THE PATH OF REVENGE Tom Haward

  

THE PATH OF REVENGE

Tom Haward 

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GENRE:  Historical Fiction/ Alternative History 

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BLURB: 

The rebellion is in hiding. It has been a year since Boatman King attempted to overthrow the Empire but instead had to escape London with his wife and their closest allies. 

Not all of Boatman King’s allies are in hiding. Maverick “The Beast” Kirabo is on a mission to finish what he started on the streets of London. The former gladiator has a score to settle and revenge to unleash: Rome will fear him as they once adored him. 

Despite its failure, Boatman King’s rebellion has spread disquiet in Rome’s political circles. Grand Protector Faust dispatches a pair of hunters to search the country and bring Boatman and his followers back to London for reckoning. Although Faust is the official face of Rome’s leadership, Emperor Maximus is thirsty to stamp his mark on the world and step out from his dead father’s shadow. 

Unbeknownst to Faust and Maximus, a terrifying presence is watching the unrest and relishing in the vulnerabilities it’s causing. 

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EXCERPT 

Maximus called for the nurse. Well, call was a rather generous word for the animalistic noise that his mouth emitted. Ever since his head had been caved in by a hammer, he wasn’t able to vocalise much that made any sense. In his head, though, in his head, everything made sense and the words that bounced around his brain were as clear as the hatred that bubbled in his gut. The hatred was centred on Maverick Kirabo, the man who had wielded the hammer that had left a permanent dent in Maximus’s skull.

It had been eleven months since Max had one minute been enjoying crucifying Olivia King, feeling the butterflies in his belly as he smashed nails through her wrists, and the next minute waking up in this gods-forsaken room, fluorescent lights causing splinters of pain in his skull and tubes sprouting from his body like a plastic porcupine.

Maximus made a guttural noise again to try and get the nurse’s attention. Eventually she appeared; she tried to conceal a look of disgust, but she was either a poor actor or disinterested in trying. Maximus had assumed his face was a picture of horror from his injuries, which it was, but the nurse’s disgust didn’t come from the patient’s wounds but from the patient’s personality.

Maximus Nero was infamous for his sadism. He made no secret of the pleasure he derived from other people’s pain. It was that pleasure that had motivated him to travel to Britannia to track down Olivia King.

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 Discuss the world you've created for the book. 

The world in The Path of Revenge imagines a reality where the Roman Empire still rules a majority of the planet. I wanted to create a version of history where so many things appear the same as what we exist in, but subtle differences create something jarring, yet familiar. 

Throughout the book are references to people and places which are recognisable from our own reality, but timelines have shifted and events played out differently because of the Roman’s grip on the world. Various political figures are mentioned, but their histories have changed. 

The Path of Revenge is the sequel to The Path of Chaos, my debut novel, and much of it is based around Britain (Britannia) so elements of British history have changed as Rome has stayed in power for two millennia. 

Also, because of how the Roman Empire stayed in power, words used to describe objects we are familiar with have changed because of the evolution of language, such as instead of aeroplane, the characters use a pteron-chariot as the word pteron derives from the Latin meaning eagle. 

Again, there are subtle differences to what we know in our world but it’s familiar enough because I like to think humanity would still do certain things no matter who ruled the world. So, instead of pay-per-view boxing matches, people live stream gladiator bouts. 

I wanted to create an alternate history world which draws the reader in with things they know and see in normal life but then create a desire to turn the pages to find out what little things are different. 

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AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

Tom was born in Essex and, at 4 months old, he and his identical twin were adopted into an oyster farming family. Tom now runs the business as generation eight of Haward oyster farmers.  He has a fiancée, a baby daughter and a cockapoo. 

Tom has an MA in Creative Writing and The Path of Chaos (Cinnabar Moth Publishing) is his debut novel, which was released in August 2023. The Path of Revenge is the sequel to The Path of Chaos series and will be released on August 6th 2024. 

Website: https://tomhaward.co.uk/

Twitter: https://x.com/HawardTom

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tomhawardauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hawardtom 

Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com 

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