Gordon’s Comments (group member since Nov 05, 2013)

Gordon’s comments from the Ask Gordon Doherty group.

Jane wrote: "Gordon, I was thrilled to see Legionary #5 is coming out soon. When will you be issuing it in paperback; I do not like nor use eReaders. Thanks."

Hi Jane,

The paperback should be out on the 5th November too :)

Edward wrote: "Gordo, Apion is a very worthy and, very human hero, I am a little over halfway through Born in the Borderlands and am enjoying a very satisfying read....you, Sir, are a very talented storyteller......"

Thanks, Edward ;)

My Sunday name is Gordopolis ;)

Haha! Fine, I'll call you Eddie, you call me Gordo :)

Edward wrote: "Gordon, you keep writing books like this one and I guarantee I will keep reading them...."

Cheers, Edward - that's really set me up for a good day :)

Hi Jane,

Good question! I haven't read anything specifically addressing policing and firefighting. However, the role of Urban Prefect still existed until just a few centuries before Byzantium's fall, so presumably one of his duties would be to organise some firefighting/policing strategy.

The Watch Tagma (also known as the Vigla or, more interestingly, the Vigiles) were known for guarding the emperor's tent on campaign, but they also had a detachment permanantly stationed at the Hippodrome - one can only imagine this was in order to police unruly crowds. Their name might be a red herring though, as the term 'Vigiles' had come to mean something like 'a generic unit of guardsmen'.

Also, the Numeroi Tagma were a crack infantry force (albeit junior to the campaigning cavalry tagmata of the Scholae, Excubitors etc) who garrisoned Constantinople and the city prisons and were almost certainly involved in policing the daily chaos in the streets!

Hope that gives you food for thought. I can't offer a text that focuses on these matters, but you can read more on the two tagmata I mentioned in:

Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081
Byzantine Armies 886-1118
Byzantine Imperial Guardsmen 925-1025: The Tághmata and Imperial Guard

Best,
Gordon

Thanks for the kind words, folks!

Alun wrote: "Who's a clever boy, then?"

That'll be me...(or a parrot?)

Just a quick update to say that Legionary 3 has hit the #1 spot in the Amazon War charts. It may only be at the top for a wee while, but while it's there, I'll be grinning from ear to ear :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Legionary-Lan...

Nick wrote: "I was trying to find a picture of the god but to no avail! She's small and upside down if I recall correctly"

Me too - couldn't find anything on the web, but I too recall it was upside down. Pretty sure that's the same place I'm thinking of.

Alun wrote: "I better not have to enter this compo!"

Didn't you see the asterisk I put next to "yeah, I'll send you a copy"?

Hello All!

Just to let you know that the giveaway is open:
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

3 signed first edition copies up for grabs :)

I think I did - is that the church with the legion number visible on a stone above the doorway?

And whatever happened to Spoogie?

Nick wrote: "Gordon - I remember reading on your website that you used to live near Hadrian's Wall. Whereabouts?

I used to live just off Byker in Newcastle and could see parts of it when I walked to the shops...."

Not quite as near as Byker (Grove!...sorry).

I lived in Consett for 6 years, just a short drive from the easterly parts of the wall. County Durham is a beautiful part of the world & I miss it.

I now live within spitting distance of the Antonine Wall - a different beast but equally captivating!

Ex-ter-mi-nate!

Likewise if I was to narrate my own books, I'd be dalek-esque within a few pages!

mixal wrote: "Gordon wrote: "mixal wrote: "That's awesome! I was always wondering how much are the authors involved in this production - it takes a very good knowledge of the book to be able to direct it...on th..."

Interesting all the same. Word seems to mix the male and female voices depending on whether you begin on a chapter heading or not. This keeps it slightly less repetitive, but I find the speed the most annoying thing. It's veeery slow. This is a good thing for spotting mistakes etc, but it is also very long-winded and I've not been able to find a way to speed it up.

mixal wrote: "That's awesome! I was always wondering how much are the authors involved in this production - it takes a very good knowledge of the book to be able to direct it...on the other hand it might be a bi..."

I'm mainly helping the narrator with Latin pronunciations etc - he seems to have got the swing of the story without too much direction from me.

When you converted Legionary, what kind of voice did you get? Is it robotic or human/varied? I ask as one of the steps I use in editing is to listen to the book via Word or Kindle text-to-speech, and this can be painful with the monotonous voices you get by default. I might actually enjoy the process if it was well-narrated.

mixal wrote: Try audiobooks? I almost always "read" while doing something else...

Totally agree. Listening is a much underrated skill.

On that note, did you know that Legionary (the first in the series) is currently being narrated and will be released as an audiobook? some way off completion yet, but the samples I've heard so far sound great.

Paul wrote: "Have really enjoyed your work..and herein lies the problem..I have also enjoyed many other authors since joining the infinitely book rich Twitterverse...you guys need to take a break so I can get c..."

Ha! It's really snowballing, eh? I have a mountainous TBR folder on my Kindle and on my bookshelves. I only get a short while (10-20 mins a day) to leisure-read, so I really try to take my time in selecting the next book to start on.