Day Six ` Emily Gee

Welcome to the final day of the launch party for Forbidden!

But what a supercharged packed day it is!! First up is Emily Gee who writes dark fantasy and her latest release, The Laurentine Spy has been nominated for the Sir Julius Vogel Award - congrats, Emily!



Over to Emily, who has visited some stunning locations and I am not at all jealous. At all. Well OK I am madly jealous but since Em is such a lovely person I won't hold it against her!!!

Confession time ... my favourite subject at school was Latin. Yes, I know, I was a geek, but I loved translating the poems of Catullus and the writings of Pliny (who was in Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted – and survived to write about it).

School is a long time ago now, and – alas – I’ve forgotten my Latin, but I still have a love for the Greco-Roman period. During my travels in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, I visited many an ancient ruin. The highlight would have to be the ruins of Palmyra in the Syrian desert, ruled by queen Zenobia until her capture by the Romans in AD 272.

The Greco-Roman period was a fascinating mixture of sophisticated culture and savage barbarism. The Romans had poets and philosophers, law courts and theatres – and they also had slavery and the savagery of gladiatorial combat and their legions conquered much of Europe and pressed into North Africa and the Middle East.

I love books set in the Greco-Roman world. Brenda Jagger’s Antonia (set in AD 69, during the Year of the Four Emperors) is excellent, as is Lindsey Davis’s The Silver Pigs, which brilliantly combines crime, humour, and romance in Rome and Britannia during AD 70. If you haven’t read either of these books, you must!

So, given my interest in this time period, you can imagine my excitement when I heard that Christina had written Forbidden! Greco-Roman period – check. Hot romance – check. Great writing – check. What more can a girl want?!

To celebrate the release of Forbidden, I’m giving away a copy of my latest fantasy novel, The Laurentine Spy, which combines spies, magic, romance, and an imaginary Elizabethan world. To be in the draw, tell me what you like most about the Greco-Roman period. The gladiators? The philosophers? Russell Crowe in a legionnaire’s uniform? Clive Owen wielding a sword?

Thank you, Emily!! And I'm sure it won't come as a huge surprise to know I'll pick Clive Owen wielding a sword. Or, in fact, wielding anything because I'm not that fussy when it comes to what Clive does and doesn't wield!!!



So to be in the draw to win a copy of Emily's fabulous book, what do you most like about the Greco-Roman era? (But just so you know, I'm not too keen when it comes to sharing my Clive!!!)