becomes more tolerant as the books force him to choose, over and over, between kindness and the norms he was raised with. Yet the growth felt organic, and plausible for an ancient Roman of his background, to me.

All these things, plus the contrast with Romans who are not so considerate with people under their power, made it possible for me to still root for Gordianus and his family. I think I'd probably use a lot of the same tools if I were to write a sympathetic protagonist in ancient Rome.

[quotian]

[...] Dusk in Rome is a meditation on victories accomplished and pleasures yet to come. Never mind that the victories may have been trivial and impermanent, or that the pleasures may fail to satisfy. At this hour, Rome is at peace with herself. Are the monuments to the gods and heroes of her past pitted with corrosion and weathered by neglect? In this light they appear newly hewn, their crumbling edges made smooth and their fissures erased by the gentle twilight. roman blood - steven saylor

[psychiccyclekoala]

Anyone who has read "Roma" or any other novels by Steven Saylor please message me. I need to discuss it with someone. Thanks.

[astraque]

“Master Chickpea”

@catilinas I am SCREAMING.

[writerswritecompany]

Quotable – Steven Saylor

Find out more about the author here

[hamletofficial]

[ID: A quote in black text over a white background that reads: "That's the odd thing about truth, how much one craves it, yet how useless it often is." /end ID]

- Steven Saylor, The Venus throw.

[audreyhheart]

Book rec! I recently finished the third instalment in Steven Saylor's excellent Roma Sub Rosa series, Catilina's Riddle. This mystery series is set during the late Republic in ancient Rome. The protagonist is a fictional sleuth named Gordianus the Finder. Saylor uses real historical events as the backdrop of each novel. Catilina's Riddle is about Lucius Sergius Catilina and the Catiline Conspiracy.

It's a very pro Catilina, anti Cicero take.

Among other important political questions, the book asks: what if Catilina was hot? Like really, really hot?

This is the historical fiction we deserve.    

“Catilina says, ‘A man’s palate was meant to experience every possible flavor, or else a tongue is good only for talking.’”

This struck me as vaguely obscene.

Gordianus is wary but we stan.

One of Catilina's men (a double agent for Cicero) wants to hide Catilina in Gordianus' house. He's worried about the effect this will have on his wife.

What would happen if I allowed Catilina himself to visit the farm, as Caelius desired? What sort of effect would that have on Bethesda? Catilina was well into his forties, barely younger than I, but he was famous for having the energy of a man half his age. And for all the insults that had been hurled at him, no one had ever called him ugly. In his own way he was as good-looking as Marcus Caelius, or had been once, for I had not seen him close at hand in many years. Beauty is beauty no matter what the gender. Beauty brings universal pleasure to the eye….

Are we still talking about Bethesda?

More than handsome, he was quite remarkably attractive, with an appeal that seemed to emanate from within him in some invisible way, outwardly manifested by the playfulness that lit his eyes and the smile that came so readily to his lips.

You're married.

Catilina arched an eyebrow. The gesture was typically patrician, but together with his chin-strap beard and unruly curls, it gave his face the shrewd look of a satyr contemplating an unprotected sheep.

So it begins.

I did smile, and even laughed a little, for the first time that day. I was suddenly at ease, as I realized with surprise. The change in my mood was because of the cool shade and flowing water, the respite from Aratus’s scowl and from the sight of Meto’s delight in the stream, I told myself. It had nothing to do with Catilina’s smile.

Sure Jan.

My favourite character, Gordianus' adopted son Meto, is a Catilina fanboy.

Meto drew nearer with a crooked smile on his face, a bit flustered at meeting such a notorious character. Catilina extended his hand, and Meto took it, rather too eagerly.

A subplot in this book is that Meto, sixteen, has come of age and will don the toga for the first time. But Gordianus still sees him as a little boy. He's not taking any chances around Catilina, who has a reputation for corrupting young men. In the baths:

I was not quite sure I wanted Meto displaying himself naked in Catilina’s presence. In matters of the flesh, Catilina’s appetites were said to be voracious and his self-restraint nonexistent.

Hide your sons!

But Catilina isn't left wanting. He has an extremely hot young lover named Tongilius.

His standards, at least, were rigorous, to judge from the sight of Tongilius in the nude. The young man’s sleek, well-knit athlete’s physique was of the sort to make boys jealous and older men sadly nostalgic, or else lustful. As I discovered in the baths, he was one of those handsome, charming youths who became more haughty with their clothes off than on. There was a trace of self-conscious preening in the way he lifted his well-muscled arms from the water, raised his chin, stared into the middle distance, and pushed the shimmering hair back from his forehead, like a sculptor smoothing and molding his own perfection.

Catilina seemed to approve of this gesture, for he watched it intently. Though their eyes did not meet, they smiled at the same moment, in such a way that I suspected that a secret touch had been exchanged beneath the water.

I ship it.

Meanwhile at the Senate House, Cicero tries to drag Catilina but makes his revolution sound lit.

“...what would Catilina and his boys do without their debauched socialites and whores to tuck them in at night? Perhaps, Cicero pondered, their notorious practice of dancing naked at parties had only been conditioning for the cold nights to come by the campfire.”

While hiding out at his house, Catilina tries to loosen Gordianus up and low key set him up with his boyfriend because he's all about free love.

“Tongilius is beautiful,” I acknowledged.

“Yet you do not desire him?”

“That would hardly be proper, would it, since I am your host and Tongilius is your companion?”

“Now who plays games with words, Gordianus? My point is this: if you have an eye for beauty, why do you not act on it? How can you resist?”

Please Gordianus enjoy my beautiful boyfriend, I insist.

“Catilina, you are incorrigible.”

“No, insatiable perhaps, but eminently corrigible. I am always ready to learn something new and to be corrected when I’m mistaken. You’d do well to follow my example, Gordianus. In this matter, as in others.”

“What matter?”

“The unreasonable restraint you show in your relationships with beautiful young men.”

There are so many bath scenes in this book I lost track. But there's one with Gordianus and Catilina where instead of taking a cold plunge, they decide to cool off by taking a naked moonlit walk. Catilina does this all the time of course.

“We would take a long walk around the block, naked and steaming, letting the wind dry us. It’s delicious, isn’t it? Rome is full of naked statues which offend no one’s dignity; why should a naked man? You might think it would have caused a scandal, but it didn’t. Would you believe that no one ever complained?”

“Had you not been so good-looking, they might have,” I said.

I'm—

I looked up at his heaving chest and the muscular arms crossed over it, his flat belly, his sturdy legs and the pendulous sex between.

PENDULOUS SEX

“You are resplendent in your nakedness, Catilina!” I said, laughing and trying to catch my breath. I gazed at him openly, and not without envy. “Truly, like a statue on a pedestal.” I felt a little drunk, not on wine any longer but on moonlight and the peculiar novelty of being naked out of doors. The wind had dried the steam from my body, but I was covered with a fresh sheen of sweat from the exertion of the climb.

Yes, it must be…the climb.

When Cicero has a group of Catilina's men executed for treason, Catilina is sent into exile and goes on the run. Gordianus' wife thinks it's too dangerous to harbor a group of wanted fugitives, but Gordianus won't let his hot friend go down like that.

“Wife, think of handsome Catilina and the beautiful Tongilius. Would you have them wither to skin and bones for want of a few bites from Congrio’s kitchen?”

Woman, think of how sexy these men are! We must help them even though it’s certain death!

Meto is all too eager to help.

“Food!” said Meto. “I almost forgot. What can we take to them?”

It's all fun and games and naked moonlit walks until little Meto runs away from home to join his fave in the revolutionary battle.

“What is he doing here? He’s only a boy!” I whispered.

“But he wants so desperately to be a man, Gordianus. Can’t you see that?”

Like father like son.

“Please, Catilina, don’t tell me that you’ve seduced him, too.”

He paused for a long moment then smiled wistfully. “All right, I won’t.”