Books

[rome8180]

Rome, haven't you earned some equity with your previous publisher? It would seem like you've proven enough that they could/should save you the hassle of having to find a new one.

That's a possibility, though it's far from guaranteed. Our book did sell better than most on our press.

 

[rome8180]

Without going into detail, there have been some shifts in management/ownership of the press. While they don't jeopardize our cowritten project, they do put future projects either of us might do separately with them into question. Besides, I'd like to aim a little higher to be honest. Need a real publicist, for one thing.

 

[Thain]

Anyone else read the new Harry Potter book? I liked it but came away feeling like Rowling mailed it in on this one. Almost like she did it just to shut people up about another book.

 

[Topher]

Yeah, it was ok but not great. It also wasn't written by JKR though which is probably why it wasn't that great comparatively.

 

[Thain]

No? Was it the Thorne guy then? I missed that key piece of information somehow.

 

[Topher]

Yeah, JKR basically wrote the outline and Thorne wrote the story. The actual plot really bothered me but I thought the father-son scenes were well done.

 

[rhfarmer]

FYI, rome, I've got my children's book underway...

Farmdog Finds His Board

Did you have an illustrator help you with this? I've got one I'd like to write.

Yes, I can send you her info if you like.

 

[rome8180]

Just finished The Nx by Nathan Hill. That has to be the book of the year. NCCU, I think you'd absolutely love it.

 

[deeyoukayeee]

Spent the last two months preparing for the Trumpocalypse by reading about atomic warfare.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Pulitzer-prize winner by Richard Rhodes - was tremendous. The scientific personalities and interplay was incredible, and the industrial effort to get it done is almost beyond comprehension.

Blind Man's Bluff by Sherry Sontag was a great collection of stories that outline submarine 'warfare' during the cold war.

Command & Control by Eric Schlosser was an epiphany. The haphazard way nuclear policy, strategy and security evolved from '45 to present day is chilling. The world was on a much sharper knife edge for far longer and in more different ways than most anyone knows.

Of course now it looks as if Don the Con is done, but just to hedge my bets, I started the book about the Nazi concentration camps - KL - which aiw recommended. Very early returns are positive. I'll be mentally prepared when they come for me.

 

[rhfarmer]

Just finished Dictator by Robert Harris. The parallels between the fall of Rome and current state of America are shocking.

 

[aiw]

To clarify, fall of the Roman Republic, came to pass through civil war, and this is a novel.

 

[aiw]

Oh, and Trump would have called him Pansy Cicero, or something like that.

 

[rhfarmer]

One could argue that the fall of the Republic is the fall of Rome, yes?

And yes, its historical fiction in that no one can know what Cicero and Tiro spoke about in private. But the major events that take place in the novel are historically accurate.

 

[rhfarmer]

Also, finished Zealot recently, which was fantastic.

 

[aiw]

One could argue that the fall of the Republic is the fall of Rome, yes?

And yes, its historical fiction in that no one can know what Cicero and Tiro spoke about in private. But the major events that take place in the novel are historically accurate.

Disagree on your first point. For everyday people, very little changed in their day to day lives for the next 1500 years inside the changing boundaries of the Roman Empire (including Byzantium),

Agree on your second and third sentences. Once again, though, major events included tons and tons of actual civil war from ~ 90 BC - 31 BC.

The demagoguery may be similar to today, but Cicero was one of the best at that (Caesar, and then Octavian, much better though).

 

[aiw]

Also, finished Zealot recently, which was fantastic.

Haven't read it, but from what I've seen of Aslan and his discussion of the the book, and his life story (Iranian Muslim who converted to Evangelical Christianity and then back to Islam) it took some guts for him to write this book. I saw him get absolutely ambushed on Fox News one day when discussing it.

 

[rhfarmer]

One could argue that the fall of the Republic is the fall of Rome, yes?

And yes, its historical fiction in that no one can know what Cicero and Tiro spoke about in private. But the major events that take place in the novel are historically accurate.

Disagree on your first point. For everyday people, very little changed in their day to day lives for the next 1500 years inside the changing boundaries of the Roman Empire (including Byzantium),

Agree on your second and third sentences. Once again, though, major events included tons and tons of actual civil war from ~ 90 BC - 31 BC.

The demagoguery may be similar to today, but Cicero was one of the best at that (Caesar, and then Octavian, much better though).

Yeah, it's more than just civil war though. Caesar waged war all over Gaul and Germany for years without Senate authorization, for instance, which was not war against Roman citizens . It's how the checks and balances of the republic were circumvented which lead to a series of dictatorships.

In particular, it's very similar how the Senate ended up being susceptible to bribery and self interest. How unending foreign wars became a huge burden on the state and therefore the plebes.

I just found it very interesting and shockingly similar to our current political climate. Even Cicero lamenting the state giving a daily loaf of bread to the citizens of Rome is a modern lament about welfare and social programs. It's just fascinating stuff.

 

[rhfarmer]

Also, finished Zealot recently, which was fantastic.

Haven't read it, but from what I've seen of Aslan and his discussion of the the book, and his life story (Iranian Muslim who converted to Evangelical Christianity and then back to Islam) it took some guts for him to write this book. I saw him get absolutely ambushed on Fox News one day when discussing it.

I honestly find it shocking that he would practice any form of religion.

 

[aiw]

One could argue that the fall of the Republic is the fall of Rome, yes?

And yes, its historical fiction in that no one can know what Cicero and Tiro spoke about in private. But the major events that take place in the novel are historically accurate.

Disagree on your first point. For everyday people, very little changed in their day to day lives for the next 1500 years inside the changing boundaries of the Roman Empire (including Byzantium),

Agree on your second and third sentences. Once again, though, major events included tons and tons of actual civil war from ~ 90 BC - 31 BC.

The demagoguery may be similar to today, but Cicero was one of the best at that (Caesar, and then Octavian, much better though).

Yeah, it's more than just civil war though. Caesar waged war all over Gaul and Germany for years without Senate authorization, for instance, which was not war against Roman citizens . It's how the checks and balances of the republic were circumvented which lead to a series of dictatorships.

In particular, it's very similar how the Senate ended up being susceptible to bribery and self interest. How unending foreign wars became a huge burden on the state and therefore the plebes.

I just found it very interesting and shockingly similar to our current political climate. Even Cicero lamenting the state giving a daily loaf of bread to the citizens of Rome is a modern lament about welfare and social programs. It's just fascinating stuff.

Technically, Caesar was awarded (strong armed by the first triumvirate) 2 5 year proconsular terms in Gaul by the Senate (needed to stay there to accrue power because if he came back, he'd be prosecuted by his enemies). Anyway, The beginnings of the "fall" of the republic predated Caesar's rise by at least 20 years going back to Marius and Sulla and certainly well before that with the Gracchi brothers (honestly, probably the best examples of Donald Trump during the Republic) as they stirred up the poor and unrepresented and ended up both being assassinated for it in the 130s-120s BC. 'Twas always an oligarchy, I suppose, just like the United States, but with the wealth and power held by even fewer hands.

That book series sounds interesting. You would probably like Colleen McCollough's First Man in Rome series. Starts with Marius and Sulla and moves forward to the last of the civil wars with Antony and Cleopatra. Really engaging stuff.

 

[aiw]

Also, if you are really interested in Rome, listen to the History of Rome podcast by Mike Duncan. Starts prior to 753BC and goes through the fall of the Western Empire in 476.

Another guy picks up with the History of Byzantium, which includes the rise of the caliphates. Byzantines, even though everyone spoke Greek after 600 or so, considered themselves a continuation of the Roman Empire in every way until 1453. It was mentioned that some Brit landed on some Aegean Island in the late 1800s or early 1900s and ran into some kids. He asked them who they were and they responded, in Greek, that they were Romans. Wild stuff.