Pump Up Your Book Chats with James Mace

Since I can remember I have always had a passion for history. My love of Roman history started when I first watched the series “I, Claudius”. I then proceeded to read every Roman book I could get my hands on.

I got my start writing bodybuilding and physical fitness articles forBodybuilding.com, as well as a lesser-know magazine, HardCore Muscle. I turned to writing historical novels when I was in Iraq. My intent was to write the stories that I wanted to read, but could not find. While we may hear stories about the Emperors and Generals of antiquity, we almost never hear the stories of the men who did the actual fighting under them. Sadly, most historical data is lost, the individual soldiers being long since forgotten by history. My attempt with The Artorian Chronicles is to tell the story of a common legionary and what could have happened throughout his career.

More recently I have turned to other periods in history and have started work on a pair of historical novels about the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. The working title for the first book is “Brutal Valour”. I’m tentatively planning for it to be released sometime in 2012, along with the fifth book in The Artorian Chronicles, “Soldier of Rome: Judea”.

You can visit James at http://legionarybooks.net

On Soldier of Rome: The Legionary

Q: Can you tell us why you wrote your book?

I write books that I want to read but have been unable to find. I love reading historical novels and would search all over for ones about the Roman legions. Oddly enough, these are extremely rare. Books about Rome are almost always about the Imperial family or other famous historical persons. The legionaries are almost always relegated to bit players, if they’re even mentioned at all. I therefore decided to write a story and tell it from the perspective of a soldier in the ranks.

Something else I wished to do was ‘set the record straight’ regarding the Roman army. In books and film they are almost always portrayed as the villains, and are often inept and clumsy. This is highly disrespectful, given that the indigenous peoples of lands they conquered were far from the peace loving types they are often portrayed as; plus one should remember that Rome brought technology, medicine, order, and overall better quality of life to the lands they conquered. They were also arguably the greatest military force the world has ever seen. Their weapons were superior to their foes, their armor provided excellent protection, and their discipline and training made them virtually unstoppable. Some have made mention that many of the battles in this book are very one-sided. My response to that is; try taking an untrained mob, armed with spears and clubs, against a professional army who are equipped with javelins, swords, wearing plate armor, fighting behind a shield wall, and see what happens.

I chose the campaigns of Germanicus Caesar because they had always fascinated me, yet were scarcely talked about. Most ancient historians know about the disaster in Teutoburger Wald, where three Roman legions were betrayed by the Germanic war chief, Arminius, ambushed and destroyed. What is not covered in detail are the campaigns of retribution that took place six years later, when the Emperor Tiberius sent his adopted son, Germanicus Caesar, with a huge army to destroy the Germanic Alliance.

I made the protagonist, Artorius, very young because from the very beginning I contemplated turning this into a series. I got the idea from the C.S. Forrester series, ‘Horatio Hornblower’, which follows a British Naval officer throughout his entire career. I wanted to do the same with a Roman legionary, since it had never been done before.

Q: Which part of the book was the hardest to write?

Character development was by far the hardest for me, and this holds true for the entire series. Epic battles involving thousands of combatants, told at a fast pace in extremely graphic detail, comes all-too-easy for me. The difficulty lies in the individual complexities of each character, not just the main protagonist. I’m not sure how other authors do it, but what worked for me was basing characters on people I know. I would visualize someone in a particular role and that character would start to take on traits of the person I saw in my head. You will see a lot more development of secondary characters as the series progresses. Since this is not a standalone book, I knew I did not have to finish the story arcs on any of the characters. In fact, when writing a series that is something you do not want to do. If a character completes their evolution of development in one book, then you have nothing left to do with them when writing a sequel. The key is finding the right balance.

Q: Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

This book is extremely graphic in its depictions of war and violence; no real surprise, given that I wrote the initial drafts while serving in Iraq. While my purpose is to tell of historical events in the context of a novel, there is definitely a message that is not really underlying, but slammed right into the face of the reader in brutal detail. That message is that war is the ultimate failure of mankind; there is honor in fighting for one’s country, but there is no glory.

On Writing

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

My first experience with professional writing came in 2001 when I started writing articles for Bodybuilding.com. They are truly the ones who gave me my start as a writer. I got offered a part-time position with a magazine called HardCore Muscle soon after. It is too bad they are now defunct, because it was enjoyable, plus it gave me a lot of much needed experience.

When I was in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 I decided then that I was going to put Artorius’ story to paper. Our rifle company was at a small patrol base, which gave us a lot of autonomy. When I wasn’t out on missions, I slept, ate, hit the gym, and wrote a book. That was my life until I came home. A good friend of mine, Don LaMott, let me use his laptop; without him, I don’t know that I would have ever finished ‘The Legionary’. I printed off an initial draft with the intent of allowing one or two friends to read it, since I was very self conscious and filled with doubts about what I had written. Instead, it ended up getting passed around the platoon! The amount of positive feedback I received fueled my motivation. I even went so far as to write a couple chapters of a sequel, just to see if I could carry the story beyond the conclusion of just one book.

Q: What’s the most frustrating thing about becoming a published author and what’s the most rewarding?

The most frustrating aspect of becoming published is that one has to let negative reviews roll off their back and not take them personally. I have to sometimes remember the Number One rule in the Army when doing an after action review; No thin skins! I’ve seen numerous reviews that say my books are the best in Roman historical fiction; and then I’ve seen others who called my first novel the worst book ever written.

Q: Do you have a writing tip you’d like to share?

Whatever you do, don’t stop! It is frustrating to see potential in someone’s work, only to have them quit before it is complete. So don’t even think about publishing until after you have a finished story in hand, because if you never finish, what’s the point of even talking about publication?

On Family and Home:

Q: Would you like to tell us about your home life? Where you live? Family? Pets?

I live in Meridian, Idaho, which is just outside of Boise. My parents, as well as my sister and her family, live in the area; far enough away that we all live our own lives, but close enough that I can go mooch a free meal a few times a month! I date and I have been in a few serious relationships, though I have never been married.

I have a pretty big house, and since it’s just me I decided after I came home from Iraq in 2005 that I needed a pet. I elected to go with cats, because they are about zero maintenance and it’s alright if I leave them for a few weeks at a time whenever I travel.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

Though I take my laptop all over the place, really the only place I write at home is in my upstairs office. I have stuff in there that I feel inspires my creative side. There’s a giant painting of Shakespeare right above my desk, a suit of Roman segmented plate armor next to it, and various pictures and a few statues.

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

During the summer I like to go for jogs and bike rides on the Greenbelt, which runs parallel to the Boise River. I also spend a lot of time at the gym. Another passion of mine is live theater and the performing arts. Probably my favorite local get away is going to a play at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Just recently I’ve seriously gotten the ‘travel bug’ and fortunately am now in a position to where I can afford to travel around the world. I spent part of last summer in Ireland, which was more conducive to my writing muse than any other place I’ve been. I’m headed to England and Wales in September and am debating going to KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in January. Someplace in continental Europe, most likely Italy, will follow that.

On Childhood:

Q: Were you the kind of child who always had a book in her/his hand?

Probably no more than any other child of my generation and I would say less than those who grew up with Harry Potter. I had what I think was a very balanced childhood. My sister and I spent good amounts of time reading, watching TV, and we had video games; however, we also spent a lot of time outside with our friends. For us, having a bicycle was the right of passage in the years before one became old enough to drive.

Q: Can you remember your favorite book?

The Hobbit was the first book of real quality that I read from start to finish. I fell in love with the story and immediately asked my parents where their copy of Lord of the Rings was. It was soon after this that they got me into Roman history. I remember PBS doing a rebroadcast of ‘I, Claudius’ and I dove headfirst into the story. My Dad told me that they had the books, and from then on I was hooked.

Q: Do you remember writing stories when you were a child?

Well according to my parents I’ve been telling stories since I was about six; a bit of an interesting paradox, given that until I was twelve my Mum worried that I might never take to reading. Another interesting thing is that while I loved creative writing, I absolutely hated English classes. Given how badly I struggled with those, I think a number of my former teachers would be surprised to find out I later became a professional writer.

On Book Promotion:

Q: What was the first thing you did as far as promoting your book?

Book promotion is ever evolving, and for the first couple years after The Legionary came out I didn’t do much of anything. The first actual promotion I did was a book signing at a Roman historical reenactment in South Carolina. I think I sold a grand total of seventeen books. After that I worked on subsequent novels of the Soldier of Rome series, always in the hope that I would eventually get picked up by a big publishing house and they could do all the promoting for me.

The first promotional event that I considered a success, both in networking as well as actual books sold, was a couple years ago when a local store in Boise called Rediscovered Books did an annual book signing with thirteen authors from the area. They did an outstanding job advertising, and I was fortunate enough to have my table placed right by the front door. The store was packed with patrons for nearly four hours and I remember the store workers had to restock my table with books several times. This also gave me the chance to network with other authors. One who I shared my table with was Aaron Patterson of Stonehouse Ink. It was he who referred me to Pump Up Your Book.

Q: Are you familiar with the social networks and do you actively participate?

Without a doubt, social networking is the way to market and advertise oneself in the age of internet, smart phones, and Facebook. I’m slowly working my way onto more social networking platforms, though the ones I use the most are Facebook and to a lesser extent LinkedIn. Just recently, a fellow historian named Wendy Bertsch started a page called Past Times. I have all of my books posted in their catalog and I think there is a lot of potential for it to become a central resource for history enthusiasts.

Q: How do you think book promotion has changed over the years?

Book promotion has been tossed up in the air and slammed onto its head. At one time one had to get in with a big house or else be doomed to commercial failure and obscurity. It has only been very recent that the playing field has been leveled, and this is in a large part due to the explosion in popularity of eBooks. Aspiring authors who had been turned away by agents and who could not afford self publishing can put their works into digital format for Amazon Kindle and other readers for minimal cost. The reading audience now decides whether or not a story is of quality, rather than the so-called literary experts.

Unique concepts like the blog tour are now taking root and it will be interesting to see where it goes. The cost is negligible and the exposure is massive; far greater than buying advertising space in a magazine or newspaper, which are incredibly expensive. Blogs, as well as social networks like Facebook, has redefined marketing. The term ‘viral’ has now replaced ‘word of mouth’. It is a lot harder to predict what will and will not go viral in terms of popularity. I am currently working on a series of videos to promote my books. I’m almost finished with one for ‘The Legionary’ and will be posting it to YouTube once I get the licensing rights to a soundtrack I wish to use. Needless to say, it is an exciting time for indie authors!

On Other Fun Stuff:

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

I would wish for is a cure for cancer. This is something that has struck close to home for me recently. We lost a soldier in my former unit at the age of twenty-three to testicular cancer; and one of my best friends was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer at the age of thirty-eight. While mortality is a part of life, no one deserves to go through what cancer does to its victims.

I would not wish for anything for myself. This is not to sound noble or show false modesty; I simply believe that rather than wishing for things I want, I should simply find out a way to get them myself. So if I want to be wealthy and semi-famous, I suppose I had better start writing the next New York Times bestseller!

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world other than where you are right now, where would that place be?

Jimmy Buffett’s Beach House on the Moon down in Margaritaville with all of my closest friends and family; enjoying Barometer Soup and a Cheeseburger in Paradise, basking in the Banana Wind, while talking on the Coconut Telegraph, and telling everyone “Don’t Stop the Carnival”.

Q: Your book has just been awarded a Pulitzer. Who would you thank?

Wow, I would start by thanking the judges for not being so expensive to bribe! (kidding) The people that I would think are family and friends listed in the front of each of my books; you know who you are!

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