MALEFICIVM is complete at 117,750 words and here's the stunning cover courtesy of Dafeenah Jameel at Indie Designz.
Here's the pitch:
When Lucius Fausto of the Legio II Augusta is sent to Britain, he expects a simple extraction mission to capture a rebellious druid. But something else is waiting under the primal forest. This is an evil against which his crack troops are powerless, an evil even the barbarian Celts worship in fear. Fausto's only ally is the enigmatic Capria: slave, seductress, goddess. Together, they stand against a threat to the Empire itself.
Yes, that's Capria on the cover, the stunning 'blue woman' who's so integral to the plot, and that's the vexillum of the Second Legion in the corner, also an important plot device. The story started out as a straightforward erotic horror/historical fiction mash-up, sort of Rome meets Evil Dead by way of Emanuelle. It didn't stay that way, because I discovered that I like my characters to drink wine and talk about God in between the running and the screaming, so it all ended up as a meditation on Stoicism, pagan earth-religion, early Christianity and imperial politics. Sort of I, Claudius meets The Wicker Man by way of Last Tango In Paris.
I'm not making myself very clear.
Well, fortunately, I posted it up on the Harper Collins writing community site Authonomy, a chapter at a time. Here's some of the feedback from two fellow writers who read the whole thing:
Jonathan Rowe set out to write a genre piece, a sex and horror fantasy novel. But he is much too literate for that.
Instead he has created a gripping historical fiction. The sex and horror are there, but they come across as honest reporting of an age when such things were commonplace and unremarkable, however titillating or disturbing we may find them now. Set in the time when Rome was still pressing its empire outward, while already rotting from within, he portrays vividly how the lives of honest men of all ranks and backgrounds were twisted and destroyed by the collateral damage from petty political intrigues. The pompous Romans were too isolated from their northern borders to understand what their demands for tribute were arousing. They could not reckon with the dark forces of the druidic MALEFICIVM, or the even more elemental and multifaceted power of the Goddess. In the end the fate of the Empire rests with one disenchanted but still loyal Roman soldier, philosopher, stoic, poet. But even he cannot succeed alone.
- Jim Heter
Every now and again I read a book where I know from the very beginning I'm delving into something that will hold me, consume me and leave me feeling as if the writer has carried me along on a wave of emotions. This book does it all. Not a chapter, not a paragraph, not a sentence have I wanted to skim, Jonathan Rowe captures a reader in the palm of his hand and takes you on a most magnificent journey.
As a reader, I am so very proud to have read this while it has been in the making, something which makes the story even more astounding. The story telling capability of this writer is truly amazing. MALEFICIVM has everything any reader could want from a book, a beginning that hooks you, a middle that entrances and an ending which leaves you gasping. Unforgettable characters who are brought to life on every page, historical details that will have you searching the internet to gain more knowledge.
I believe I've just read something quite incredible.
- Lin Churchill
High praise indeed! I've linked Lin and Jim to their own fantastic books.
Writing MALEFICIVM has been such a rollercoaster and left me so crazy-thrilled that I don't want to send it out into the Internet as an indie e-book, foraging for scraps in the lower echelons of Amazon and Smashwords. I want to get it published. So I'm devoting myself to submitting it to every Agent out there with the smidgin of interest in historical fiction, horror or fantasy.
In the meantime, I need to get on with the third installment of The Burning Times: Gallowsflame.
Here's the pitch:
When Lucius Fausto of the Legio II Augusta is sent to Britain, he expects a simple extraction mission to capture a rebellious druid. But something else is waiting under the primal forest. This is an evil against which his crack troops are powerless, an evil even the barbarian Celts worship in fear. Fausto's only ally is the enigmatic Capria: slave, seductress, goddess. Together, they stand against a threat to the Empire itself.
Yes, that's Capria on the cover, the stunning 'blue woman' who's so integral to the plot, and that's the vexillum of the Second Legion in the corner, also an important plot device. The story started out as a straightforward erotic horror/historical fiction mash-up, sort of Rome meets Evil Dead by way of Emanuelle. It didn't stay that way, because I discovered that I like my characters to drink wine and talk about God in between the running and the screaming, so it all ended up as a meditation on Stoicism, pagan earth-religion, early Christianity and imperial politics. Sort of I, Claudius meets The Wicker Man by way of Last Tango In Paris.
I'm not making myself very clear.
Well, fortunately, I posted it up on the Harper Collins writing community site Authonomy, a chapter at a time. Here's some of the feedback from two fellow writers who read the whole thing:
Jonathan Rowe set out to write a genre piece, a sex and horror fantasy novel. But he is much too literate for that.
Instead he has created a gripping historical fiction. The sex and horror are there, but they come across as honest reporting of an age when such things were commonplace and unremarkable, however titillating or disturbing we may find them now. Set in the time when Rome was still pressing its empire outward, while already rotting from within, he portrays vividly how the lives of honest men of all ranks and backgrounds were twisted and destroyed by the collateral damage from petty political intrigues. The pompous Romans were too isolated from their northern borders to understand what their demands for tribute were arousing. They could not reckon with the dark forces of the druidic MALEFICIVM, or the even more elemental and multifaceted power of the Goddess. In the end the fate of the Empire rests with one disenchanted but still loyal Roman soldier, philosopher, stoic, poet. But even he cannot succeed alone.
- Jim Heter
Every now and again I read a book where I know from the very beginning I'm delving into something that will hold me, consume me and leave me feeling as if the writer has carried me along on a wave of emotions. This book does it all. Not a chapter, not a paragraph, not a sentence have I wanted to skim, Jonathan Rowe captures a reader in the palm of his hand and takes you on a most magnificent journey.
As a reader, I am so very proud to have read this while it has been in the making, something which makes the story even more astounding. The story telling capability of this writer is truly amazing. MALEFICIVM has everything any reader could want from a book, a beginning that hooks you, a middle that entrances and an ending which leaves you gasping. Unforgettable characters who are brought to life on every page, historical details that will have you searching the internet to gain more knowledge.
I believe I've just read something quite incredible.
- Lin Churchill
High praise indeed! I've linked Lin and Jim to their own fantastic books.
Writing MALEFICIVM has been such a rollercoaster and left me so crazy-thrilled that I don't want to send it out into the Internet as an indie e-book, foraging for scraps in the lower echelons of Amazon and Smashwords. I want to get it published. So I'm devoting myself to submitting it to every Agent out there with the smidgin of interest in historical fiction, horror or fantasy.
In the meantime, I need to get on with the third installment of The Burning Times: Gallowsflame.