HEROICA, by Alison Morton

Even the strongest state is vulnerable to its past

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Hi Alison, and welcome. When I first read the alternative history where women run society, I cheered for the political inversion. In HEROICA, I found religion played a greater role. Is this you going back to the roots of the story?

Thank you for the welcome, Jill. Religion is always a tricky one in historical fiction or in alternative history with firm historical roots. Twenty-first century readers often find it baffling how seriously people in the past made religion part of their life. But it was a mixed picture. Some leaders and people were believers and sincerely practised their faith; others used organised religion as a power structure and a way to control their population, often from a patriarchal stance.

In EXSILIUM, the story of the foundation of Roma Nova in the late 4^th century, Lucius is devout, his friend Gaius somewhat casual about religion although he never doubts the true Roman gods. Galla follows her father Lucius.

In the twenty-first century Roma Nova, the traditional Roman gods and goddesses are a natural part of life, although Carina, then main character of the first HEROICA story, follows it for cultural reasons rather than out of belief.

In Honoria’s Battle, the strong mix of religion and culture is at the heart of the story. At the time, the Christian Europeans saw the Moslem Ottomans as an existential threat. And Honoria is very careful to brief her troops about the danger of appearing too ‘pagan’ in front of the Christian forces.

Two of the stories in this trilogy are set against real events. What are the risks or benefits of blending reality and the world of imagination?

Multiple! Although, my stories are imaginary, I like to hook in some real events or people to reinforce the plausibility of the Roma Nova timeline. Alternative history stories are more believable if they refer to real events and people that readers might know.

Reading around the people and events such as the Battle of Vienna, John Sobieski, Giuseppe Mazzini and the Risorgimento was essential, for the HEROICA stories but also fascinating. Inserting your character into real events means you have to pay particular attention to what could have been the sensual experience – smells of sweating bodies, rotting horseflesh or vegetation, the tang of the sea, or noise such as clattering of carriages and hoofs on cobblestones, the deafening din of battle, the rocking of a wooden ship or sore thighs from riding all day.

The other factor is that founder Lucius had four daughters and no son. Lucius’s wife was the daughter of an Alamanna tribeswoman used to making important decisions especially about property and tribal leadership. These daughters inherited her values  and forthrightness.

A recent article emphasised how female mayors (in Paris, Barcelona and Montreal) prioritised public spaces, pedestrianising city centres, creating more cycle lanes and founding green areas in which to congregate. Is female power focused on inclusion?

Inclusion can mean so many things! The early Roma Novans based their egalitarian stance on practicality – there weren’t enough men to defend their new settlement, so young women had to heft weapons alongside their brothers, fathers and male cousins. Inclusion came from necessity. Given the grim times of the Late Antiquity/Early Medieval crossover, those structures had to endure. Older women managed the homefront, conducted business, ran farms and trading and headed families. Unlike in other Western societies, women did not ‘go back to the kitchen’ when peace came.

Inclusion is natural and unchallenged in modern Roma Nova. Although diplomatic in interactions with them, they despise societies where women are treated as second class citizens. Patriarchy is repugnant to them. Two of the novels in the Roma Nova stories –PERFIDITAS and INSURRECTIO – recount attempts by aberrant men to impose it.

Staying with the feminine personality, your characters’ dynamics are usually supportive, but in The Idealist, we encounter deceit and betrayal. I found that all the more shocking due to the sense of sisterhood you portray.

Ha! Unfortunately, as real life shows us, women can betray women and be as sly with each other as with men or men between men. Greed, money, sex and power are four big motivators of actions and women are not immune. Giving characters mean streaks or weaknesses makes them more lifelike and much as we dislike it, some women, just like men, can show flaws in solidarity and act as selfishly.

The title does some heavy lifting – what a wonderful encapsulation of the stories within. Did the stories come first or did the title dictate the content?

The stories came first. I like to write, then come up with a title. Sometimes it’s a real struggle, other times it emerges very naturally (but not often!). Coming up with titles is one of a writer’s hardest tasks: https://www.alison-morton.com/2019/01/31/where-did-those-roma-nova-titles-come-from/

I racked my brains for a title for this collection. The stories feature different periods and three difference women, albeit from the same family. Common themes were a sense of justice, high courage and their loyalty to Roma Nova. In the end, I brainstormed my writing friends. All their suggestions were good, but HEROICA stood out. It started with h-e-r, so suggested female protagonists; the word ‘heroic’ shows us the stories are about acts of courage; and the ‘a’ at the end makes the word resemble a Latin one, thus keeping to the trend of the rest of the series.

But it wasn’t my brainchild. That honour goes to brilliant historical fiction writer Jean Gill.

The scope of your books, not only in terms of chronology but geography has always impressed me. Yet here you cover three centuries with a red thread to connect each adventure. What’s the secret to making distant times relevant to the present?

Thank you for your kind words. In some ways, people of previous eras are very much like us. They laugh, fear, love, celebrate and desire a better life. They dread poverty, hunger, injury and death. Taking the Ancient Roman Empire as an example, we should remember that attitudes and values can be completely different from ours, such as in respect of slavery, brutality and child mortality and levels of wealth between the top of society and the bottom which were astoundingly different. The top 1% controlled roughly 16%–19% of wealth, but the wealthiest individuals held fortunes hundreds of thousands of times greater than the average legionary’s income. Disparity today doesn’t come anywhere near.

Armed with research of the periods, we must try to look through the eyes of people living in such environments. By Honoria’s time in the late 17^th century, the Age of Enlightenment is dawning characterised by an emphasis on reason, empirical evidence and the scientific method. Its thinkers are promoting ideals of individual liberty, religious tolerance, progress and natural rights along with constitutional government, the separation of church and state and the application of rational principles to social and political reform. An exciting time, but one of transition when changes are only beginning. By Statia’s time in The Idealist, nearly a hundred years have passed, but old attitudes persist. However, it’s a febrile period of political change, possibly one that resonates with us today.

Understanding a past period, the key is adapting your mentality to those times. What are their circumstances, the pressures on them? Why do they think and act like that? It’s not about Kevlar, chain mail or togas. It’s about being inside the heads of people.

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If your appetite is whetted, get you copy of HEROICA here:

Amazon: https://mybook.to/HEROICA_RomaNova

Other retailers: https://books2read/HEROICA

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough but compassionate heroines. Her twelve-book Roma Nova series is set in an imaginary European country where a remnant of the Roman Empire has survived into the 21^st century and is ruled by women who face conspiracy, revolution and heartache but use a sharp line in dialogue.

She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’ military service and a life of reading crime, historical and thriller fiction. On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. 

Alison lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the heroine of her three contemporary thrillers, Double Identity, Double Pursuit and Double Stakes.