Malasz

Reviewed by Erin Eymard. Marcus Antonius Primus began a golden age for humanity when he liberated Roma from Octavian Caesar and became sole Consul. With wisdom from the gods, future Antonii Consuls conquered the world and spawned an interstellar civilization. Three weeks before the millennial anniversary of the Antonii Ascension, star freighter captain Kaeso Aemelius, a blacklisted security agent from Roman rival world Libertus, is asked by his former commanders to help a high-ranking Roman official defect. Kaeso misses his lone wolf espionage days—and its freedom from responsibility for a crew—so he sees the mission as a way back into the spy business. Kaeso sells it to his crew of outcasts as a quick, lucrative contract…without explaining his plan to abandon them for his old job. But Kaeso soon learns the defector’s terrifying secret, one that proves the last thousand years of history was built on a lie. Can Kaeso protect his crew from Roman and Liberti forces, who would l...

A few weeks ago, we revealed the cover for Citizen Magus , the first book in a new series by Rob Steiner. Today, Steiner has granted us permission to reveal the first chapter of the story. Enjoy! CITIZEN MAGUS by Rob Steiner CHAPTER ONE My name is Remington Blakes, but people in 6 B.C. Rome call me Natta Magus. Why? For starters, I am a fully trained, licensed, and insured magus from twenty-first century Detroit in the American Union. Second, I needed to feed myself somehow after I got stranded in ancient Rome, so I set up my own magus shop on the Aventine Hill. What Roman would hire Remington when they could hire (cue epic echo) Natta Magus . It means something like "artisanal wizard" in Latin, so I guess you could call it a marketing decision. But there were times like now, running through Rome's crowded streets on my way to stop a magical murder, that I wondered if there were safer ways to earn money. Like joining the legions. Gaius Aurelius Vitulus, my Pra...

Rob Steiner has started a new series: the Journals of Natta Magus. Here to tell us more about the book and its Kindle Scout campaign is Rob Steiner. I’m really excited to announce a Kindle Scout campaign for my new novel, Citizen Magus . Remington Blakes, a magus from a 21st century where magic powers the world, has a big problem. His former mentor, William Ford, stranded him in ancient Rome without a memory as to how or why. Well a guy has to eat, so he’s forced to eke out a living as a magus-for-hire among Rome’s plebeians. But when Ford conjures daemons to kidnap a senator’s young daughter, Remi tracks him to the Germanic frontier to not only rescue the child, but learn the terrible secret behind why he left Remi in Rome. The campaign works like this: Readers can nominate my book for a publishing deal with Kindle Press. If Kindle Press picks up my book, your nomination will earn you a free copy once it’s published. The more nominations I get, the better my chances for a deal ...

Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Rob Steiner , the author of The Last Key , Aspect of Pale Night , Zervakan , and the Codex Antonius trilogy. His short stories have appeared in Bastion and Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show . As has been posted here previously, Steiner has just concluded the Codex Antonius trilogy with the publication of Muses of the Republic. Now, he's here to talk to us about...everything. New Podler: Thanks for being here with us today, Rob! Rob Steiner: I appreciate you having me. NP: Anyone familiar with your recent work, both in novel and short story form, will notice a certain Roman element to it. Is it safe to say you're a Romanophile? RS: Am I that obvious, lol? Yes, I’m huge Romanophile. I mean, the Western civilization we know today came right out of Rome, from its languages to its religious customs (the Christian/pagan mashups), to its roads (still used throughout Europe), and even its lawyers (Romans sued the beje...

Anne Charnock announced the title of her next book and how it came about. Mike Reeves-McMillan announced that a story of his has been selected for the Terry Pratchett In Memory anthology. Proceeds go to benefit research into finding a cure for Alzheimer's. Rob Steiner has been busy lately. Two of his stories have recently appeared in Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show : " The Oath Breaker's Daemon " and " The Cloaca Maxima ". He also published the third story in his Codex Antonius series, Muses of the Republic . Michael J. Sullivan started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a third Riyria Chronicles novel entitled The Death of Dulgath . The campaign was successfully funded in just under 48 hours . I find it interesting that after signing a major book deal , he still feels the need to self-publish.

Rob Steiner has revealed the third cover in the Codex Antonius series , Muses of the Republic . In case you haven't been following it (and why the hell not!), it's a sci-fi/alt history series about a Roman Empire that didn't fall. Instead it thrived, conquered the world, and spawned an interstellar civilization. Rob hired Tom Edwards to create the cover. Edwards also created the covers for M. Terry Green's Chronicles of White World . The ebook is out now . The paperback is scheduled to be released later this month. There's a compendium containing all three ebooks. You can get that here .

Bastion is a science fiction magazine. Normally we don't review zines, but I don't see why not. They're similar to anthologies in that they contain multiple authors working around a central theme. In this case, that central theme is simple: science fiction. But as I look deeper, I see memory as a common thread. Another important point is that this issue was not submitted to us. I saw that Rob Steiner was one of the authors in this issue, so I went out and bought it. I'm reviewing it on GoodReads so I may as well post it here too. Small press zines are like indie authors: Publicity is better than obscurity. The issue opens with "Good Times" by Alexander Jones. Memories are the latest drug. Someone has created the technology where one can extract memories from one person and inject them into another. The experience is like living through them firsthand. Like all drugs, there's always the risk of overdose. I really liked this story. While the characters in...

A great book cover inspires readers to ask the question the book seeks to answer. Since my design skills scream “amateur” (to put it kindly), I hired professionals to design great covers for two books I will publish in 2013. I think both designers did a fantastic job conveying the question of each book, and it was a pleasure to work with them both. ZERVAKAN ZERVAKAN is a fantasy novel set in a world with 19th century technology -- steam engines, guns, telegraphs -- where two magical bands of light suddenly appear in the sky one night, spanning the horizons like rings around the planet. A scientist and a priest must discover the mystery behind the rings before their world is consumed by an evil they're not ready to fight. Given the setting, I wanted a cover with a 19th century feel, but one that said "fantasy" and not "historical." TJ Lomas brought my vision to life. He found an old photograph and added two bands of magical light on the horizons. He added c...