STEVEN’S BOOKSHOP/UK BRANCH

  To find out more about Steven’s own books and their availability in the U.K., please visit the Roma Sub Rosa/UK Editions page.


ANCIENT AUTHORS

NOVELS BY THE ANCIENT GREEKS & ROMANS When Gordianus settled back to read a good novel, it would likely have been one of the stories in B.P. Reardon’s Collected Ancient Greek Novels, an 827-page volume including the first novels ever written, tales of escapism and romance like “Daphnis and Chloe.” The Romans later gave us The Golden Ass by Apuleius, the ribald tale of a man transformed into a donkey, and the even more ribald Satyricon of Petronius, inspiration for the film by Fellini.

LIVY’S HISTORY OF ROME Few historians can match the magisterial sweep of Livy, who lived in the age of Augustus and recounted the story of Rome from its beginning. The surviving texts fill four volumes brimming with tragedy and triumph: I. The Early History of Rome, II. Rome and Italy, III. The War with Hannibal, and IV. Rome and the Mediterranean.

CICERO: MURDER TRIALS trans. by Michael Grant Includes Cicero’s speech for Sextus Roscius, accused of parricide — the inspiration for Steven’s first novel, Roman Blood. Great reading for true crime fans!

CICERO: SELECTED POLITICAL SPEECHES trans. by Michael Grant Includes the speeches which inspired three of Steven’s novels — Catilina’s Riddle, The Venus Throw, and A Murder on the Appian Way.

JULIUS CAESAR: THE CONQUEST OF GAUL trans. by S.A. Handford Caesar’s fascinating account of his campaigns in Gaul. (As readers of Rubicon know, Gordianus’s son Meto did a lot of ghost-writing for J.C....)

JULIUS CAESAR:
THE CIVIL WAR
trans. by Jane Gardner
A primary inspiration for Steven’s novels dealing with the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey, including Rubicon and Last Seen in Massilia.

SALLUST: THE JUGURTHINE WAR & THE CONSPIRACY OF CATILINE A primary source for the events which inspired Steven’s novel Catilina’s Riddle.

SUETONIUS: THE TWELVE CAESARS trans. by Robert Graves The primary source which inspired Robert Graves to write I, Claudius also includes Suetonius’s biography of Julius Caesar.

POEMS OF CATULLUS trans. by Peter Whigham The complete works of the scandalous poet who figures so prominently in Steven’s novel The Venus Throw, rendered in vivid English translation.

THE AENEID by Virgil, trans. by David West Aeneas, survivor of Troy, journeys to Italy and founds the Roman race. This prose translation reads like a gripping adventure novel.

PLAUTUS: THE ROPE & OTHER PLAYS trans. by E.F. Watling When Gordianus goes to the theater, often it’s to see a comedy by Plautus, who inspired Sondheim’s “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

PLAUTUS: THE POT OF GOLD & OTHER PLAYS trans. by E.F. Watling “The Pot of Gold” is the comedy Gordianus and Eco see in the story “Death Wears a Mask” in Steven’s The House of the Vestals. Great fun to read.

PLUTARCH: FALL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC trans. by Rex Warner Includes Plutarch’s biographies of Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar, Cicero, and Crassus (villain of Steven’s Arms of Nemesis).

PLUTARCH: MAKERS OF ROME trans. by Ian Scott Kilvert The lives of nine towering Romans, including Marc Antony and the rebel general Sertorius (subject of Steven’s short story “The White Fawn”).



  To find out more about Steven’s own books and their availability in the U.K., please visit the Roma Sub Rosa/UK Editions page.

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