Lydia Pax's Blog

Hey Romantics!

Today’s the day! Wild Rider is out now in ebook form for your easy consumption! Pick it up NOW from Amazon.

Wahooo! Look at that cover! I need a fan.

For those not in the know, Wild Rider is book #2 in the Bad Boy Bikers series, which follows the exploits of the Wrecking Crew Motorcycle Club, a gang of outlaw bikers who kick ass, take names, and love like hell. Each book in this series is a stand-alone, which means that you can pick up Wild Rider without needing to read the book before it (Hard Rider)—although of course, I definitely recommend reading Hard Rider as I think it is pretty great.

Wild Rider takes place in the town of Stockland, Texas, where the Wrecking Crew has sent a ragtag group of outcast bikers on what amounts to a suicide mission. They have to take on a gang a dozen times their size and bring it in to the Wrecking Crew territory. One of these outlaws is Beretta (first introduced in Hard Rider), a recovering addict with a penchant for violence and a weak spot for chocolate sweets. When a job goes horribly wrong, he runs into an old flame—the nurse, Helen—and kidnaps her to deal with the consequences. Soon, the two of them are spun together inextricably, with Helen trapped as Beretta’s old lady to keep herself safe. Only, Beretta is hot as hell, and she’s starting to enjoy the idea of being his permanent property…

This book was LOTS of fun to write, and reviewers are already saying that it’s lots of fun to read, too. As of this moment, there are over THIRTY reviews on Amazon with a 4.5 (out of 5) average. Pretty good, I’d say! I hope that you’ll pick it up, and I hope you’ll leave your review too. Reviews really help independent authors like me stay relevant, and I depend on your thoughts to know how I’m entertaining you.

At any rate—if you’re in the mood for a wild ride full of action, steam, lust, and whole lot of love, look no further than Wild Rider today! Oh! And so you know--as a special bonus, for a limited time, Wild Rider  will include my FIRSTalpha male badass gladiator romance, Heart of the Gladiator, as a FREE bonus!

Hey Romantics!

Awesome new for you today. My newest bad boy romance novel, WILD RIDER, is now out in print and available on Amazon! You can pick it up here.

I hope you're as excited to read it as I am about its upcoming ebook release, which is NEXT THURSDAY, June 23rd, 2016. Just a week away! Eeeeek!

So, to hype you up a little bit, here's an exclusive excerpt that you won't find ANYWHERE else:

 

 

In the rows of ambulances, she saw a tall man with a crowbar in his hands. He had used it to jam the ambulance door open. Blood dripped down from his shirt. He wore a leather vest covered with patches—a motorcycle gang member. From behind, all she could really tell about him was that he was large. Large enough for her to be scared.

She froze. The way the lot was arranged, she had come across him almost suddenly, leaving only ten feet of clearance between him and her. The second she decided she would run—that’s when he snatched her.

Nobody moves that quick, she thought, stunned at how he had turned and closed the distance in such a short time. One second he hadn't even been looking at her—and the next, his hands were on her.

She looked up into his eyes. Time felt like it stood still. They were dark, swirling pools of emotion—not quite rage, not quite lust, not quite concern, not quite anything except for unique. For some time—maybe five seconds, though it felt like five hours—her body responded only to those eyes. A sensual, furious heat filled her, and her breath caught.

It was Beretta.

That man? That dream of a biker who had swept her off her feet, who'd been everything she'd wanted, who'd made her nights hotter than the sun and had made every last breath feel like she was breathing into him, who had spun her mind into a web of ecstasy so dense that she never thought she'd leave?

He stood in front of her now, bloody, holding her, looking down at Helen with confusion and recognition both.

Then, the stark, horrific reality caught up with her senses. This man had a hold of her, and he wasn't letting go. He was armed. He was huge. And no matter how handsome he was, he was covered in blood—and probably not from some benign accident either.

“Helen?” He smirked. “I forgot you were a nurse.”

Hearing his voice did all kinds of things to her body, none of them particularly complimentary given the danger he presented. Her heart raced faster, stomach fluttering like a bird's wings.

“What are you doing here?”

He glanced at the ambulance, broken open from his crowbar.

“Come on,” he said. “You can do better than that.”

“What is this?” she asked. “Did you follow me here? I moved away from Marlowe.”

“I can see that,” he said. “I moved too. Unrelated. I had no idea you were here.”

She didn't believe him. Why would she believe him? Why the fuck was he here?

He pushed her up into the ambulance and sat her down.

“Stay.”

His voice was like molten glass, hot and smooth. Not knowing why—a callback to one of their intense nights, maybe, when he'd blindfolded her and slid her hands into cloth restraints, teasing and pleasing her for hours, she obeyed. Immediately she hated herself for her easy submissiveness to him—but his tone had brooked no argument.

If she ran...would he tackle her? Would he use the crowbar? How far would he go? He was bloody already, injured. A stupid, pitiable impulse took her—to treat the wound, see him healed.

She'd always felt there was something she could heal in him. Her curse, to think that over and over, with man after man.

There was nothing to heal with Beretta. Not truly. He was nothing but danger. You didn't heal danger—you ran from it...

 

 

...And that's all for now! If you want to read more, you'll have to pick up a print copy or wait until next Thursday, the 23rd, to make WILD RIDERyours!

Hey there Romantics!

From the depths, I return!  Great news today. I’ve been hard at work on some brand new fantastic fiction for you, coming out in just a couple of weeks! I’ve been working SO HARD, actually, that I’ve got TWO book covers to show to you (made by the incomparable Cormar Covers). Whaaaaaaat double book time!?!?!?!?!?

Anyway, these books are WILD RIDER and ROUGH RIDER, the sequels to HARD RIDER. It’s important to note that while these are sequels and they are in the same universe as HARD RIDER, they are both stand-alone novels—meaning that they are independent narratives that can be read on their own without having read the books before them. Each book has a happily-ever-after and each features a rippling hard badass alpha biker and a smart, beautiful woman who captures his heart.

The first of these, WILD RIDER, follows the story of Beretta—who was introduced in HARD RIDER. Beretta has joined up with the Wrecking Crew after the events of HARD RIDER, but he’s still not entirely trusted by his fellow gang members. He and a ragtag team of other gang outcasts are sent to Stockland, Texas, to take over the criminal operation there and get a foothold for the Wrecking Crew MC. Only, things don’t go quite as they should. There’s a psychopath running the rival gang, and he’s got it in his deranged mind to kill the Wrecking Crew before they can even get started. Making it all more complicated, Beretta runs into an old flame, Helen…and ends up having to kidnap her and make her his old lady to protect her from the danger in the streets. Helen thought she was done with Beretta—he broke her heart and she isn’t likely to forgive that easily. But then, he’s crazy hot and such a supreme alpha that she’d be totally witless not to at least enjoy his body while she has to be his property…

Here’s the cover!

 

And—bonus treat! Special super ultra mega cool bonus time! Here’s the cover for ROUGH RIDER.

 

More details on ROUGH RIDER will follow—but rest assured, it’s as steamy and exciting as the first two in the series!

 

Wahooooo! Hard Rider is now out and ready for your consumption! This bad boy romance hits all the marks--forbidden romance, undeniable lust, uncontrollable passion, and shocking twists and turns that will leave your head spinning and fill you with a need for a cold drink to cool yourself down.

Available on Amazon!

It is currently FREE--though it won't be forever--so pick it up while you can! I think it's a super great book (obvi, I wrote it) and a really fun time; but hey, don't take my word for it. Right now it's got a 4.6 average out of 5 on Amazon and by gosh, if that doesn't spell quality, nothing does.

Don't forget also to take advantage of the HUGE $300 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway I'm hosting to promote the release! I want you to win FREE Amazon cash, y'all. Wheeee! Sign up here or HERE to do it on Facebook.

Okay, that's it from me--except to say that I am ALSO discounting all of the books in my Affairs of the Arena series for a Limited Time! That's right--if you love MC badasses, you'll probably love sweaty, ripped, hardcore gladiators kicking ass and stealing hearts. Check it out! You can also follow me on Facebook or get in touch with me on twitter @LydiaPax.

 

Gigantic news today! To celebrate the upcoming release of my new bad boy biker romance, Hard Rider (coming out in ebook format March 17th, 2016)--I've got a HUGE giveaway running. $300 in Amazon Gift Card prizes are available with a $100 Grand Prize--whaaaaaaaaaat. Check out how to enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pretty straightforward! Just social media the hell out of Hard Rider and you're getting your entries in!

If you want more of my writing right NOW, you can check out the Affairs of the Arena series on Amazon, a romantic trilogy featuring alpha male gladiators and the women who steal their hearts. You can also follow me on Facebook or get in touch with me on twitter @LydiaPax.

What's up everybody! I've got great news for you today--my promotional Goodreads giveaway has begun to promote the upcoming release of Hard Rider on March 17th, 2016.

By signing up (for freeeeee whaaaat) you can win a free, signed hard copy of Hard Rider. And by "signed," I do not mean that I am going to grab some random person off the street and have them sign the book. Robert J. Robertson and Heather F. Heatherdaughter will NOT be signing this book. I am the one signing it. ME. I called dibs. Because, you know, it's my book. Well...it'll be your book. But until that point, I'm doing what I want with it. Maybe I'll read it in the bath, or leave it out in the kitchen while I cook eggs, or use it to teach my dog some tricks.

Probably not. Probably I'll just sign it straightaway, wrap it up in a Trader Joe's paper bag, and sent it to you. BUT YOU NEVER KNOW.

 

Sign up is here. Do it now! Get in there! Tweet and share this giveaway with your friends! I know it's sort of counter-intuitive--why share news about a giveaway? But it will help me out, really.

Okay, that's all from me right now.

If you want more of my writing right NOW, you can check out the Affairs of the Arena series on Amazon, a romantic trilogy featuring alpha male gladiators and the women who steal their hearts. You can also follow me on Facebook or get in touch with me on twitter @LydiaPax.

Hard Rider is out in print! Hooray!

Available on Amazon!

Now, this isn't a HUGE deal because, like most indie authors, I make virtually all of my sales via ebook transactions. So, I would bet that the vast, VAST majority of you fine folks reading this are like, “Whaaa? Print book? Gimme that sweet, sweet ebook copy pronto, Lydia!”

And I will. Next week! March 17th, 2016 is the big launch day.

Until then, if you simply can't wait to get your hands on this excellent book full of bad boy alpha action, then I would heartily recommend picking up Hard Rider today!

The reason the print version is coming out before the ebook version is all marketing, baby. I've got ARCs stacked on ARCs stacked on ARCs circulating out there in cyberspace, and I want people to be able to leave reviews before the ebook version is official to drum up some buzz (how's that for a mixed metaphor?).

SO! Pick up that sweet print copy if you're hankering for a read. Otherwise, pretty please stay tuned in for the big launch day on March 17th!

If you want more of my writing right NOW, you can check out the Affairs of the Arena series on Amazon, a romantic trilogy featuring alpha male gladiators and the women who steal their hearts. You can also follow me on Facebook or get in touch with me on twitter @LydiaPax.

Hello all you Romantics out there! I've got something special for you today—a SNEAK PEEK at my upcoming novel, Hard Rider.

Available 3/17/2016!

It comes out on March 17th—just two weeks away!—and I'm crazy excited to share it with you. I'm so excited, in fact, that I'm releasing an ENTIRE chapter right now just to give you a taste!

Hard Rider is a hot, thrills-and-steam motorcycle club romance. It features a hard-as-nails bad-ass biker and the one special girl who can keep pace with him—it's just too bad he's an outlaw, and she's the daughter of the sheriff obsessed with bringing him to justice. Their passion is powerful and undeniable...and it might just tear their worlds apart.

Here we go:

June was lucky the diner was there. Her car started smoking just fifty miles out of Marlowe. It was packed full of her entire life, stuffed into the trunk in a series of tote bags and grocery sacks, some luggage, and a long crate that she only barely had room for. The rest was in the boxes strapped to the top of her small sedan with heavy rope.

She knew how to tie knots. Her dad wouldn’t let her join any wilderness groups like she had wanted when she was a kid, but she did manage to tag along on all of her younger brother’s adventures in the Boy Scouts. From the bowline to the clove hitch to the sheet bend, she could do them all.

She had a business idea (and she had dozens of business ideas) of opening a small shop for young women to let them learn how to do all the stuff that was normally relegated to boys. An hour would buy them time with knots. Two hours would fit in basic auto maintenance. Three hours would go on to cover power tools, and so on.

Such a venture was borne, like much of her obsession with getting enough money to never go back to her home town again, from her need to be away from her father for a good long time. Maybe forever.

For four years now, she had been independent of her father’s prying ways. After graduating high school, she set up base in Austin, where she studied English and Philosophy at the University of Texas. Her grades were good; the university had paid for everything.

Now she was returning to Marlowe dead broke, fresh from a break-up, none of her internships or interviews panning out into a job, tail already between her legs—and now, of course, she would have to call her dad to come pick her up and save her skin. An inauspicious beginning for someone hoping to break free of her parents forever.

June's mother had been exultant when she heard the news of her only daughter's return the day before when June made the call.

“That's wonderful! Your room is just as you left it. And, oh!” June could hear her rustling around on her desk in the kitchen. “I'll call Paxton and let him know. Did you know he's single? Son of the mayor and he's single, isn't that a shocker?”

“Oh god, Mom...” the thought of dealing with that white bread cowboy sent a small shiver of revulsion through her. “No. Don't even start.”

Her mother quickly changed the subject, but all the same, June was fairly certain Paxton Prince was going to be expecting a date by the time she got home.

She had not missed her mother very much, though more than she did her father. There was a lot about West Texas she had not missed, though it brought on a strange sense of nostalgia to see it about her now—the cactus patches on the side of the road, the deep brown flatness of the land, the long winding sky that went on past the curve of the horizon, wind mill farms positioned every few dozen miles and swallowing up the sky with their long rotating blades.

It was familiar and friendly, yes, but that her mother expected her to want to settle down here forever was a bit beyond June's comprehension. It would be like settling on the moon.

After breaking up with Simon, June wasn't entirely sold on the idea on another relationship for a while.

It wasn't that Simon had been awful. It might have been better if he was—then at least June would have a negative picture of everything she didn't want in a relationship. But Simon was nice, caring, attentive, and cute—June just didn't feel anything for him. The conversation of their break-up felt more like she was changing her checking account than changing her life.

Worst of all, Simon seemed to feel the same way. Leaving June wasn't anything to get excited about for him.

Her life felt devoid of passion—and if she couldn't get that passion from a guy who was on-paper as perfect as Simon, trying again felt like another long series of disappointments already.

Especially with Paxton. Ick.

June's car continued to smoke and she pulled up into the diner. She thought she could see flames flying out from the hood. But she did not panic; panic got a person nowhere.

At school, some of her friends had called her the Icewoman. She wasn't an Ice Queen, that was for sure—she liked boys too much, and up until two months ago she'd had a regular boyfriend besides. But she could still be the Icewoman—the one who took a shovel to the snakes that slithered onto their driveway, or who cleared out the over-sized spiders that landed in their bathroom.

Once she had forgotten to write a history essay, only finding out during class that it was due that day. She rushed back to her dorm, wrote the essay, and turned it in before class was over. The professor gave her an A. June had a way with words.

When the car was safely out of the highway and into the diner parking lot, she stepped outside with a fire extinguisher in hand. The day was hot—hotter than it was supposed to be, even, pushing easily past a hundred and five. It was a dry heat and she could feel the moisture suck from her skin like she had walked under a giant vacuum.

Quickly she had the hood covered in the CO2 mess spewing from the extinguisher. She breathed hard, her knees feeling a bit weak, but her actions were all nerves. From the trunk with all her things, she gathered up a rag and popped the hood. Heat and smoke powered up into her face, forcing her to step back. She sprayed the extinguisher again, knowing that probably it was doing something awful to the insides of her car.

That was okay though. Just so long as it all stopped burning.

After a few minutes the smoke cleared. The soupy sludge of the extinguisher hissed and chattered as it slipped down the engine chassis. She didn’t know a lot about cars, but it looked like something metal had melted. She knew enough to know that was bad.

Her guess was the radiator, overheated from the day. Her father used to always prescribe driving during the hot Marlowe summers with an extra tank or two of water in the back. It had come in handy more than once for him. She had forgotten such things—had tried to forget a lot about her life in Marlowe. It was not a friendly place for her.

A heavy-duty motorcycle pulled off the road just behind June and its rider walked toward her now.

June had to stop and watch him approach. He was that sort of man. Tall, heavily built. He wore a tight black t-shirt, practically painted to the heavily chiseled body underneath. Long sexy lines and delicate shapes of ink decorated the steel-hard skin of his arms.

She watched his pectorals shift, feeling something akin to hypnosis. A beard, dark and thick, was cut close under his chin. His gaze stared a hole right at June, and suddenly she felt under-dressed and over-dressed, both.

Under-dressed, because that kind of gaze made her feel close to naked. And over-dressed, because that kind of gaze from that kind of man made her want to get naked. He was like sex incarnate, and she wasn't sure if she could even survive a round with him in the bed.

And part of her desperately wanted to find out.

Her hair was long and chestnut and she pushed it to one side as he approached, suddenly not sure of how to approach the use of that fleshy thing between her teeth.

A tongue, was that what it was called? Words failed her, suddenly ending an alliance forged years and years ago when she'd picked up her first book of poetry at a swap meet.

“Radiator’s shot,” he said, taking a cursory look at the damage. “That’s what you get for picking a foreign car.”

She tried to compose herself and say something smart. “Who shoots a radiator?”

Oh, yes, June. Very smart. Let him think you’re an idiot, let him put his guard down.

He smiled, though, and took a long look at her, up and down. Appreciative, making a clear judgment in his head. There was a leather jacket vest in his hands, dark white and red patches on its surface. She couldn’t make any of them out.

June found herself vainly hoping he liked what he saw. It was stupid—idiotic, really—she was a woman with a personality and a goddamn college degree. She was more than a long pair of legs in tight jeans and a pair of breasts in a slender shirt, more than a piece of meat. But there was something about this man’s vibe, something about his scent, that made her kind of want to be seen as a piece of meat.

“I meant it got over-exerted. Probably from—”

“From the heat, I know. I was joking. I’d been driving for six hours and hadn’t stopped. It’s my own fault.” Her clumsy reticence was quickly being replaced with clumsy babbling. “I should have brought some water, but there wasn’t room in the car with everything else. It’s my whole life in there, you know, and I just—well. I’m trying to set up in Marlowe for awhile, and I couldn’t leave anything behind, so—”

“Marlowe?” he smiled. “Hell, that’s where I’m from, too. My name is Ram.”

He held out a hand. It was big and covered in callouses, near twice the size of June’s. She took it, gripping firmly. June had spent a lot of time practicing her handshake on frat boys in Austin and she knew her handshake was easily their equal.

It didn’t seem like it would be Ram’s equal—but then, he didn’t try to squeeze her fingers off like those idiots in Austin did.

“June,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you. Ram?”

He chuckled. “You don’t know anyone else named Ram, I take it.”

“Do you?”

“It’s a sort of a nickname. I’ll tell you about it some time.”

She smiled, cocking her hip just slightly. “Oh yeah? How’s that? You gonna follow me home?”

“Maybe. You’re gonna need a ride.” He pointed to his truck. “I can help you out, if you want. I make it a point to help out folks who need it, especially in Marlowe.”

“We’re not in Marlowe.”

He shrugged. “No, but you’re from there. You want my help or not?”

Not a man who wanted his time wasted. She licked her lips just slightly, imagining herself in the truck with this man. Wondering where his hands might wander. He didn’t seem like a man who heard “no” very often…or at all. Not the sort of man who paid attention if he did hear it. The kind of man who always knew best...and could back it up.

Her heart fluttered.

“Thank you,” she said, “but no. I have family I can call. They’ll want to see me anyway. I haven’t been with them for quite some time.”

He smiled. “I’ll see you around, then, June. I’ll see you real soon.”

It almost sounded like a threat, coming from him. But if it was a threat, then why was her heart beating so fast—and why did she watch his large frame so intently as he walked inside the diner?

And that's it for now! I hope that tantalized you. Don't forget—Hard Rider is out March 17th, 2016. If you want more of my writing, you can check out the Affairs of the Arena series on Amazon, a romantic trilogy featuring alpha male gladiators and the women who steal their hearts. You can also follow me on Facebook or get in touch with me on twitter @LydiaPax.

Two huge announcements today! The first is pretty obvious—I've started up with a brand new website. I think it looks SUPER and I hope you do too.

More to the point, however, (and unarguably a much bigger announcement)--I've got a new book coming out on the 17th of March!

Here's the cover:

 

Sigh. Isn't it wonderful?

Those of you familiar with my work in the past (including Heart of the Gladiator, Love of the Gladiator, and Desire of the Gladiator) might notice a certain theme that this book is noticeably lacking, namely gladiators. Why the shift?

Well, Roman history is completely awesome and something I'll love for the rest of my life. I'm really proud of the Affairs of the Arena and think they are terrific historical romance novels well worth your time and money.

But, as it turns out, it wasn't a genre that I could really make work for a wide audience. Double sigh. Oh well. BUT—I have a great love for romance and its many terrific forms, and one of those in particular is the Motorcycle Club Romance—which this new book definitely is. It's got all the big hits—an alpha male bad boy who couldn't possibly be tied down, a smart-as-hell babe who knows she can never fall in love, and a scintillating plot guaranteed to make your seat warm. He's the son of a MC Prez; she's the daughter of the sheriff—and a shocking murder sets off a chain of events that pushes them into each other's arms for better or for worse.

Hard Rider is out in March—more information is forthcoming!

Who doesn't love backstory?

So, this blog is (obviously) for promoting my new releases and sharing exciting deals and giveaways with you, but I also wanted to have some outlet for writing about Ancient Roman History because I’m a big nerd. Now, I’ve got a degree in History, but as really any person with a BA in History will tell you, mostly that is a degree celebrating you for how well you can create an argument, and not necessarily how well you can research (This is true, I feel, for really any sort of BA). Not to throw anyone under the bus out there—arguing well is really hard, and takes a considerable amount of research to do well.  But, it’s only really at the MA and Doctorate level that super in-depth research gets to a truly scholarly level. So, as Dan Carlin (of Hardcore History) says all the time: I’m not a historian, I’m just a fan of history.

For my first blog post of this kind, I wanted to get into some of the history behind the Affairs of the Arena series.

We start in the late 190s A.D., or C.E., or whatever is most appropriate (see? Not a historian). At this time, a guy named Septimus Severus is Emperor. He was a rather ruthless man, who used the chaos after the death of Commodus to ascend to the throne.

So I’m going to stop there because I can already feel the haze start to form over your eyes. I find this sort of thing ENTHRALLING but I get why others don’t. It’s a bunch of old white dudes in togas and who cares?

Well, it’s NOT exactly old white dudes in togas. Severus was from North Africa and is frequently noted to have dark skin. Which I think is kind of awesome—Rome didn’t really have our modern concepts of racism (which didn’t develop until WAY later), and so long as someone was capable and a citizen (which was REALLY hard/infrequent at the time), they could rise up through the ranks without any prejudice based on skin color. Now, this isn’t to say there wasn’t prejudice; Rome was one of the most classist, elitist societies that has ever existed. But there wasn’t all the weirdness we have that revolves around pigmentation.

Severus gets a bad rap from a lot of people because he was super militant and devalued the Roman currency. This had the duel effect of A.) Enforcing the idea that it was the military who kept people in power and B.) making it really, really hard to effectively pay the military later on down the road. What THAT means is that, until Diocletian takes power some eighty-odd years later, the military is pretty much in charge.

There’s this whole fascinating part of Roman history called “The Crisis of the 3rd Century” in which basically the military keeps putting people in power and then chucking them out when they don’t get paid enough. To get more payment FOR the military, Emperors keep printing coins…but there’s only a finite amount of actual silver and gold to provide for these coins. It’s problems town, and Rome never really rebounded.

But, I tend to like Severus, if only because he’s not Commodus, who was probably the worst Emperor in Roman History (outside of perhaps Severus’s son, Caracalla, who is a whole OTHER can of worms of bad).

Commodus came after the Reign of the “Five Good Emperors,” which was essentially a century-long golden age for Rome that established them as the Emperor-led superpower that we know this Imperial form as today. Commodus was crazy. Super crazy. Crazier than a whole factory full of crazy glue.

Some examples:

He was born Marcus Aurelius Commodus. He died (after renaming himself numerous times) Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazonius Invictus Felix Pius. That is, even for a Roman Emperor, way too many names.He renamed the Roman calendar months. The new names corresponded with his OWN names—all twelve of them.When part of Rome burned down (a recurring problem), he took the opportunity to rename it as Colonia Lucia Annia Commodiana, as well as renaming Senators, Legions, and the like to various forms of “Commodus.”He thought he was the reincarnation of Hercules, going so far as to wear a dead lion pelt around his body and carrying a great giant club with him when he had to pass judgments on people who petitioned him for favors and the like.Just imagine the above for a minute. Imagine going to petition the most powerful man in an Empire, and he’s dressed in a lion pelt with a gigantic club.No, really, HE THOUGHT HE WAS HERCULES. He had statues drawn up to make him look more Herculean.He fought as a gladiator in the Colosseum. As Hercules. (His opponents would have dulled or wooden weapons, so he was never really in harm’s way. I guess his Hercules powers were contingent on never ever once being tested?)So, Severus didn’t kill Commodus, but like a lot of Romans at the time, he was probably thinking about it. He provided a lot of stability and success to Rome at a time when it needed exactly that, even if his sons almost immediately ruined it.

__

I write Historical Romance, the most recent of which (in terms of release day, at any rate) are the Affairs of the Arena series. Heart of the Gladiator, Love of the Gladiator, and Desire of the Gladiator are all available NOW and are on Kindle Unlimited.

Get in touch with me at Twitter @LydiaPax or on Facebook. I’m always delighted to talk with fans.

Sign up for my Newsletter for the latest Lydia Pax news, including offers for free Advance Review Copies." with this link: http://eepurl.com/byf5N1