He’s promise that turned to something awful, a golden boy that became a monster corrupted by his own power. I didn’t want readers to not be appalled by him. He’s too old.īut I didn’t want to airbrush Nero and make him seem less horrific than he was. I made the slave Aenor nineteen-a meaningless age in the Roman Empire, but one that bumps him over the age of consent for modern readers-and I acknowledged from the beginning that he’s not Nero’s usual type.

I couldn’t get over that wall so I went around it. Nero loved to surround himself with pretty boys, but in a world where consent sure as hell didn’t come into it, neither did the age of consent. In He is Worthy, I wanted to write a story where one of my characters was a slave in Nero’s court, and that’s where I ran into that wall. It’s Victorian, and it’s the height of Victorian hypocrisy as well, because being a kid just meant you were the perfect size to get shoved up a chimney or down a mineshaft. The concept of childhood-this period of sacred innocence-is fairly new. Today, that’s rightfully considered a crime, but for much of human history that hasn’t been the case. Most girls were married by sixteen, some as young as twelve.

Here’s one: in Ancient Rome, a boy was considered a man at fourteen. I love writing historical fiction, but sometimes you hit a wall. entries.Īnd thanks so much to Elisa for hosting me today. Eastern time, on November 18, and winners will be announced the next day. The collection is available for pre-order here, as a collection or individually, and all pre-orders enter you in a drawing to win a Nook Simple Touch.Įvery comment on this blog tour enters you in the draw for a copy of my two previous eBooks-Tribute and The Island-and a $10 Riptide Publishing credit. Elisa_rolle Welcome to the Riptide Publishing / Lisa Henry blog tour for He Is Worthy, part of the Warriors of Rome collection now available.

The island by lisa henry