The Gladiator Prince - Minnette Mineador's Blog Tour with Giveaways galore!

I'm thrilled to welcome Minnette Meador to my Blog today. Although I write futuristic romance, myself, I've always been interested in ancient history and love reading historical fiction. Minnette's going to tell us some facts about some famous, and not so famous characters from history

Over to you, Minnette:

ANCIENT CHARACTERS – FACT OR FICTION

In the first two books in this series, THE CENTURION & THE QUEEN and THE EDGE OF HONOR, I used some very real characters from history; Boudicca, General Suetonius, Seneca, General Afranius, and nods to Caligula and Nero. Boudicca was a Celtic Queen who led 30,000 Britons against the Roman Legion led by General Suetonius, who later tried to exterminate the Celtic people in Britannia. Seneca was a philosopher of the day and is a secondary character in Edge as is General Afranius, at that time the leader of the Emperor’s Praetorian Guard.

The new book, THE GLADIATOR PRINCE, is actually more intimate, though many of the characters are fashioned after real people. Thane, of course, is a very typical Celtic warrior of the time; the Romans took literally thousands of prisoners after the Boudicca uprisings and had them put to death or enslaved them. There was a glut of slaves at the time, and many of the strongest warriors were turned into gladiators (although most of the Trinovantes and Iceni were put to death after the revolt).

Phaedra is the daughter of a gladiatorial Lanista, Abella, and a conglomerate of the diversity at the time in Britannia. Her mother was Roman but her father is Syrian. She was raised in Rome and later Britannia.

Nero does play a tacit role in the book; he is the current emperor and his sanity has been slipping for several years by this point. When Thane meets Prisca, a powerful Roman Delicatae (a high ranking prostitute who serves Nero), we see a very interesting picture of the mad Emperor.

Hasani, my Egyptian pirate, is generally based off Mediterranean pirates, who had been nearly wiped out by this time in history. Of course, Egypt was under Roman rule when the story takes place, but there were lots of “left over” royalty running around (descendants of Cleopatra, the last pharaoh). Hasani’s mother was one of these princesses and his father was a Roman procurator (administrator).

It was a blast researching these people and trying to get inside their heads. Seneca in particular since he was an amazingly brilliant man and a wonderful writer. Unfortunately, he died when he was ordered by Nero to kill himself. That these people were able to survive and flourish during this very brutal time in history is sobering. I’m glad no one can tell me to take a sword to myself because they didn’t like something I wrote! :o)

BLURB:

Prince Thane is the last surviving royalty of the Trinovantes Tribe in Roman Britannia, having surrendered to the Romans after the Boudicca Revolt to save his two daughters, whose identities he sacrifices his freedom to protect. He is condemned by Nero himself to become a gladiator, to fight until he dies in the arena. When his two daughters are taken in a slaver's raid, Thane escapes, forcing the daughter of his master to take him to Rome to save his children. Little does he know that the beautiful Syrian woman holds not only the key to his passion, but a secret that triggers a disaster that ignites the world. Will this spoiled willful girl betray him in the end or sacrifice herself to save them all? Book III of the Centurion Series.

PURCHASE HERE FROM RESPLENDENCE PUBLISHING


Author bio:

Somewhere between thirty and dust...red hair, blue eyes...six kids, one slightly used husband, and any number of pets from time to time... wanttabe hippy... wanttheirmoney yuppie...pro musician and actress for 20 Years... native Oregonian... lover of music, beauty, and all things green. Willing slave to the venerable muse. Minnette currently resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband, having replaced the children with one dog. The dog, Pierre, pretty much runs the show.

http://www.minnettemeador.com/
http://minnettemeador.blogspot.com/

GIVEAWAY

Minnette has offered to giveaway a $25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate to one randomly drawn commenter on her tour. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment and your e-mail address.

In addition, she will be giving away this lovely gladiator's helmet keyring to one commentor on this blog

Follow Minnette on her tour (details below) and comment for more chances to win her Gift Certificate.

Tomorrow she'll be at: News and Reviews from the Heart of the Dragon's Den

MINNETE'S TOUR STOPS:
9/7/2011 Goddess Fish Party Pavilion
9/8/2011 Romance That's Out of This World (That's me, folks!*grin*)
9/9/2011 News and Reviews from the Heart of the Dragon's Den
9/12/2011 Books Read 'n' Makeup On
9/13/2011 Black Velvet Seductions Reader's Blog
9/14/2011 Sara York
9/15/2011 The Celtic Rose
9/16/2011 Lisa Sanchez
9/19/2011 Long and Short Reviews Spotlight
9/20/2011 Long and Short Reviews Spotlight
9/21/2011 Long and Short Reviews Spotlight
9/22/2011 Long and Short Reviews Spotlight
9/23/2011 Long and Short Reviews Spotlight
9/26/2011 Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
9/27/2011 Sheila Deeth
9/28/2011 Words of Wisdom from the Scarf Princess
9/29/2011 Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews
9/30/2011 Sugarbeat's Books
10/3/2011 Realmantic Moments
10/4/2011 Proud Book Nerd

'STARQUEST' 'CHILDREN OF THE MIST' (The sequel to Starquest) Dancing With Fate 'Freeread':'A BARGAIN WITH DEATH 'STARQUEST' 'CHILDREN OF THE MIST' (The sequel to Starquest) Dancing With Fate 'Freeread':'A BARGAIN WITH DEATH'

Also available on Kindle