"Alexander of Macedon was just twenty years old in 334BC when he set out with a small army to challenge Persia, the largest and most powerful empire in the world. The Macedonians marched East into the unknown, won battles against overwhelming odds, stormed impregnable fortresses. In the deserts and mountains between the Aegean and India they conquered nature itself. Yet disaster was never more than a sword stroke away. Alexander`s companions were riven with murderous rivalries, their loyalty contingent. The threat of treason, inspired by ambition and Persian gold, or by honour and principle, was ever present.
Alexander: The Shadow King tells this epic story from a new and unique angle through the eyes of another Alexander, a prince of the Macedonian royal house of Lyncestis. The Lyncestian was Alexander the Great`s general and friend. But he was torn between that friendship and the duty to avenge his murdered brothers, and between adherence to the ways of his ancestors and the new world of empire. The Lyncestian was never safe. Others - Persians and Greeks, as well as Macedonians - saw him as a rival for the throne. For six years of conspiracy and battle, as the Macedonian army fought its way East, his life hung by a thread.
Alexander of Lyncestis was The Shadow King."
"The thrilling new historical adventure in the Warrior of Rome series from Sunday Times bestseller Harry Sidebottom.
AD 265, Gaul - The Roman Empire is on the brink.
Emperor Gallienus has amassed a huge army across the Alps to seize back the mountains from the usurper Posthumus.
War has come.
Ballista and his cavalry are on the frontline, battling in the most brutal of conditions. But if he is to survive the campaign and finally retire to his beloved Sicily, it's not just the battlefield he needs to navigate.
As he and Praetorian Prefect Volusianus lay siege to Posthumus' armies, it becomes clear the greatest threat to Ballista's life might just come from within his ranks. After all, Volusianus has shown he will go to any distance for his own ends. Is Ballista just another pawn in his game?
'What Bernard Cornwell is to the Napoleonic Wars, Harry Sidebottom is to Roman legions: unassailable' - THE TIMES"
"On 8 June AD218 a fourteen-year-old Syrian boy, egged on by his grandmother, led an army to battle in a Roman civil war. Against all expectations, he was victorious.
Varius Avitus Bassianus, known to the modern world as Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor. The next four years were to be the strangest in the history of the empire.
Heliogabalus humiliated the prestigious Senators and threw extravagant dinner parties for lower-class friends. He ousted Jupiter from his summit among the gods and replaced him with Elagabal. He married a Vestal Virgin – twice. Rumours abounded that he was a prostitute. In the first biography of Heliogabalus in over half a century, Harry Sidebottom unveils the high drama of sex, religion, power and culture in Ancient Rome as we’ve never seen it before."
"AD265 - In the shadow of Mount Etna, slaves are rising up. As the rebel leader declares Sicily the new land of the free, men and women are slaughtered, and cities across the island are sacked and burned. When a ship is wrecked off the island's west coast, all but two survivors are cut down in the surf by the rebel slaves. Ballista, an experienced Roman soldier, has always found a way to survive against the odds - but his son Marcus is still just a boy. With the burning road stretching out ahead of them, father and son must cross the war-ravaged island in a race against time to save the rest of his family, and somehow find a way to extinguish the brutal rebellion, before it all goes up in flames."
"Greek and Roman warfare was unlike that of any other culture before or since. The key difference is often held to be that the Greeks and Romans practiced a 'Western Way of War,' in which the aim is an open, decisive battle—won by courage instilled, in part, by discipline. Here, Harry Sidebottom looks at how this Western Way of War was constructed and maintained by the Greeks and Romans and why this concept is so prevalent today.
All aspects of ancient warfare are thoroughly examined—from philosophy and strategy to the technical skills needed to fight. Sidebottom examines war in the wider context, showing how wars were able to shape classical society, and how an individual's identity was sometimes constructed by war, as in the case of the Christian soldier fighting in God's name. He also explores the ways in which ancient society thought about conflict: Can a war be just? Why was siege warfare particularly bloody? What role did divine intervention play in the outcome of a battle? Taking fascinating examples from the Iliad, Tacitus, and the Persian Wars, Sidebottom uses arresting anecdotes to show that any understanding of ancient war is an ongoing process of interpretation."
"He came home a hero.
But death isn't finished with him yet . . .
145BC - CALABRIA, ANCIENT ROME. After years of spilling blood for Rome, Gaius Furius Paullus has returned home to spend his remaining days working quietly on the family farm.
But it seems death has stalked Paullus from the battlefield. Just days after his arrival, bodies start appearing - murdered and mutilated. And as the deaths stack up, and panic spreads, the war hero becomes the prime suspect. After all, Paullus has killed countless enemies on the battlefield - could he have brought his habit home with him?
With the psychological effects of combat clouding every thought, Paullus must use all his soldier's instincts to hunt the real killer. Because if they are not brought to justice soon, he may become the next victim.
THE RETURN is the breathless, epic new thriller from one of the world's best historical novelists - for fans of Simon Scarrow, Conn Iggulden, Ben Kane and Bernard Cornwell.
Praise for Harry Sidebottom's historical thrillers:
'A storming triumph' - DAILY TELEGRAPH
'An extraordinarily vivid take on the ancient world' - EVENING STANDARD
'Absorbing, rich in detail and brilliant' - THE TIMES
'Relentless, brutal, brilliant' - BEN KANE"
"From the author of The Last Hour comes another fast-paced thriller, which follows Valens, an inexperienced officer in the Roman Army who finds himself in charge of a desperate rescue attempt deep behind enemy lines .
When Valens, a junior officer in the Roman Army, joins a crack squad of soldiers on a dangerous mission, little does he know what's in store for him. Tasked with rescuing the young Prince Sasan, who has been imprisoned in the impenetrable Castle of Silence, the troops set out across Mesopotamia and into the mountains south of the Caspian Sea. Deep in hostile territory, inexperienced Valens finds himself in charge. And as one by one his soldiers die or disappear, he begins to suspect that there is a traitor in their midst, and that the rescue is fast becoming a suicide mission. Valens must marshal this disparate group of men and earn their respect, before it's too late . . .
Praise for the Author: ''Relentless, brutal, brilliant, this is Jack Reacher in ancient Rome.' BEN KANE"
"A lone figure stands silhouetted atop the Mausoleum of Hadrian. Behind him, the sun is setting over the centre of the known world. Far below, the river is in full flood. The City of Rome lies spread out before him on the far bank. Footsteps pound up the stairs. He's been set up. An enemy is closing in; he is cornered. He jumps.
Bruised and battered, he crawls out of the raging river. He is alone and unarmed, without money or friends, trapped in a deadly conspiracy at the heart of the Empire. The City Watch has orders to take him alive; other, more sinister, forces want him dead. As the day dies, he realises he has only 24 hours to expose the conspirators, and save the leader of the world. If the Emperor dies, chaos and violence will ensue. If the Emperor dies, every single person he loves will die.
He must run, bluff, hide and fight his way across the Seven Hills.
He must reach the Colosseum, and the Emperor.
He must make it to The Last Hour."
"‘Absorbing and brilliant … Game of Thrones without the dragons’ THE TIMES
The third book in Sidebottom’s epic series set in third century Rome; a dramatic era of murder, coup, counter-rebellions and civil war.
Rome AD238. The Year of the Six Emperors.
The empire is in turmoil. With the Gordiani, father and son, dead in Africa, the tyrant Maximinus Thrax vies to reclaim the throne.
The Senate, who supported the revolt of the Gordiani, must act quickly to avoid the vengeance of Maximinus. They elect two Senators to share the imperial purple. But fighting erupts in the streets as ambitious men call for violent revolution.
Can the new Augusti hold the city together as the empire’s farthest territories fight off bloody attacks from the Goths and the Persians in the east?
In the north of Italy, Maximinus descends on Aquileia. Against the odds, Menophilus, an old friend of the younger Gordian, prepares to defend the town. In one of the greatest sieges of the empire, its fate will be decided in a fight for victory, for revenge, for Rome.
Filled with intrigue, betrayal and bloody battle, Fire & Sword creates a magnificent world built on brutality and political games, where no one is safe from retribution – not even those who dare to rule."
"A tense and brilliantly dramatic short story from the bestselling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series.
This thrilling short story opens at the end of BLOOD AND STEEL and is the perfect trailer for Harry Sidebottom’s new novel FIRE AND SWORD.
AD 238. When Gordian the Younger is brutally cut down at the battle of Carthage, his ally Phillyrio and a centurion from his army must make for the hills of northern Africa, to escape Maximinus’s army. But their enemy, led by Capelianus, is determined to hunt them down."
"A tense and brilliantly dramatic 20-page short story from the bestselling author of The Throne of the Caesars Series.
AD238. Emperor Maximinus’ reign is under threat as Gordian the Younger and Elder are proclaimed as Emperor.
Julius Burdo, official of the Empire, must accompany the knife-boy Castricius north, to assassinate Maximinus. The order is from the new Augusti; death is a certain fate to both men, whether they succeed or fail.
But as the two men journey north, they have plans to survive this deadly mission.
A fascinating insight into a scheme that happens offstage in Iron & Rust, this is a taut and thrilling short story."
