Day Four ~ Erica Hayes

Welcome to Day Four of the Forbidden Launch Party! And my first guest today is Urban Fantasy author Erica Hayes who writes the dark, erotic Shadowfae Chronicles set in Melbourne. Her second book in this series, Shadowglass, received a 4 star review from RT BOOK Reviews and a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Yay!



I first met up with Erica at the 2009 RWNZ conference where she sported a pair of very pretty sparkly wings, which I coveted from afar!!! And now it's over to Erica!

Hi everyone, and thanks to Christina for hosting me on her blog today!

I can't wait for the release of FORBIDDEN! I've always loved the intrigues and conflicts of Ancient Rome, ever since I discovered I, Claudius tucked away on my parents' bookshelves when I was a kid. The story of the clever boy at the cut-throat court of Augustus, who pretended to be a fool so he could stay alive while his smarter, more beautiful cousins were banished, tricked and murdered around him fascinated me. I read that book and watched the amazing BBC production over and over.

It took twenty-five years for Caesar's Rome in all its sordid grandeur to appear on TV again, and I was glued to the HBO series Rome from the beginning. Blood, sex, excess, some truly vile characters, kick-ass women and James Purefoy in a skirt. What's not to like?

(Also, in the meantime, you may have caught a little movie called Gladiator. Did I say men in skirts? Oh, my.)

On that note, it's a wonder there aren't more romance stories set in the early Roman period. Maybe it's because the real history is so rife with poisonings and back-stabbing and blood-soaked coups de tat that we're afraid we could never invent something so fascinating!

But in all their deliciously corrupt glory, the Romans are wonderful story fodder. Today, they're as instantly recognisable as Vikings or Highlanders, with their distinctive clothing and armour (I did mention men in skirts, right?). But back in the day, they had advanced technology and mighty weapons of war that had never been seen before. To the tribes they conquered – and like Star Trek's Borg, the Romans assimilated everyone they laid eyes on, from Britain to North Africa and further – they must have seemed like alien invaders, incomprehensible and unstoppable. Scary stuff.

Anyway. Back to the men in skirts. Congrats to Christina on her new release, FORBIDDEN from Berkley Heat. Druids and illicit love. I can't wait!

Wow, I'd never quite seen the Romans as the Borg before but it's scarily true!!! What a fabulous comparison. Thank you, Erica! And to be in with a chance of winning the next book in Erica's Shadowfae Chronicles, Poison Kissed, what's your fave TV show or series or movie set in the past?