Today's guest is another newbie to me so I hope you enjoy meeting him....
As a kid, Nathan D. Maki delighted in leaping through the
door of historical fiction and into the adventure of the ancient world. In his
teens, his love for reading birthed a desire to write and bring history alive
for others. Nathan has always been fascinated with the monumental power and enduring
achievements of the Roman Empire and its asymmetrical clash with Early
Christianity. As a Christian, he is inspired by stories of triumphant faith in the
face of persecution, and he hopes these stories will inspire others as well.
Find out more about Nathan by visiting his website.
How far would you go to free your mother from slavery?
Suzanna ben Ya’ir is a slave to the king of Hatra, the indomitable
fortress city. She dreams of escaping the harem and finding her way back to
Rome to find her son, but she is held prisoner by the king’s soldiers, towering
walls, and untold miles of murderous desert. To escape she must earn coins as a
healer among the common folk of the city and join forces with a Hatran guard
who secretly loves her. But when the Roman legions arrive to besiege the city
her hope of escape seems more unattainable than ever.
Theudas ben Ya’ir is a fierce warrior and a member of the Roman
Emperor’s guard, but he also harbors a deadly secret – he is a Christian.
Theudas longs to find his mother and rescue her from slavery, but the Emperor,
his legions, and Plautianus – the ruthless leader of the Praetorians – are
besieging the city where she is held captive. Now Theudas must break the Roman
siege and infiltrate the hostile city, find his mother and help her escape. But
doing so will mean committing treason against the Emperor. Will his quest cost
Theudas his new-found faith and the life of the woman he loves?
With Suzanna’s life hanging in the balance, can she and Theudas defy the
odds and reunite? And if so, can they hope to survive?
Eggcerpt:
Suzanna wept with shame. She wept
for the hope of escape that she knew to be false even as she clung to it. The
paltry few coins she managed to save would never be enough to convince a
merchant to risk the wrath of the king by smuggling her out of this city and
across the wasteland surrounding it. The course of her life stretched out
before her, as clear and brutal as the sandy, sun-baked road that led west
toward the life she would never see again. She would go from the harem to the
scullery as her beauty continued to fade, and finally, long after all color had
been bleached from her life, to the grave.
She tried to reach for her faith,
fumbled for it with groping fingers. She could brush it, could feel the
residual warmth of the fire that once burned in her, but she couldn’t grasp it,
couldn’t stir it to life again. Jehovah had forsaken her and so she knelt in a
pile of rotting garbage against a filthy stone wall and wept.
Her pain seemed inexhaustible but
her tears were not and finally her shuddering shoulders slowed and her sobs
subsided. She was leaning against the wall now, her cheek against cold stone.
In that moment, Suzanna felt a strange sense of clarity. She had two choices.
She could lay here and die, or get up and go on. It was the hardest decision
she had ever faced.
In the end, a dying man made the
decision for her.
Tonight
is the night Binyamin will pass from this world and I must be there to ease
that passing. I must be there. I must get up. I must make at least this one
last effort.
The heat of the day was fully gone
now and she was stiff with cold. She struggled to her feet and stared up at the
crooked slice of starry sky above. What time was it? Time had had no meaning
while she wept. It could have been minutes or hours. But it was still darkest
night. She still had time. She brushed at her the skirt of her tunic in a
futile effort to wipe away the muck, then swept a sleeve across her eyes and
beneath her nose. Stepping free of the alley she looked around, took her
bearings, and started off at a pained shuffle.
Movement worked the cold stiffness
from her limbs and she began walking faster as if trying to shake off and leave
behind the depression and hopelessness that had threatened to crush her. She
had a purpose this night, reason enough to live.
For to him that is joined to all the
living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
The proverb came, unbidden, to her
mind. And along with it came a thought, a feeling, a whisper on the wind. Theudas yet lives. She couldn’t tell
where the assurance came from, had no way to prove it as true, and yet she
suddenly knew it. Knew it like her
own name. She quickened her steps still more.
Where there is life, there is hope.
Wow...sounds intriguing! Now let's find out a little more about Suzanna....
Birthdate and Birthplace?
Suzanna was born a slave in Rome in AD 161. She was
descended from Jewish slaves captured in the Judeo-Roman war a hundred years
before.
Level of
schooling, or self-taught?
As a child, she learned healing from her master, a Greek
physician, and after being sold upon his death she further developed her
natural talent through hands-on experience, nursing her master’s wife and other
slaves in the household.
Significant
other?
She married a fellow Jewish slave, Luke, and they had a son,
Theudas. After Theudas fought their master’s son and Luke defended him, both
father and son were sold to be gladiators.
Currently
residing in...
Luke died in the Coliseum, and Suzanna was transported to
Parthia and sold into the harem of the king of Hatra, the Parthian desert
fortress.
Job and most
important goal?
There, with the help of a sympathetic guard, she slips away
at night to nurse the poor, hording the few coins she receives in payment in
hopes of one day buying passage back to Rome with a caravan.
Secret desire
or fantasy and worst fear or
nightmare?
Her secret dream is to be reunited with her son, while her
greatest fear is that she will die alone and forgotten.
Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight/exchange! Remember, all of the previous eggcerpt exchange books are on my Pinterest board. Next week should be our last featuring Eggcerpt Exchanges. After which we'll get back to our regularly scheduled Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlights.
Until next time, take care and God Bless!
PamT
4 comments:
Hi, Nathan and Pam,
This sounds like an excellent historical fiction novel. Congrats! And this time of year is perfect for the launch. Best wishes.
Sounds like a wonderful story about not giving up hope even in a hopeless situation. May be just the thing someone needs in a similar circumstance, even if they live years later, in a modern world with modern problems. Thanks for writing this, Nathan, and for sharing this, Pam!
I love this period of history and the blending/collision (?) of the two cultures. Like M.J. said, the principles you talk about look like they're easily applicable today. Wishing you much success!
What a fascinating era--one so full of conflict and danger. Your characters sound compelling. Good luck with this and all your projects.
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