Author Guest Post with Tom Howard: The Path of Chaos

It is the year 2030, and the Roman Empire never fell. Emperor Nero II rules half the world, but half the world is not enough for the unpredictable Emperor.

Welcome to the August 3rd stop on the blog tour for The Path of Chaos by Tom Howard with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.

Author Guest Post

Being Patient as a Writer

It’s very easy to think that, if you’re a writer, every other writer out there is much more successful than you and has mastered the craft with ease. It’s natural to think like that because we’re in a world where the world is depicted through social media glasses. Writing is, like any expert field, a skill which needs patience and practice.

Writing is deeply personal and, like I have done many times, a lot of what we write will be from very intimate experiences. When writing from that emotional place though, it can be hard to be objective about your words and then scrutinise them the way they need to be. It’s vital to develop and the only way to develop is to look at your work with a critical eye. That’s not to be mistaken with an over-critical eye in which you view all your works as rubbish, but rather being able to see what’s strong, with a clear voice and what needs working on. To do that though, takes time and patience. And practice.

I studied a Masters in Creative Writing and the most valuable aspect to that degree was time spent in a classroom doing workshops. It was hard because you would put your work out there for a class to analyse and critique. It would feel personal and awkward at first, but as the weeks went on it was the most influential element to enable me to grow as a writer. Other people, who aren’t so close to your work, can help you see what works and what doesn’t. For me, the most telling times were when the passages I thought were my strongest were viewed as my weakest and the sentences I viewed as my weakest were viewed as my strongest.

My ability as a writer is still evolving and there are things I avoid wiring because I don’t feel I have the skills to adequately express them yet. I’m practising though, so future books will have scenes and scenarios I haven’t been confident enough to write yet. It’s a wonderful journey growing and developing as a writer and I’m not going to try and rush it.

About the Book

The Path of Chaos
by Tom Howard

Published 1 August 2023
Cinnabar Moth Publishing LLC

Genre: Dystopian Alternate History
Page Count: 322
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

It is the year 2030, and the Roman Empire never fell. Emperor Nero II rules half the world, but half the world is not enough for the unpredictable Emperor.

Britannia is a Roman outpost. London Bridge is lined with crucified bodies. The streets are patrolled by soldiers in high-speed, horseless chariots. Nero views Britannia as a vital but fractious asset for his planned invasion of the Republic of Indigenous America.

Boatman King was born out of rage. A rage that propels him to try and destroy the Empire. He’s not alone: he leads clandestine rebels fighting to drive the Empire from Britannia. These rebels are his weapon, which he hopes will obliterate Nero and the entire Empire.

Rebellion, though, comes at a steep price. Olivia, Boatman’s wife, is caught and crucified on London Bridge by Nero’s son, Maximus, who is intent on flushing Boatman from hiding. Instead, Maximus draws Maverick ‘The Beast’ Kirabo, Boatman’s fearsome second-in-command, a champion gladiator who now fights for Rome’s dismay, not their entertainment.

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Excerpt

The general consensus among many Brits was that although they didn’t like Roman rule, they guessed it was better to brush themselves off and make the best of a bad situation. After all, as long as they were still allowed to have a pint or two after work then who cared whether it was a corrupt politician or Roman emperor calling the shots? With this in mind, Nero eased off the terror to a degree. Yes, he still crucified people on the streets, because it was easier than worrying about trials, but he found the British were quite happy to plod along without trying to make too much fuss. This made him happy as he didn’t have to spend too much time or energy on thinking about Britannia. Everything had changed though. Everything had changed when Boatman stepped into the limelight. Boatman challenged the status quo and inspired rebellion. He was the catalyst of a very un-British uprising against a very ruthless and terrifying emperor. Nero II obliterated anyone who even dared speak against him. He despised criticism and found it offensive that someone would ever see his rule as anything but majestic. Augustus had warned Nero that to try to obliterate Boatman was futile. He needed to reach out to the rebel leader. Nero dismissed his father’s advice as the ramblings of a dying man. The only way to live was to respect the authority of the emperor. To criticize was a sin.

About the Author

Tom was born in Essex and at 4 months old he and his identical twin were adopted into an oyster farming family. Tom now runs the business as generation eight of Haward oyster farmers.  He has a fiancée, baby daughter and a cockapoo.

Tom has an MA in Creative Writing and has loved telling stories since he was a child, whether verbally or through prose.

The Path of Chaos is his debut novel. He is also working on a six episode comedy screenplay and tweets passionately about his family’s industry and the challenges it faces.

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Giveaway Alert!

The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.

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