Russell Whitfield

Lysandra, member of an ancient Spartan sect of warrior priestesses, is the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Asia Minor who finds herself the property of Lucius Balbus owner of the foremost Ludus for female gladiators in the Eastern Empire. Her deadly combat skills not only enable her to survive but win the adoration of the crowds, the respect of her Lanista, Balbus, and the admiration of Sextus Julius Frontinus, the provincial governor. But Lysandra's hubris has stirred up the ethnic factions of the ludus attracting the enmity of the Dacian warrior, Sorina, Gladiatrix Prima and leader of the Barbarian faction as well as inciting the hatred of the sadistic Numibian trainer Nastasen. Meanwhile Frontinus and Balbus plan the ultimate combat spectacle for the visit of the emperor's emissary, Trajanus, that will involve Lysandra in her greatest and deadliest trial.

Gladiatrix

Kate Quinn

Libbie Hawker

Stephanie Thornton

Simon Turney

Vicky Alvear

David Alexander Blixt

A SONG OF WAR Troy: city of gold, gatekeeper of the east, haven of the god-born and the lucky, a city destined to last a thousand years. But the Fates have other plans—the Fates, and a woman named Helen. In the shadow of Troy's gates, all must be reborn in the greatest war of the ancient world: slaves and queens, heroes and cowards, seers and kings . . . and these are their stories. A young princess and an embittered prince join forces to prevent a fatal elopement. A tormented seeress challenges the gods themselves to save her city from the impending disaster. A tragedy-haunted king battles private demons and envious rivals as the siege grinds on. A doomed hero launches a desperate plan to bring the war to a close. A grizzled archer and a desperate Amazon risk their lives to avenge their dead. A trickster conceives the greatest trick of all. A goddess' son battles to save the spirit of Troy even as the walls are breached in fire and blood. Seven authors bring to life the epic tale of the Trojan War: its heroes, its villains, its survivors, its dead. Who will lie forgotten in the embers, and who will rise to shape the bloody dawn of a new age?

A Novel of Troy

A Song of War

Four years after Lysandra's battle with Sorena where they were both granted their freedom from the arena, Sorena has found refuge among the Dacian hordes of Decebalus where she leads a vicious troop of horsewomen.

Roma Victrix

Vicky Alvear Shecter

Odysseus as You've Never Seen Him Before Odysseus, infamous trickster of Troy, vaunted hero of the Greeks, left behind a wake of chaos and despair during his decade long journey home to Ithaca. Lovers and enemies, witches and monsters--no one who tangled with Odysseus emerged unscathed. Some prayed for his return, others, for his destruction. These are their stories... A beleaguered queen's gambit for maintaining power unravels as a son plots vengeance. A tormented siren battles a goddess's curse and the forces of nature to survive. An exiled sorceress defies a lustful captain and his greedy crew. A blinded shepherd swears revenge on the pirate-king who mutilated him. A beautiful empress binds a shipwrecked sailor to servitude, only to wonder who is serving whom. A young suitor dreams of love while a returned king conceives a savage retribution. The Odyssey Through the Eyes of its Shattered Victims Six authors bring to life the epic tale of The Odyssey via the monsters, witches, lovers, and warriors whose lives were upended by the antics of the "man of many faces." You may never look upon this timeless epic-and its iconic ancient hero-in quite the same way again. In the tradition of Madeline Miller's Song of Achilles, and with the spirit of Lindsey Davis' The Third Nero, and Kate Quinn's Mistress of Rome, A Sea of Sorrow transports you to the endlessly fascinating world of Homeric Greece.

A Novel of Odysseus

A Sea of Sorrow

Stephanie Dray

Ruth Downie

Eliza Knight

A YEAR OF RAVENS Britannia: land of mist and magic clinging to the western edge of the Roman Empire. A red-haired queen named Boudica led her people in a desperate rebellion against the might of Rome, an epic struggle destined to consume heroes and cowards, young and old, Roman and Briton . . . and these are their stories. A calculating queen foresees the fires of rebellion in a king's death. A neglected slave girl seizes her own courage as Boudica calls for war. An idealistic tribune finds manhood in a brutal baptism of blood and slaughter. A death-haunted Druid challenges the gods themselves to ensure victory for his people. A conflicted young warrior finds himself torn between loyalties to tribe and to Rome. An old champion struggles for everlasting glory in the final battle against the legions. A pair of fiery princesses fight to salvage the pieces of their mother’s dream as the ravens circle. A novel in seven parts, overlapping stories of warriors and peacemakers, queens and slaves, Romans and Britons who cross paths during Boudica’s epic rebellion. But who will survive to see the dawn of a new Britannia, and who will fall to feed the ravens?

A Novel of Boudica's Rebellion

A Year of Ravens

The third adventure in the visceral female gladiator trilogy that began with Gladiatrix—Lysandra is back, and she's going to war! In the dirt of the Flavian Amphitheatre, known to history as the Coliseum, lies the bloodied body of Spartan priestess Lysandra—cut down by Rome's adored Gladiatrix Prima, the beautiful and deadly Illeana, the Midnight Falcon. At the edge of the underworld, the goddess Athene offers Lysandra's spirit a stark choice: reside eternally amid the fields of Elysium, or return to a life that is full of pain and sorrow—but will secure Lysandra a glorious place in legend for generations to come. Meanwhile, the legions prepare to embark for the Dacian frontier as the Emperor Domitian seeks revenge for Rome's worst defeat for almost a century. With them is the former tribune Gaius Minervius Valerian, anxious to wipe away the disgrace of being the sole survivor of his own command, annihilated by a swarm of savage warrior horsewomen. And now it seems that Lysandra's destiny also lies to the east, as well as the prospect of a final and bloody reckoning with an old and hated adversary.

Russell Whitfield

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