Lanista

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/conten...7a72d166f462dea Not sure if this is good or bad...they say: "This is not going to be at all like the 1960s Kirk Douglas film," Shelanski said. "We didn't want your typical sword-and-sandals. It's going to be fun, fast-moving, full of action and interesting characters and have a little more depth to it than the 1960s film." Shelanski added that the show will be produced specifically for a premium cable audience, with "R-rated" action and storytelling. The goal is to accomplish the graphic-novel look and feel of such movies as "300" and "Sin City." As with "300," producers also will be looking to cast "Spartacus" with a group of fresh-faced, unknown actors." Fun and fast moving smacks of Xena, and whilst that was a great, entertaining show, I'm not sure Spartacus is the sort of story that would support that approach. On the other hand, they're saying it's "R-Rated" - so does that mean Xena with tits and extra blood or does that promise a more adult storyline. I guess the production stills and leaked set info will tell us more, nearer the time. Cheers Russ

Hi, not sure if anyone has an idea about this. I've been researching this for a few days, and I can't really find any substantial information in Mannix, Grant, Baker, Matthews or Meijer. And the internet has been no help whatsoever! In short, aside from the ludi in Rome and Capua, where were the other gladiator schools on the italian mainland? I see references to "over a hundred gladiator schools" in the empire, but can't find anything on mainland Italy aside from the four famous ones. The Capuan one is very interesting, but again, I can't really find any information on the actual school itself. All the references are related to Spartacus, but I'd be interested to know what happened to the school post Spartican revolt. How long did it last - into the imperial period. What were the dimensions? TO be honest, that's pretty in depth stuff...really, I'd be interested to find out about any schools outside of Rome! Any starters for 10? Cheers Russ

I was actually going to punt for a 100 miles a day cos I like round numbers. What I need to do is try to use googlemaps to plot the journey (I'm sure that there must be some tool that can do that for you) - Bodrum to Brundisum...about ten days, I'm feeling. Cheers Russ

Incidently, I came across this page which sort of confirms what I read in "Rome of 5 denarii" http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/travel2.html Cheers Russ

Thanks all - its really just to get a rough idea, and it seems that you could go on average a hundred miles a day - give or take. Cheers Russ

It's the ship that made the kesselium run in less than 12 parsectae

wicked, thanks Nephele Cheers Russ

Hi - I've been trawling the forum for a bit now, but I can't find the info I'm looking for. Specifically, how fast were Roman ships circa first centruy AD. This is more of a "how long would it take" question, and i'm not even sure how to ask it in google. I'm sure that warships would have been faster than merchant or pleasure vessels, but at the moment, I'd be grateful for any nudges. I've got a bit of sea travel in Gladiatrix II, so I'd apprecaite any pointers. cheers Russ

The underwear was killing me, I had to stop. No, you're right. You do have to "get into character" - luckily, I had several female test readers who would steer me in the right direction. It was important that the character felt and thought like a woman, and not like an idealized version, or a guy with boobs. It's the same thing here with the protagonist of Neoflashe's book. You have to live the character, but I think the main thing is to give them flaws and weaknesses. Even if you think the flaws are great fun - they don't have to be a chore to write, you can have a laugh with it. If you're not teaching creative writing, you should think about doing so. This is spot on - know as much as you can, but beware of over spicing the curry with detail. It's not that important - its good that YOU know, but we don't have to know. Let your knowledge seep into the stew (keeping the cooking metaphor going) rather than sprinkling it liberally all over it. Yep - being a supremacist was the order of the day. Slavery is right - how can the world function without slaves. Foreigners are inferior. You can single out concientious objectors to this pov, but to the vast, vast majority...that was the case. At the end of the day, it's a novel. You have to make choices, because sometimes the history doesn't fit with what you are trying to do. Essentially, you're writing a fiction and the most important thing is moving the plot forward and telling a great story. But Augusta is right - there's a lot of room to dig things in. Neoflash has a brilliant idea - "Ryanus" (as I call him, sorry!) is really appealing. That sort of character fits in ancient Rome - I can see all sorts of posibilities with him. Donna Gillesipe should be recognised as the Mary Renault for our times. Her writing is upsettingly good - you kinda know that you're never, ever going to be that good. Augusta, please read The Light Bearer - it literally changed my life! Helped me loads! Every comment you've made here is on the money and full of insight. Cheers Russ

No worries, mate. I used to have a book that looked at Greek and Roman Magick which was in all probability a little dubious, but it detailed ritual...and I'm sure that's where I recall the restless dead and the Lamia from. Anyway, I googled both just now, and there's tonnes of info on wiki and so forth. Cheers Russ

The Romans had a festival of the restless dead (good name for a band) - the Lemures or the Lemur...something like that. Anyway, whilst these were ghosts, its not too much of a stretch to think of the "restless dead" (I remember the term cos I thought it was cool) as vampiric. Also, I'm sure that the Ancient Greek version of the this was the Lamia - I can't remember if those guys drank blood or sucked your breath away, but the same thing applies - again not much of a stretch to make 'em vampires either. Cheers Russ

Lovely and neat. I'm pretty sure the stuff from Vindolanda was all untidy (the letters asking for underpants and so forth), but I could be wrong. I guess the answer to the question is "the same as todays" - some folk were neat, others less so (and I know what camp I'm in!).

Scratchy and spidery - the Roman style, anyway. But I'll bet that comes from scribbling away on wax notebooks...does nothing for your handwriting style! Russ

That's a wise policy to have - as you say, it's a novel, not a text book and sometimes you have to make choices that aren't strictly accurate but move the plot along. When I was writing "Gladiatrix" I decided that I would have them fight in non-traditional pairs because I felt that it would be more entertaining for the casual reader. Also, I figured that they might play faster and looser with gladiatorial pairings in the provinces (or else where did these exotic fighting styles come from - essidarius, dimachaearius *I can never spell that on the fly* and so forth), so that was my excuse and I'm still sticking to it. This is not to say that you should fly in the face of all that's accurate (unless you're writing a historical fantasy like Conn Iggulden), but certainly you shouldn't feel constrained to portraying absolute truth at all times. If it's an entertaining read, little shifts and changes are easily forgiven and over-looked...Take Donna Gillespie's "The Light Bearer," probably the greatest historical fiction novel of the late 20th Century - she calls the Flavian Amphitheatre "The Colosseum", even though it was not called that during Domitian's reign. She knows that, I know that, everyone on this forum knows that. But the average reader might not, so its more expedient to call it by the common name. People can get too wrapped up in historical accuracy - it's important, but its the making or breaking of a good book! Cheers Russ

Whatever period you chose, it sounds like a cracking concept with plenty of mileage. Are you planning a series to take "Ryanus" through his career (so the soldier years, the making it big and entering poltics years and so forth) or just a single work. In either event, it sounds like something I'd read for sure. The character concept is great and strong enough to carry any period, I reckon. Even late empire, which is often overlooked. Things were going pear-shaped then, but some strong leaders did emerge to stem back the tide of barbarism... Looking forward to reading the adventures of Ryanus, man. Get cracking! Cheers Russ

Or Danny Zuko as he was known as at the time.

Gratias...gratias magnopere magnus opere.

http://blog.arlt.co.uk/blog/_archives/2008/5/28/3717702.html

I really admire these guys, but I essentially find the ground-work boring. Appreciate that it's technical, tiring and all of that stuff, but I think you also have to have some idea of what's going on to appreciate it, which may preclude some of the audience. They say that UFC is the fastest growing sport though, don't they, and it does - from what I understand - seem mercifully clean of the corruption that is rife in boxing. Still...I much prefer the K1 events to UFC. Cheers Russ

I'm sorry, I'm really not emotionally involved in Conn's work, I don't know him personally so I can't get all uptight about what people think of his stuff. I'm sure that I don't regret anything I've said - or will say. I've defended fictional accounts on the forum before and will continue to do so. I just think it's daft to get outraged over something that's plainly a fiction. As one of the posters on here said, he already knows everything about Caesar's life so he's not going to pick up a novel and expect to be taught anything new. I guess that's the way I think these things ought to be viewed. But it's all a question of choice: if you don't want to read an adventure story set in Ancient Rome (albeit a fantastical one) because you willl find the license taken with the characters offensive that's your perogative and its no one's business or task to convince you otherwise. I take genuine joy in fiction (be it film, book, drama or whatever) based in the classical period, and most of it has some merit. I guess I take it for what it is and try not to prejudge - as you say, you're not going to read these books on what you've read here. Me -I'll give anything a try- look, if I'm not enjoying it, then in all liklihood, I won't finish it, but I'm not going to discard something that might bring me enjoyment because it plays with the facts a little. Or a lot, in this case. I guess I'll bring it back to "Lion of Macedon." I loved that book, knew that it wasn't accurate but knew also that it was a fiction. It's one of my favorite books, and I've read it time and time again. Wonderful stuff, but totally off the wall (Parmenion was born in Sparta in this one and commanded a corps of cavalry at Leuctra). But, sure, I can see your point - why read something that you know is going to annoy you! Cheers Russ

Iggulden's books are historical fantasy - I guess you didn't read that part of the discussion. Trying to attack them for not being accurate seems like pure intellectual snobbery.

Well, the author is a huge David Gemmell fan, maybe "Lion of Macedon" inspired him. After all, LoM was hugely successful, but it's not really factual portrayal of Parmenion, Phillip or Alexander, and it's not supposed be. I think that the Cabera (sp) character in the Emperor books gives them away as historical fantasy rather than historical fiction. I guess great thing about writing a book is that you can write whatever you like: I'm not sure that Conn Iggulden was out there to further reality, I think he wanted to tell an exciting adventure story in the Gemmell style. Productive? Well, that's down to opinion. I enjoyed the books, Iggulden's making a fortune and they've given a lot of people a lot of pleasure, so I believe that that the endeavour was worthwhile. But you can't please all of the people all of the time, which is the perogative that you must accept if you're going to seek publication. Cheers Russ

But these are historical fantasy novels. Like Lion of Macedon by David Gemmell for instance.

The Antagonists with Peter O'Toole and Anthony Quale. I recently picked up the DVD of the full mini-series (not the horrid two hour cut), and its just as brilliant I hoped it would be. I saw it as a kid on the telly, but seeing it again (as a bigger kid with greying hair) was just wonderful. Proper acting, a cast of thousands (literally), shot on location at Masada - can't recommend it highly enough.

Dr Aryeh Nushbacker is a hero of mine...