You may know me as B. McGraw the parody science article writer. Well I happen to be a man who also thinks about the Roman empire daily. Instead of making loose alarmist connections with ‘tHe FaLl Of ThE aMeRiCaN eMpIrE’ I wrote a historical fiction about a Roman civil war. I’m proud to announce that I am in the final editing stages of publishing my second book and first novel “69 Part 1: The Fake it till ya Make it Emperor” and can share the cover. The dark comedy follows the Roman emperor Otho’s rise to power and the turbulent events of 69AD. Well, some of the turbulent events, the others are in part 2.
After being a vertex in a Love triangle with the emperor Nero ending in a banishment by boring political posting on the other side of the empire, Nero kills himself. Otho’s ambitions for the imperial throne take over after befriending the new childless emperor Galba. The plan: get adult adopted. Unfortunately, his new ambitions has a big price tag and despite having no money, he finds enough lenders who thinks he’s good for it. Bribery, access, and pretending to be all that is expensive. Needless to say, it does not play out as Otho expects.
It’s a mostly true story as Tacitus and the other historians of the time had plenty of juicy details already…but ya gotta fill in some gaps. In this post I’ve included a pdf of chapter 1 and 7 because 7 is stand alone and doesn’t spoil too much of the plot as it introduces the fictional Praetorian guard characters Languidus and Tributus.
If you are intrigued beyond your wildest dreams, contact me (bmcgraw584682@gmail.com) if you would like an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) so that I can get some Amazon reviews. I’m aiming for a December release.
Chapter 1
Chapter 7