In an update post back in April, I mentioned that I’d started a new project. It required a massive amount of research and sort of took over my life. The story that had been playing vaguely in the back of my head for more than ten years finally took shape, vividly.

I’d already begun writing it when I mentioned it before, but now I’m far enough along to have a cover designed (same person who handles the Realm of Zadrya series). I can also announce the release date, which will be October 12th. You’ll get to see the cover much sooner on July 9th, though. I’ve got a sign-up link for anyone interested in participating in the reveal that you can find here: https://forms.gle/4iJQR43XMghh58Eg8

While I’ll go into some other details below, this is the current summary of the novel to give you an idea of what it is about (unless you’ve been paying close attention to my social media posts and already know):

Be careful what you wish for, or you might end up in 97 CE.

I grew up on a farm in Kansas, so nothing could have prepared me for landing in the Roman Colosseum when it was still intact. I was surprised, the audience shocked, and my rental car unamused as we hit the sand. After a heart-pounding chase around the arena involving spear-throwing legionnaires, armed gladiators, and a couple of wild animals, they cornered me. I punched and kicked my way through as many of them as I could before being forced to surrender in my floral sundress meant for vacation, not blood sport. The emperor offered me two choices.

One: my immediate execution
Two: become a female gladiator.

I chose to live. While I’m not afraid of hard work, the ludus where I’ll train is brutal. It’s an environment most modern women would find unlivable, aside from all the bare-chested men, but that isn’t as spectacular as one might think in a place where violence is the goal. I’m about to discover all the unpleasantness of this period that most movies skim past. On top of that, an enigmatic man who knows I’m from the future has offered to sponsor me. What he wants in return could be dangerous. I’m in way over my head with no ruby slippers to send me home.

If you’ve ever wished for a story with Spartacus-meets-Outlander vibes, including the grit but with a little more humor, this might be the book for you.

Book releases October 12th, 2026. Pre-order the ebook on Amazon HERE.

TROPES

• Time travel
• Roman Empire
• Gladiator romance
• Banter
• Slow-burn romance
• Reluctant allies to lovers
• Found family
• Fish out of water
• Mysterious MMC

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Brief explanation on why this setting and year.

So why did I choose 97 CE, given that the Roman Empire spanned many centuries?

I thought long and hard about this and can give you multiple good reasons. The first is that my character makes quite a spectacle when she arrives, and it’s right in front of the emperor, Nerva. I needed the period to be while someone calmer was in charge and less quick to execute people (Domitian, who came before him, was a total maniac who’d force senators to fight in the arena). Also, Nerva didn’t serve very long and had some interesting events during his short reign, so it was a good time for Grace to arrive and use the activities and politics as part of the story. Even better, this was when the Roman Empire was reaching its height.

In addition to that, the Colosseum was already built and established (80 CE), along with the gladiator school, Ludus Magnus, which is the primary setting for this novel. I only had until around 200 CE, since women were forbidden from being gladiators after that year.

The other handy thing about it is that Mount Vesuvius erupted (79 CE) less than twenty years before the time my character arrives. The gladiator school and arena in Pompeii were buried as a result but perfectly preserved to be found in the modern era. A lot of details I need to try to be accurate come from the findings of those ruins since the locations I use in Rome were damaged and stripped long before our present day. Whereas in Pompeii, they could still find the gladiator rooms perfectly intact down to their beds, personal belongings, armor, and weapons. Most everything would have been similar to Rome, so it allows me to be as accurate as possible when I describe certain things.

Some of the best writers and historians lived during this century as well, recording the simplest details such as food, Roman baths, clothing, wine, and so much more. I have found rich sources of information from them as a result. Of course, sometimes accounts are conflicting, so I have to choose what is best for my story in those cases. Depending on the source, some say the Ludus Magnus gladiator school was two floors high, and others say three. I went with my gut instinct and settled on three.

Also, details on female gladiators are few and far between. We do have clues to what they wore and how they fought, but the scant details leave a lot of blanks. There are times I just have to guess or base assumptions on what we know of male gladiators. There is no information out there on what sort of specific exercises women did to get in shape, and only a little for the men, so I’ve relied on my military background to help. We rarely used modern equipment while I served, so most of what we did to build strength and endurance could have easily been done two thousand years ago. I did attempt to target the muscle groups most important to gladiators.

There are a couple of minor changes I made to actual history to suit this story, such as the fact that there is no evidence women were ever allowed to train at Ludus Magnus (an imperial-run school). From what I’ve read, they trained at private schools (the one in the TV show “Spartacus” was private) or with tutors. Having said that, it was highly likely that female slaves worked at the ludus as support staff, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes. I just chose to include women gladiators in the mix, but I will add an author’s note to the book, so readers are aware of this historical alteration.

To summarize, I have gone to great lengths to be as accurate as possible about the time, but please don’t worry that the novel will be bogged down with boring historical details. I worked hard to make the details organic to the story, while also including lots of action and humor. There is a whole chapter involving them going through the items they found in Grace’s purse that made me giggle as I wrote it. Sarcasm is also used throughout the book to make conversations more entertaining.

Not long after the cover reveal, I’ll post the first three chapters to give you a taste of how this novel is written. I think you’ll see for yourself that the pacing won’t be slow or tedious.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask. Finally getting this story on paper is such a huge accomplishment for me, as I always knew the research would be the most difficult part. Yet doing it now never felt more right. This will be a trilogy, but my next release after A Time of Gladiators and Fate (ATOGAR) will be book three for the Realm of Zadrya. I still have every intention of continuing with that series as well.

Thanks to everyone who read this far down the post. You all are rock stars!