There and back again

A warts-and-all writing career

With apologies to Bilbo Baggins, I’ve been there are back again.

If you don’t mind, and if you have a few minutes, I’d like to tell you about my novel-writing career.

After all, as my wife keeps reminding me, ‘It’s all about you, isn’t it?’ Well I am a Leo, and that’s what we Leos do.

In celebration of my first novel being republished for the third time, here goes.

I was brought up in the Middle East (though schooled in the UK) and I have been strongly influenced by Arabic culture and Mediterranean life. Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf have such rich histories and by being immersed in these different cultures, I always felt I would have a head start.

Then, at school, I discovered a flair for writing. This didn’t always work in my favour, because I was ticked off for being too descriptive in my English Literature essays – it was usually my way of disguising the fact that I didn’t know the answers!

One teacher who was particularly critical of my essays was Patrick Cormack, who became Sir Patrick the historian and author and then the revered Lord Cormack, and I’m delighted to say that he had a good chuckle when I sent him a proof copy of Libertas and he gave me a good mark this time around! For the back cover, he gave me a quote to the effect that I was a natural storyteller.

My first job was as a trainee journalist with the South Wales Echo, the leading evening paper in Wales, and I started more-or-less at the same time as one Ken Follett. He sat at the desk opposite me.

Bing AI’s impression of me at my first job. That’s not Ken, he wasn’t so good looking…

Not long after I moved on to other newspapers, I came across Ken’s first novels on his road to becoming an international bestseller. His success has been an inspiration to me, although I’m obviously a late starter!

At this stage, let me share an old joke. Two journalists at a bar – one says, ‘I’m writing a book.’ The other replies, ‘Neither am I.’

I bucked the trend. Just like Ken, if a tad later in life.

A burning passion to write historical fiction finally came to fruition with a six-year sojourn in Spain to “just write”. My wife and I chose a house amid well-tended olive groves in an upland valley opposite Monda, a charming village in the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Park not far inland from Marbella.

And it didn’t take long to discover that Julius Caesar had marched his crack legions through our garden.

The scene from our balcony in Spain, looking towards Monda where Caesar fought his last battle

I started writing Libertas, revelling in the scenery and culture, and imagining what the community might have been like when Caesar came.

Trouble is, so much historical fiction written by men features a muscle-bound sword-wielding hero. My hero, Melqart, is nothing of the sort. Pitch him one-to-one against the baddie (which happens twice in Libertas) and he’ll come second every time. But ask him to come up with a better way of doing things and he’ll surprise you. He’s a thinker. He invents things. But he’s on the losing side, so how will he handle that?

Furthermore, he’s spiritually and socially aware. For example, he doesn’t believe that Rome’s expansionism makes all Romans bad. Indeed, he becomes very good friends with Sextus Pompey who is destined to become the Captain Sparrow of the 1st Century BCE, an adventurous pirate operating out of Sicily after the death of Caesar. 

Melqart also has a strange encounter with the eagles that, to this day, patrol southern Spain’s mountains and out of his respect for them an unusual partnership evolves, leading to what I hope is an intriguing climax to the story.

I tried to do far more than your usual historical ‘sword and sandals’ thing. My wife says it works – I’ve never seen a Capricorn who doesn’t read much fiction so enthusiastic! Much as I value her opinion, I’m overjoyed that many reviewers have since gushed about it.

I’ll admit I’ve been influenced.

I am a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell, particularly his Arthurian and Uhtred series. I also loved Conn Iggulden’s Emperor series about Julius Caesar. I can’t say any of these books inspired the writing of Libertas, but after I had started writing I returned to Conn’s books where I read, in his author’s notes, that he had decided to leave out Caesar’s campaigns in Africa and Spain. I guess that opened the door for me, especially as I was unable to find any author since Caesar himself, or Appian and Cassius Dio, who had written about the Battle of Munda at any length!

Another author who inspired me while I was writing Libertas was Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I read Shadow of the Wind which is such a beautifully told story set in 50s Barcelona. I’m thinking of starting The Bruised Sky Club for authors who have pinched his phrase (as in ‘under a bruised sky’) – and there are several!

If you were to ask me what is the most positive experience about writing fiction, I’d tell you it’s the flow. Once I saw the story in my head, well most of it, it just happened. At every point in my original plot, the story developed of its own accord. I so hope this happens again and again.

So far, so good. Six novels in, three republished by Sapere Books so far after a glitch with a previous publisher, and the rest to follow. Check them all out here.

Perhaps a high point with my first novel was when I showed the first few chapters to my son, Seb. That was quite a while back. Within a few hours he emailed me to say he was in love with the girl character, Leandra. I told him she was make-believe. He said that didn’t stop him dreaming about her.

He’s since married and got over it, focusing instead on bringing up my grandson Freddie with his amazing wife, Amy, to the fore (of course).

ABOUT LIBERTAS...

Libertas is a historical novel set in southern Spain in the First Century BC. It's about the people who live in the mountain community of Munda and the ancient Kemeletoi people who live in the surrounding countryside, and about the Romans who want to impose their culture and customs on them. And it's about the clash of two huge armies in the wide upland valley that stretches before Munda.

The final, savage battle of Julius Caesar's civil war against the Pompey faction. A battle that left thousands dead and a community devastated. 

But there's an unlikely hero who refuses to give in to the despair and horror of war, who believes his family can be rescued from slavery, who refuses to accept that Roman cruelty and greed has changed his beloved Munda for ever.

It's a story of bravery, love, invention and hope. 

In the words of the Douglas Jackson, a much-respected bestselling author of historical fiction: "Alistair Forrest's Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war. In the mountains of southern Spain, Melqart grows up unaware of the unseen forces which are drawing the armies of Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great's sons towards an explosive collision in a valley close to his beloved village of Munda. As the action sweeps dramatically between Spain, Sicily and the shores of Africa, Melqart is drawn ever deeper into the conspiracy by his friendship with Sextus. The young Spaniard must fight for his life and his family's freedom and Forrest vividly recreates the epic battle that gave Caesar the prize he sought so avidly." 

Meanwhile, Libertas is out now at just 99p/c for a limited period. Do read and if if you can, leave a review. Thank you.