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Today, I am chatting with Alison Morton about NEXUS, a novella in her acclaimed Roma Nova series.
Sitting between AURELIA and INSURRECTIO, NEXUS finds Aurelia at a different point in her life. Her days as a Praetorian may be behind her, but a new career in diplomacy does not necessarily mean a quieter existence.
Alison joins me today to talk about filling an intriguing gap in Aurelia’s story, writing a fast-paced thriller in novella form, and returning to the fascinating alternative world of Roma Nova.
But first, let's check out NEXUS
Publisher: Pulcheria Press
Print Length: 148 Pages
Genre: Alternative History / Historical Thriller
A favour for a friend or a bullet in the heart?
Aurelia Mitela is serving as Roma Nova’s ambassador in London. But a spate of high-level killings wrenches her away from helping a friend into leading a pan-European investigation. Badly beaten in Rome as a warning, she is devastated when the killers kidnap her companion, Miklós, and send an ultimatum: Back off or he’ll die.
But Aurelia is a Roma Novan and they never give up…
Set in the mid 1970s between AURELIA and INSURRECTIO in the Aurelia Mitela Roma Nova adventures, this novella gives you a glimpse into Aurelia's early diplomatic life and her role as intelligence agent.– Discovering Diamonds Reviews Book of the Month
NEXUS bridges the events between AURELIA and INSURRECTIO. What made you decide there was an important chapter in Aurelia's life that readers needed to experience through this novella?
When I was writing INSURRECTIO, I realised there was an interesting gap in Aurelia's story. AURELIA is set in the late 1960s, when she's a senior Praetorian officer and is dealing with the threat from Caius Tellus. Then INSURRECTIO moves us into the early 1980s, when Aurelia is much further on in her career and plunges us into the political crisis that becomes the Great Rebellion.
So I knew what had happened at either end, but there was this intriguing period in the middle.
NEXUS is linked to an incident mentioned in the later Aurelia stories. I wanted to go back and explore it properly, but I also wanted to see if I could write a novella-length story!
Aurelia has transitioned from a military career to a foreign service one as Roma Nova's ambassador in London, yet she quickly finds herself drawn back into danger. How does this new diplomatic role reveal different sides of her character?
Aurelia is an ex-Praetorian by this stage, but she certainly hasn't stopped thinking like one!
Diplomacy requires rather different skills from military and intelligence work. She has to listen, observe, negotiate and work out what people are really saying and – just as importantly – what they're not saying.
I enjoyed putting her into situations where she can't simply deal with a problem in the way she might have done as a Praetorian. She has to use relationships and information, and sometimes diplomacy is about knowing when not to act.
But Aurelia is still Aurelia. She's curious, determined and not particularly good at leaving a problem alone when she thinks someone is in trouble. So when a favour for a friend becomes something much more sinister, her old instincts inevitably come into play.
And I think we see her becoming more politically aware. She's learning that power isn't only about what you can do yourself; it's also about who you know, what you know and what you can persuade other people to do.
The title NEXUS suggests connections and relationships. Without giving away any spoilers, what does the title represent within the story?
A nexus is a connection, a point where different things meet, but it can also signify a knot or entanglement.
There are connections between people, countries and apparently separate events. Aurelia is also in a position where her personal and professional worlds begin to intersect rather more dangerously than she'd like. A ‘knotty’ situation!
And there are connections and entanglements in the intelligence sense too. One apparently isolated event can suddenly turn out to be part of something much bigger.
I liked the ambiguity of the word. It suggests that something is connected without telling you exactly what the connection is – perfect for a thriller!
This novella combines political intrigue with a relentless chase across Europe. What challenges did you face in maintaining such a fast pace while still developing the characters and their relationships?
The biggest danger in a thriller is having characters running around at enormous speed while the reader thinks, ‘Yes, but why should I care?’ So it’s essential that the emotional story runs alongside the action. The danger matters because of what Aurelia has to lose and because of the people involved.
The fact that NEXUS is a novella made that particularly important. I didn’t have the luxury of developing multiple sub-plots as I have done in the full-length novels around 100,000 words. Every scene had to earn its place and every word had to work twice as hard.
I tend to look for scenes that can do several things at once – move the investigation forward, reveal something about a character, develop a relationship and increase the tension. If I can get all four into one scene, I'm very happy!
Miklós becomes central to the emotional stakes of the story. How important was it to explore Aurelia's personal relationships alongside her responsibilities as a diplomat and intelligence operative?
Very important. Aurelia may be extremely capable professionally, but she isn't a machine!
Miklós is her life companion, and their relationship is a significant part of Aurelia's story across this strand of the Roma Nova series. I wanted NEXUS to explore that relationship under pressure.
Aurelia is used to dealing with danger herself. It's rather different when someone she loves is threatened. Suddenly, the decisions aren't simply professional ones, and her emotions become part of the equation.
I deliberately made Aurelia and Miklós’ relationship unconventional. They're both independent people, both capable and both carrying their own history. They don't need to rescue each other from life, but they do care very deeply about each other.
Set in the mid-1970s, NEXUS unfolds during a period of Cold War tension across Europe. How did the political climate of the time influence the story and the threats Aurelia faces?
The world of NEXUS isn't identical to our own and I leave the Cold War we experienced in our timeline rather vague in the Roma Nova one. Of course, political tensions with and between other countries exist. As a small independent country, Roma Nova has to navigate all that. It achieves this by being discreet, well informed and very careful about whom it trusts.
I do enjoy the practical limitations of the period. No mobile phones, no internet, no instant access to everything you need to know. And we have fax! If you're trying to find someone or pass information discreetly, you have to think about how you actually do it. Sometimes, that can make a thriller writer's life much easier, but other times not.
Writing a novella requires a different approach from writing a full-length novel. How did you adapt your storytelling to deliver a complete, satisfying thriller within a shorter format?
I had to be ruthless!
I'd already experimented with the novella form in CARINA, which tells a specific incident that sits between the full-length Carina novels. NEXUS gave me the opportunity to do something similar for Aurelia.
The key was deciding that I wanted a stand-alone adventure, rather than trying to cram a full-length Roma Nova catastrophe into a much shorter book. I didn't want the novella to have the same scale or complexity as the major crises in the novels. So the story has to be tightly focused.
Throughout the Roma Nova series, loyalty is a recurring theme. In NEXUS, Aurelia must balance loyalty to friends, loved ones and her country. Why does this theme continue to resonate so strongly in your writing?
Because loyalty becomes really interesting when different loyalties conflict. It's easy to be loyal when everyone wants the same thing. But what happens when your country needs one thing, someone you love needs another and your own conscience is pulling you somewhere else?
That's particularly important in Roma Nova because it's a small country whose survival depends heavily on the loyalty and cohesion of its people. The Roman values underpinning the society aren't just historical decoration; they affect how people behave and what they expect from one another. And when somebody transgresses those values and norms, it’s usually disastrous all round.
Of course, individuals have their own lives too. Aurelia has responsibilities to Roma Nova, but also to friends, family and Miklós. She isn't going to stop being a person simply because she's serving her country.
I think that's why the theme continues to resonate. Most of us aren't making decisions about the survival of a tiny Roman state, but we all have competing loyalties. Sometimes there isn't a completely comfortable answer. And those are exactly the choices I like writing about.
NEXUS was recognised as a Discovering Diamonds Reviews Book of the Month. What did that recognition mean to you, and how has the response from readers compared with your full-length Roma Nova novels?
The Discovering Diamonds review was especially gratifying because the reviewer described NEXUS as a stand-alone read as well as part of the Aurelia sequence. That's exactly what I'd hoped to achieve.
The response from readers has also been gratifying because NEXUS seems to work at two levels. Readers who already know Roma Nova can spend more time with Aurelia and Miklós and see an episode that sits between the main novels. But it can also be viewed as a completely self-contained thriller.
And I think there's something particularly satisfying about writing a novella around a character readers already know. You don't have to discover her from scratch – you can get straight into trouble with her!
For readers who have enjoyed AURELIA, what can they expect to discover about Aurelia's journey in NEXUS, and how does it prepare them for the events that follow in INSURRECTIO?
NEXUS shows Aurelia at a different stage of her life. She's moved on from her career as a Praetorian, but her intelligence skills and instincts are still very much part of who she is.
Readers also discover more about Aurelia and Miklós's relationship and what happens when the professional and personal sides of her life collide.
But I wouldn't want readers to think of NEXUS simply as a precursor to INSURRECTIO. It's a complete adventure in its own right. What it does provide is another piece of the puzzle – another experience that helps us understand Aurelia as she moves towards the woman we meet in INSURRECTIO.
And there's quite a leap between the late 1960s of AURELIA and the 1980s setting of INSURRECTIO. By then, Aurelia has risen considerably further in Roma Nova's political world, becoming a senator, deputy foreign minister and chief councillor to Imperatrix Severina.
NEXUS gives us the opportunity to see some of the ground she's travelled before we arrive at that much bigger political crisis.
For me, that's one of the pleasures of writing a series. You don't have to show every single year of a character's life, but you can choose the moments that matter – and sometimes the apparently smaller adventures tell us a great deal about how someone becomes the person they eventually are.
A huge thank you to Alison Morton for joining me today and taking us behind the scenes of NEXUS.
There is something particularly enjoyable about returning to an established character at a different stage of her life, and NEXUS offers readers another opportunity to spend time with Aurelia while also providing a complete adventure in its own right.
For existing Roma Nova readers, it adds another piece to Aurelia’s remarkable journey, while its stand-alone story also makes it an inviting way for new readers to discover Alison’s alternative Roman world.
If you enjoy alternative history, political intrigue and character-driven thrillers, NEXUS is certainly one to add to your reading list.
Pick up your copy of NEXUS HERE
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See you on your next coffee break!
Take Care,
Mary Anne xxx