Rome, the eternal city - a research for a series

For a long time I've been thinking of writing a series. So far, I published a trilogy, of which I cannot say I'm as satisfied as I am with the other standalone novels I've written. Nevertheless, now I finally got the right inspiration and help to start writing a long series.

As you have already guessed, it's set in one of the most beautiful locations existing. A place that's full of history and culture.

Rome, Italy's heart, the place supposed to unify the business-oriented north and the culture- and art-oriented south. A city with the difficult duty to seal two different heritages, so close, yet so different.

In this scenario, I created my main character, Maurizio Scala, Detective at the Rome State Police, and this man is how I imagined him to be:

To help me with legal matters, a skilled Italian lawyer agreed to answer my questions. I am trying to get in touch with a former Italian Police officer to double-check my story and ensure the most complete consistency with the Italian Police protocol during the investigation.

But who is Detective Maurizio Scala? He is a thirty-five-year-old detective, living in Rome's metropolitan area with his wife Anna, and their three-year-old daughter, Giovanna. The biggest challenge in his life is represented by one of the busiest roads in the whole country: the Tiburtine. Being constantly stuck in the traffic jam contributes to his constant grumpy mood.

However, there's another factor to test his nerves. His name is Leonardo Romizi, technical manager at the forensic department. They know each other since High School, and Leonardo has always enjoyed teasing Maurizio. 

From the day they met again as colleagues in the same Police Department, teasing Maurizio became Leonardo's life mission.

The release date for the first book of the series is not yet decided, as I'm still writing the conclusion and check for consistencies. I forecast it will be ready by March 2021. Meantime, I will have the chance to release another standalone between the end of this year and the beginning of the next one.

If you are intrigued by Italian culture, history, food, and people, this is a series you shouldn't miss. I will keep sharing work in progress, excerpts, facts, and curiosities about Rome and particularly about the characters.

Therefore, as usual, stay tuned, and particularly, stay safe!

There is a new release on the horizon!

It’s not me the one who is a quite a prolific writer, the fact is that my editor took quite a long time to edit my previous novel otherwise it would have been released on February, instead of May, and now I have a new release coming up the end of next month.

I have mentioned in another blog post that this would be a historical novel and that it is going to be set in the Imperial Rome during the last period of the emperor Hadrian, just after the third Jewish revolt.
The choice of the title has been quite challenging because I wanted to have an original name, something that can really distinguish my work. Now here are some of my biggest struggles. For the previous series, Deadly Deception, I had to come to the compromise and accept the fact that there were at least twenty books from twenty different author with the same title. This is not generally an issue, as there isn’t a copyright on titles, so I went on with that.
This time I did accurate researches and came out with a title that certainly is unique, do you want to know it?
Of course: “Aquila et Noctua.”

Or “The Eagle and the Owl.” The reason why I put the title in Latin has two reasons, one because the English version was already overused, and so were all the possible variants I could figure out for it. Therefore, as I was in Italy with my sister, it came to me the idea of translating in Latin. besides, that was the language used in Rome, so for these two reasons, I decided to go on with that idea.

I am sure you are wondering what the idea behind the title is. The eagle represents the Roman Empire and its army. Particularly because all starts with the final defeat of the Jews by the massive military campaign planned by emperor Hadrian.

The main character of the novel is a Jew boy, Saul, who is brought to Rome to be sold as a slave. Despite the young age he is gifted not just with grace and beauty, which would make a slave particularly appreciated by any potential buyer, but also with wisdom.

He will be the catalyst of the internal fracture inside the family he will go to serve, and his gifts will bring him into troubles any slave would like to avoid.

Once again the themes of jealousy, revenge, fractured families, will be punt in contrast with the themes of love, hope and forgiveness.
Because of the traits of the main character and his tight bond with the Roman Empire, I came out with the eagle and the owl.

In nature, the eagle and the owl are both mighty predators, but they hold different characteristics, at least in their symbology. Those two qualities were perfect to be highlighted in the title as they incorporate perfectly the main players in this tale.

I am still going to figure out the blurb, and…

What? You want to see the cover?

I guess you’ll need to wait for the cover reveal… a little suspense LOL.

But fear not, it won’t take long, and I will soon make an official cover reveal. I am now planning the marketing strategy, so I am delivering informations day by day.

Stay tuned!

change of hat let's talk about next releases

Image by prettysleepy1 from Pixabay 

And here it is the moment when an author starts to think about the marketing and the best way to bring the novel to the shelves of the public.
Yes, it is the planning for the release day. My book is under editing already for one month, and I am wondering whether it will come back this month next month or next year.
Bets are open. One thing I love about my editor is the care she puts on the job, and I am really satisfied with the results. What I like less is that she tends to disappear until the first round of corrections is done.
The fact that she has disappeared since more than one month can be a good sign or a bad sign, or no sign at all.
For me, it is always a nail-chewing time.

Image by photosforyou from Pixabay 

That is me waiting for news LOL!
Nevertheless, this is perhaps the best time for me to tell you something about the next release. This is the final book of the series Deadly Deception, and it will close the mystery around the research of Dr. Wright and his team.
In this book, we will meet old friends from the previous books so we will know what happened after all to Ethan Jackson and how his relationship with his girlfriend has developed, we will also meet the intriguing Sabina LaMotte and the deceiving Gabriel Garcia-Mendez together with the shy librarian Laura Jefferson.
Together with them, we are going to meet someone new, we will find new friends and of course new victims.

We will follow the investigations of the strange couple Lieutenant Jonas Avaliani and Detective Justin Sheen, and they have some news to share with us, besides the investigations for the missing people.
I will bring you back to Tbilisi, a city I really liked for its vibrant culture and strong character.
The end… Oh-boy it holds some extra chills and Deception will turn indeed Deadly!
So, did I get your attention?
Stay tuned because I plan very soon to start revealing my cover… piece by piece MUAHAHAH.

I wish you a great weekend, don’t forget to have fun!