An Interview with Ben Kane and a giveaway of The Silver Eagle Novel

Ever since I devoured the Forgotten Legion, Ben Kane's thrilling novel set in the early decline of the Roman empire, I have been anxiously waiting for the sequel to be released. Two weeks ago, my galley of The Silver Eagle arrived in the mail and I plunged right in.



This second novel by Ben Kane is just as thrilling as the first. Whereas Kane dedicated a great deal of the Forgotten Legion to the underbelly of Roman society: gladiators and prostitutes, this novel focuses more on Roman battle tactics and the political situation. The novel goes back and forth between the lives of Romulus and Fabiola, two former slave twins. Fabiola is the treasured mistress of one of Caesar's favorite officers, and Romulus is journeying back to Rome after spending years as a Roman centurion in the Far East.



Although this tome was more focused on warfare, I still found it as much of a page-turner as the Forgotten Legion, and am eager to read the third and final installment when Kane finishes writing it. I would recommend this book to any fan of historical fiction. Although it is a sequel, it stands on its own, and a reader does not need to have read the Forgotten Legion to appreciate the Silver Eagle.





I am giving away a copy of the Silver Eagle today. Please leave me a comment before Friday, April 16 to be entered for a chance to win. I'll pick the winner at random that night.



Ben Kane was kind enough to answer a few of my questions after I finished The Forgotten Legion. I'll share our interview here:



1) Tell me a little about your writing process for The Forgotten Legion. Did you immerse yourself in the history, then write a draft, then go back to research the specific characters to make sure they were historically correct?

My writing process for The Forgotten Legion was quite convoluted, really. It is actually the second Roman novel I've written. The first, which reads terrbily to me nowadays, is still on the hard drive of my laptop. To write it, however, I did the most incredible amount of research: I must have read 25-30 textbooks on the Roman Empire and its armies. With this knowledge, I had to do slightly less research for The Forgotten Legion, but I still waded my way through at least a dozen textbooks before starting it. I sit with texts all around me as I write, and constantly refer to them when I can't remember a certain detail. If I can't find what I want, I write 'CHECK' in bold type, so that when I'm editing later, I can't miss it! Regarding specific research for the characters, no I didn't go back and do that later - I did it beforehand and wrote notes which I could refer to as I went along.



2) How do you make time for your writing between your veterinarian job and your family?

Nowadays, I don't have to as I have given up veterinary medicine (hopefully permanently!). I 'only' work 40-50 hours a week writing. During the writing of The Forgotten Legion and The Silver Eagle, however, it was a very different matter. Basically, I worked 40-60 hours per week as a veterinarian, and wrote for 20-30 hours per week as well. That involved getting up at 4.45 every morning, and writing for more than 2 hours before going to 'real' work. I lived on adrenaline, coffee, and the goodwill of my lovely wife.



3) When I first read your bio and saw that you had an interest in military history, I groaned aloud. I thought the Forgotten Legion would be filled with dull battle scenes like some other historical fiction works I won't mention. But the battles made complete sense to me and had me on the edge of my seat. The camaraderie of the soldiers and their respect for their immediate leader was what made the battles come to life. Did you run your book by some female readers to make sure it would appeal to them?

Funny that you thought that!! It's one of the reasons I had a main female character - to avoid the typical 'all guy', macho type novel that can be typical of the genre. The only female reader I ran it by was my wife!



4) Your depiction of Fabiola's brothel life is quite vivid. What type of sources did you find to describe brothels in this Roman period?

I researched information about the brothels in Pompeii. Unfortunately, there is very little other information surviving about this topic. I also also watched numerous TV documentaries on places like Nevada in the USA and Holland in Europe, where prostitution is legal. Although more than 2000 years have passed by since the period of The Forgotten Legion, I judged that many things would still be the same. Hopefully, my descriptions conveyed the horror of someone very young being sold into such a situation. Incidentally, I found the scenes very hard to write.



5) Has the Forgotten Legion been optioned for movie rights or TV rights? Unfortunately not! But I truly believe it will be one day. The scope is so epic that it would make the most amazing movie.