From Our Postbag

Please, what is the "game of Soldiers"?? We've searched the Internet repeatedly and can't find anything for a Roman game of that name.

Well, is this supposed to be Ludus Latrunculorum? Latrunculus, the diminutive of Latro -- hireling, mercenary soldier; freebooter,  highwayman, robber, bandit, brigand; hunter; a chessman/pawn.

Doesn't seem like the "soldier" term is very common, vs all the forms  of robbers! Is there something in the Latin context that emphasizes the "soldiers" aspect of Latrunculi?

http://clefork.net/LudusLatrunculorum.htm
http://www.dl.ket.org/latinlit/mores/entertainment/ludus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrunculi
http://www.romanglassmakers.co.uk/games.htm

--Patsy, Gary & Ari Dunham (28 February 2008)

Well, you can't rely on the Internet, you know!

There are two things going on here. Falco refers from time to time to Latin board games (of which there were many), happily mixing up the one that was like chess/draughts and the one that was like backgammon.

But 'stuff that for a game of soldiers' (where 'stuff' is the least rude
version) is an English expression. It is a cry of defiance which means, 'Oh gosh, I am jolly well not going to do that because it sounds rather unpleasant and definitely likely to go wrong'.

Offhand and slapdash authors might use it, for example, while thinking, shall I meticulously distinguish between latrunculi or duodecim scripta - oh, * that for a game of soldiers! Where the slapdash author would feel doubly pleased by the appropriateness in context. Moreover, it is certain that the average Roman-in-the-street, whether playing a boardgame or chewing a rissole, would see just what it meant. I hope this is helpful.

Publishers today expect writers, especially those of the Nappy-class like myself, to include in a book proposal a committment to run a promotional website. You, of course, seem now to have professionals run it for you. Writing, marketing and (other) promotional measures are time consuming enough--but to run a website as well, seems to me, quite frankly, impossible--and yet you do it. Accordingly, I'm asking every writer I can find who has managed it: how did you do it, at first, and how much time did it suck from your week? (Or did all this, in fact, come after you'd "made it"?) --Dan O'Hanlon (9 March 2008)

I haven't come across publishers asking for websites, though for published writers there are various ways to do it easily and cheaply - for instance (my instinct is that you may be American) the MWA is at this very moment putting together a hosting site for members. My first advice to any serious would-be or new author is: be professional: join your professional organisation.

I began to be published 20 years ago when the Internet didn't exist.

As soon as it became well-founded, I accepted the advice of my pal Ginny Lindzey to have a site, even though at that time I did not even have Internet access and had never seen a website. I set mine up to stop idiots running sites about my work that were infantile and maddening. It has worked.

Although Ginny will be thrilled by your assumption that mine is run by 'professionals', it is actually run by the two of us, a practising author and a Latin teacher. She designs and fills it with the stuff I send her. We update it about once a month now. Every few years we redesign it, which does take time and effort, though I have no idea how much. I don't have time to count how much time I spend on things... The work caused now is mainly because I have 19 books in print and the amount of sheer informational material is so large. By definition when I started there was hardly anything to say. All a new author needs is photo, statement of intent and list of publications.

Any nappy-clad author who wastes time, either producing a complicated website or consulting other authors, needs one bit of advice only, Dan: Stop mucking about and get some stuff written - some good, original stuff, which is what publishers actually want.

No, I know they don't realise that; it your job to persuade them.

Surveying old hands isn't going to help you; it will just keep us from our chapters. What works for me won't work for you or vice versa.

I am an avid history enthusiast and have taken every chance I can to study history at school.
For my Extension History course I have to do an investigation around a topic of history. The topic I have chosen is, Who are Historians and who are not? The reason why I chose this topic was because I saw an interview with Les Carlyon, and to my surprise he said that he did not consider himself a historian. That got me thinking and finally led me to the choice of the topic. As you write my favourite series of books I want to include you within my essay. The question I would like to ask you is, do you consider yourself a historian? and why or why not? it would aid me immensely with my essay if I knew your opinion. --Hayley Howorth (20 February 2008)

What an interesting subject.

Well, I was brought up with the good old rule of 'first define your terms'. I'm sure you have done that for yourself already. I just checked the Oxford English Dictionary - never more than a yard from my hand, of course! - and it gives three meanings: 'A writer or author of a history, especially as distinct from the simple analyst or compiler; a story-teller; or one versed in history (rare, it adds!) I have always been at pains to say I am not a historian, or classicist, or archaeologist - and I have done that because my degree is in English and I feel very diffident in claiming to belong to a profession, which would be in my own definition of historians, for which I had no formal training. I have read and studied enormously about the Romans (and another completely different period, in fact) but I have done it for very particular reasons. As a novelist I am searching only for information that will illuminate whatever story I'm writing - so, for instance, I have freedoms that don't apply to professional academic disciplines: I never have to know everything; once I have enough or am bored, I can stop.

I can leave stuff out; I can even invent. My knowledge of the Roman period is really confined to an extremely narrow window, just the fifteen years or so before Vespasian and the ten years of his reign. I am not even sure I have much interest in the rest, except as a generally aware person who reads the news.

Looking at those three OED definitions, I haven't written a history or its own sake; ; I just pluck historical events to illuminate my characters. Yes, I am a storyteller, but that definition comes from the Seventeenth Century and it isn't how we use the word now. And while I do hope I can say I am versed in history, we note that 'rare', don't we!

I call myself an author, a novelist, or a historical novelist. As a definition it includes the facts that I have acquired a reputation and earn my living in this way.

I do also say sometimes that the way I was taught English Literature and Language was splendid because it meant I could go into any other discipline with the skills to acquire information, assemble it and analyse it. That's the old fashioned thing that we called 'education'. It means there are no boundaries to what you can achieve - even if you don't have a certificate.

I hope that helps. Best of luck with your project.

(Peter Farrell asked about the possibility of books in electronic format. 6 January 2008)

As I think you may have guessed, copyright is the nub of whether books are produced in electronic form. Where copyright still applies, the ultimate decision is with the publishers of the book, not the author. Several of my Mysterious Press books were made available electronically when print publishers started to experiment a few years ago (see the Publishing Page of my website for details; I think they are still be available that way). At the time, people didn't own the machines for downloading in sufficient numbers to make this viable and across the industry the experiment fizzled out. I will send your note to both my British and US publishers now, to see if they have any plans to revive the idea.

Meanwhile, the situation with audiobooks is quite different. Increasingly, single voice readings (and dramatisations where these are produced as they are for some of mine) are being made available as downloads. It is a much cheaper format than CDs and I can see it perhaps taking over. I allow it. My one quibble is that the same problems exist for authors of books as apply to the Film Scriptwriters who are currently on strike in the USA - although we produce the words and it is our livelihood, we are given absolutely minimal royalties (I've had none at all so far). We just have to watch others making money hand over fist from our work. This is why I don't advertise the audio downloads on my website. I come from a strong trade union background and have a high hate-threshold for exploitation.

This aside, if you want to try listening rather than reading off the page, almost all of my books have been produced at some time in audio form and they are only ever licensed as unabridged so you don't lose anything. Only the later, BBC Worldwide ones are downloadable, however.

I hope this helps. I think you will find authors are sympathetic to your plight, but if you want to continue agitating, it might be helpful to nag publishers; in most contracts they will own the download rights.

Reading the letters 'From Our Postbag' I would like to comment on the question about whether Falco is telling the stories from a future time. It is a question that has often intrigued me. You reply that "I have never really bothered to say what point of time Falco is at when he writes what we have to presume are his professional memoirs". While waiting for 'Saturnalia' I was re-reading other books in the series and was delighted to find the passage in 'Ode to a Banker' at the start of Chapter II discussing Rutilius Gallicus' career because I felt it answered that very question - how did I miss it in previous readings? If Falco is recalling events of twenty years ago, then this story, at least, is told by Falco in AD94. I felt very happy to be reassured that there are twenty years of tales still to be told (you, who would have to write them, may be appalled) and of course, that Falco is not going to be a victim of Vesuvius (I hadn't read your assurances on the website at that stage).

I hope I don't sound like a pedantic bore ... I was truly pleased to have found this snippet at the time (just a week ago) and so it was very much in my mind when I read your reply to that email. I understand that authors are not the omnipotent sages of their readers' fantasies, but falible humans who can't hold every bit of plot or dialogue in mind, so I hope you won't be offended by my pointing this out. I would hate to be the cause of a rant! --Nicky Holland (19 March 2007; and then a further letter 11 April )

As to Falco and the future, I do always remind people that the books are fiction - but it should always be born in mind as well that they are fiction written by a fairly laid-back, if not to say mischievous author. I still reserve the right to bury Falco in Vesuvius ash and say the books are really written by Helena afterwards. Or indeed (and how tempting this one is!) by the ancient Anacrites in some psychologically dodgy wish to emulate... Naturally, that presumes Anacrites survives the little adventures I have in mind for him.

Your accuracy in portraying male characters, particularly those aspects of character we seek to hide, is scary. --Keith Brown (1 February 2007)

I'm delighted you enjoy the books so much and thanks for your kind remarks. 'Particularly those aspects we seek to hide' is wonderful. I am not sure I do that consciously, but as I always say, I can create male characters because I know some men; close observation is part of the novelist's craft. Writing about men is no different to writing about dogs, lions, snakes, lawyers or any other distinctive creatures.

I am always surprised (understatement) at how many male authors can't do it in reverse. From which it follows, of course, that I don't think all men fail to understand women.

While it is unavoidable, and perhaps part of the fun, that there is 'a lot of me' in Falco, just as there is in Helena, I am very proud that he comes across as convincingly male. I have worked at it. I have to make him behave as I think he really would, rather than as I would sometimes like him to. It requires the author to be tough and ascetic, and never sentimental - even though the character himself may be.

I'm rambling. Having a new book out makes you introspective!

I am relatively new to the Falco series and was really interested to read the dedication to 'Rosalie, in memory of two Roman Legionaries on the 29A', in 'The Iron Hand of Mars'.

As someone else who grew up in Birmingham, I recognised the number of the bus which travelled between Hall Green and Kingstanding. I lived in Hall Green and also used this bus. May I ask if you could share a little more on this topic, by email.--Neil Bradley (29 January 2007)

We lived in Hall Green and this was the bus that took us to catch the 'Special' to our school. Sometimes we were Bush and Hornblower, and sometimes we were legionaries. I also alternated between Biggles and my true role, which was Bonnie Prince Charlie, a fact my parents were always trying to deny, sadly unable to accept that I was only on loan to them and would one day be summoned to come into my own. To this day, the true position has never been publicly recognised. I suppose it is a tribute to the thoroughness of those who hid me for safety among the common people, or in fact among the upwardly mobile middle class where, let's face it, you would not think of looking for Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The 29A eventually became the 91, and was never the same again.

We spent occasional hours gazing at a rather odd notice that was in those days carried on all Birmingham buses; we wondered about the identity of the W G-Copestake who was credited with mysterious municipal powers...

If you travelled on the 29A in the early sixties you may have seen us and thought it was safest to give us a wide berth. Especially when we were struggling to control hockey sticks or carrying kilner jars of stuff we had made in cookery classes.

I hope this clarifies the issue!

Is there any reason for Falco following the Blues? As an exiled Brummie in the West Country I like to think of the link back to Birmingham .  --Ian Armstrong (11 October 2006)

Excellent thought - but in my vague Brummie way I just picked a colour at random, I'm afraid. Half the time I have to look up which is right...

I noticed that Festus' daughter Marcia hasn't been mentioned in a long time. Are there any plans to bring her and her mother back in a future book? Of course, I suppose it all has to do with how the character would fit into the plot, but it seemed like Marcia and her mother Marina used to turn up a lot but not recently. I also can't wait to see how you're going to handle the next Petronius/Florius clash. --Stephanie Bradley (14 August 2006)

There are so many popular characters now, that I have to ration them - and it depends on the particular story which get a let-in. The small ones are most difficult to include, I'm afraid, in fact the words 'get in the way' are hovering in my subconscious as I write... As for Marcia, we'll see.

I am confused. Are Falco and Helena married? He refers to her as wife and girlfriend. Did i miss the wedding or is it just as they become more established, he uses the term wife rather than girlfriend? --Sara Gilliland (4 June 2006)

I am sorry you are confused. The definition of Roman marriage was simply that two people decided to live together. So, from the moment Helena turns up with her luggage in 'Venus in Copper' they are married - but since it was also possible to have a contract, hold a ceremony, and so forth - and I suspect most people did - they have never actually had a wedding... It reflects both the state of the author's research, and their own mutual insecurity, that this is unclear in the books - but the definitive scene discussing it occurs at the very end of 'Poseidon's Gold'. A lot of people miss what is being said there, but really it's 'we don't need a ceremony, we are hitched.'

I am a food historian, specialising in the Celtic Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon areas, and I also work as an Iron Age/Romano-British reenactor, attached to Cambridge Archaeological Unit, so I've done more research than most people would ever want to do into the food stuffs and food preparation methods of the Romans, and have much hands-on experience of making up the recipes. In the FAQ section of your website, you mention the Dreaded Fish Sauce. (I have made this stuff, at the bottom of my garden, one hot summer. I have a very long garden, at the end of which there is a field of greenhouses, so I disturbed no-one with my experimental fish sauce manufacturing.)

Now, as I recall, the fish of preference for the mass market stuff was, in actual fact, mackerel, probably due to its size, and it was generally just layered with salt, into waterproofed earthenware pots, sealed and left to...um...ooze for seven days. You then stir it up every day for twenty days. After this, it separates into a thin, brownish liquid, which was the basis of garum table sauce, and a nasty sludge, called allec, which, after much sieving, was used in cooking. There is no definitive point when the herbs and spices were added to the mixture, it seems to vary from recipe to recipe, some putting herbs such as dill, lovage, oregano, mint or fennel in at the beginning and others waiting to add the flavourings just to the garum. There are so many versions that I'm sure most families had Grandmas' Famous Fish Sauce Recipe tucked away somewhere. (I have a theory that the richer families used the 'flavour your own' option and the poorer ones went for ready made, mass produced stuff.) There is mention made of particular manufacturers/areas' product being used in different dishes, so obviously, it wasn't all the same. Bearing this in mind, I'm sure virtually any kind of fish sauce in the anchovy essence/nam pla-type ranges would be ok to use. There is no one, definitive, fish sauce that can be called the Roman fish sauce, just as there is no one, definitive, vinegar, for instance.

So, now that I've displayed my 'anorack' credentials, could I please ask you a question? Where do you get your ideas for the food in your Falco books? I am almost sure that some of it is a variant on modern Italian, but I'd love to know what other sources you use. And please bear in mind that not all of us 'academics' are crusty old buggers only interested in looking for mistakes! --Mari Hannigan (14 October 2005)

Thank you very much for writing.

If it's OK with you I may ask Ginny to extract your very helpful and definitive tract on garum for our Postbag. I've never been able to get very excited about this issue, apart from wanting to show Roman Ketchup in use, but they will go on asking...

I do use Apicius, always bearing in mind it was Posh Nosh. Then I go by what would be available (dutifully trying to avoid New World produce that will bring in picky letters from Yanks) and what would be possible locally for cooking it in houses and flats that didn't have a range cooker with a ceramic hob. I have myself reached the age of Sensible Mediterranean Style Eating for Health Reasons, so if you add that to learning to cook with a Baby Belling in the Cooking in a Bedsit era and Post War Lower Middle Class Mum's basic training, and even the dumplings we had to make at school in the lesson on the properties of Flour (oh those were the days of education) you get the picture.

There is real archaeology on what the army ate. And pictures of domestic kitchens from Pompeii. It's not hard.

What did need emphasising was that most people never ate on couches in groups of nine. I am proud of putting in a lot of street food - which comes from any Mediterranean town now, and even modern Britain and New York.

I love reading about the practicalities of Roman life in your books, but I'm puzzled by the "funeral clown" in The Accusers. I can't find any reference to this custom in my (admittedly limited) searches of reference books.

If it was standard practice to have a satirical speech made about the failings of the deceased, would the family not wish to provide some reasonably innocuous material rather than risk the clown digging up something worse on his own? --Kate Bunting (23 August 2005)

I don't have time to look up references at the moment, I'm afraid, but it was standard at patrician funerals to have 'clowns' capering beside the procession, taking on the role of the dead man and his ancestors, and being scurrilous. It was a feature of Greek and Roman life to tolerate very rude satire in certain situations, cf the 'comical' interludes in theatre.

I dare say families liked to control the material if they could, but anything too bland would spoil the point - and wouldn't really have worked in my story either!

Never having written more than an essay in my life I’m interested in what happens when you finish a story and the editor gets her hands on it. Surely she can’t suggest major changes, just the odd word or two? --Pat Barnard-Smith (19 August 2005)

First, although many editors are female, mine is a man. I have had the same one as long as I have been published, which is in itself something of a record. Obviously by now I know in advance what he is likely to query, so I can choose whether to avoid comment, or to be mischievous and do it anyway...

In general, since I know he is a good editor I will stop and look again at anything he queries on a manuscript. If he thought it necessary, he could suggest a complete re-write, though in my case if that happened I think I would give up writing! He can't over-rule me. But if he thinks a chapter or passage doesn't work, or if he thinks something is not clearly explained, then I will consider how to improve it, because if my editor has been pulled up, so might any other reader be. The next thing to say, though, is that in most cases, I will find my own solution (sometimes just cutting out the passage that caused the trouble). Firstly, I think a professional author should take responsibility for their work. So what you get with my books is all mine. Secondly, I hate, hate, hate, anybody else rewriting my stuff. It never has the right rhythm. And it rarely comes out as what I really meant. Thirdly, if I disagree, I leave my own version.

I once had two different editors look at the same manuscript. They had different interests and made different comments - which meant I had twice as many queries and, frankly, I ended up in tears. However, it is interesting all of their notes were valid, though different. This raises the question, should every book be looked at by a whole team of editors - or in fact, would it be almost as good a book if the author were able to pick up their own typos, mis-spellings, inconsistencies etc, and otherwise had no editing at all.

There was another occasion when someone (an author, pretty famous) got hold of my 'First Draft' before my editor had seen it. They commented with amazement on how 'clean' the draft was - so I guess I do for myself what some other authors leave for their editors. But then, I regard it as part of my job to present as perfect a draft as possible. A novel of 100,000 words is a big project to control - but I think it is the role of an author to grapple with problems. How else do you learn? When I hear of agents/editors/ anybody else working on a book to 'make it right', my blood boils.

There is no accounting for readers, anyway. Among the 'favourites' readers have suggested in my website poll is one book that has a ludicrous structure and another where I thought the subject matter was very difficult for most readers. You could say, an editor shouldn't have allowed either (and possibly he didn't want to; I can't now remember). Then again, he was not at all phased by the ending of 'See Delphi and Die', which has caused more queries from readers than anything I have done in eighteen years...

I have heard of authors having appalling editors who scribble all over everything and demand pointless re-writes. I would move - but when you are trying to earn your living, that takes nerve.

While trying to think of an appealing 'Subject' title it occured to me that as a 'resting actress', currently I'm temping and not answering phones, that Falco might have a glamorous receptionist one who polishes her nails and wears shoes with very high heels...as you can tell this is a picture relating more to Falco's time travelling Marlowe-esque days obviously and not a suggestion, which having read your web-site today, I would never, ever, do.

I wanted to write and say that I enjoyed looking through the web-site (this goes to all fellow maintainers) and found it very funny as well as informative. I read my first Falco novel in a villa just north af Milan, having run away from studying for my degree in any real shape or form. Since then I have devoured them whenever I can, the last being the paper back Scandal Takes a Holiday, which made very good reading from Norwich to London. --Catriona Ryan (13 June 2005)

Actually, in the early books in particular, Falco and Helena have a running gag about her being his assistant, left at home to field messages in a truculent manner, and it seems to me this is the nail-varnish person in action...

I am very sorry you have abandoned your degree, as I believe every girl should have a degree certificate to find at the back of cupboards from time to time, and remind her of the days when she could have gone anywhere and done anything, instead of landing up wherever she lands up, usually with an unsuitable bloke (Oh dear, I sound as if I'm writing one of those damned books again) Ginny can put that in Postbag if she likes. [Ginny the teacher likes and adds, even if you do land with a suitable bloke, one needs to be able to occasionally dream about the other possibilities life has/had to offer...]

I am glad you enjoy the books. Temping is very good training for being tolerant and unlike the nail varnish woman, in my experience. I sometimes hear from the people in the office where I was a scivvy, and they are wonderfully envious of my present life, just as I hoped bitterly that they would one day be...

I have a strange question. I revisited Shakespeare's Globe in London recently and remembered to look for one of the paving slabs which has M.D.Falco on it. Is it our friend or someone different? --Lavinia Tomkiss (13 June 2005)

As for the slab, any good Roman would support community projects, and that must go for the author of 'The Spook who Spoke', I think...

Now I'm reading another time "Shadows in Bronze" (I have learn the english title), and my pleasure is always the same - but I have a question. Why did Falco knew about the Vesuve eruption? Does he tell the stories from a future time? --Anne-Claire Déjean in France (13 June 2005)

I have never really bothered to say what point of time Falco is at when he writes what we have to presume are his professional memoirs. But it is clearly some way in the future, or, as you say, how could he know about Vesuvius? He alludes to the Emperors Trajan and Hadrian from time to time as well.

First, thank you for writing the wonderful Falco series. I have read and enjoyed them all. I am going to Rome in a couple of weeks for the first time since reading the books, and I wonder if you or any of your fans has created a map which shows where the action of the books occurs in Rome. --Michael Clifford (10 June 2005)

Thank you for writing and I hope you have a wonderful time in Rome. Any good archaeological guidebook will tell you where the sites are; I use the Oxford (Amanda Claridge) or Blue Guide, but there's a new Time Out with me in it that I ought to be plugging! The only maps pf Falco's exploits are in the books, necessarily vague because 1) they have to be very small and 2) I don't necessarily have a specific street location in mind for any episode.

Ginny is going to think about ways we could produce a large plan on the website, but because of 2) above it wouldn't necessarily answer your questions. It would be a lot of work for her in any case.

The ancient street plan is, however, available in detailed form in either Olivia Robinson's book on Roman Planning or a book on Roman roads by someone called Chevalier.

It was rumoured that many authors of detective novels fell in love with the character they had created as the hero/heroine. Would you like to comment? -AK (5 June 2005)

This is an old one, and of course the people who think it's a clever notion always mean WOMEN authors and never imagine that Conan Doyle was romantically attached to Sherlock Holmes or Chandler to Marlow... Even those who think that Dorothy L Sayers was in love with Lord Peter Wimsey tend to forget that she had a real-life secret affair with a very different sort of man.

I am very proud to have managed to create a fictional character women find very attractive - yet I am just as proud to have created Helena Justina and Antonia Caenis. And Nux the dog! But why fall in love with someone who is domestically unreliable, who speaks a language I don't speak, and who is not physically present for the normal methods of inter-human consolation? - Not for me.

Creating someone who will be clever enough and charismatic enough to take the lead in a novel necessarily involves giving them talent and style - but never forget, critics say a lot of stupid things.

(This is a set of emails that goes together... make sure that you read to the end.--Ginny)

This is to report that I have finally received my Silver Pigs [CD], so it is now demonstrably possible to a US consumer to obtain them. It only arrived last night, so I haven’t yet had a chance to play them and ensure they aren’t “faulty”, but I’m really not particularly worried. Many thanks for your efforts on your fans’ behalf on this issue.

As regards your sabbatical, well of course all of us who love Falco, Helena, and the other characters you’ve created want you to “write faster”. As far as we’re concerned, a book a month seems a reasonable pace. But then, if you were actually producing a book a month, I doubt we’d be as enthusiastic about reading them. Believe it or not, some of us do understand that there’s a relationship between time and effort expended and the quality of the ultimate result. --Lee Sauer (15 April 2005)

Thank you so much for keeping me informed on this, and I'm glad you got your copy. If it has a yellow sticker in one corner, it is supposed to be new stock with the error amended.

I have discovered that the fault was: sides 3 and 4 were a repeat of side 1 and 2 - good news, this is easily checked, though bad news, the only way to be sure is to listen and I have 12 copies to check! Baa, humbug. Anyway, you stopped me sending these treasures out to elderly aunts who would be too embarrassed to mention the problem, and I can now tell readers what to look out for and how to get new copies.

Nobody so far seems to have thought that my sabbatical might be a cover for something I haven't mentioned...

“… a cover for something I haven’t mentioned.” Other than some truly awful possibilities (e.g., health-related), I’m afraid the only possibilities I can bring to mind are sufficiently zany and unlikely as to qualify me for certification. For example,

Lindsey is working with Al Quida to blow up offices of Mysterious Press. (Better not even mention that possibility – Homeland Security will have me in a camp in Guantanamo Bay before I can say Anacraties.

Lindsey is working on a genealogical chart for Falco which will prove he is an illegitimate descendant of Gordianus the Finder.

Lindsey is running for Pope.

You, see, they just keep getting sillier and sillier.

Perhaps, it’s time for a contest to come up with the best (and most unlikely) activities for which your sabbatical might be a cover. --Lee Sauer (26 April 2005)

Oh dear. All my email goes to Ginny as well (in case the writer is a mad stalker and she has to tell Interpol who has snuffed me out... paranoid, or what?) Something tells me she is bound to want to put this competition up!

[Me? I think she's gardening. I saw the garden last summer while the garage was being built. Rumor has it that it's a nice space now, just waiting for new plants and whatnot. I know she talks to the robins and says evil things to the squirrels who come to eat food left for the birds. I myself have a brown thumb and prefer cut flowers any day of the week because I can't exactly kill something that's already been killed. So, more power to her, I say. I don't have the patience for a garden. Then again, if she's planning to blow up offices as Lee suspects, I can think of a certain insurance company in Texas that wasn't exactly kind to us when we had mold.... --Ginny]

I attended a writing conference where the organizers hung signs with favorite and infamous first lines from mystery novels. "When the girl came rushing up the steps, I decided she was wearing far too many clothes" was displayed. A nice choice! I'm also partial to "Poetry should have been safe" and "Rats are always bigger than you expect."

And so I was wondering: Do you fret over your first lines? Do they simply pop into your head while you're gardening, or do you work at them, snapping pencil after pencil until they're just right? Do you hope to convey tone or mood with them, or are they just lines that begin one of many chapters? Do you have any openers that you particularly like? --Mark, in Northern Virginia (25 January 2005)

Thank you very much for writing, and the news of my fame at writing conferences (I think I view them with caution, but this sounds decent... ) I am very proud of the 'Silver Pigs' first line, and indeed its first page. I do think beginnings are important because that is how the casual reader may get hooked. On the other hand, anything too clever may put people off, so it has to be judged just right. I am also quite fond of 'The Accusers': 'I had been an informer for over a decade when I finally learned what the job entailed...' which is a joke against myself really, finally finding a book about real Roman informers when I had been writing about Falco for 15 years or so, and letting him do things in court that he had only hinted at previously.
I hope this doesn't destroy your image of authors, but I don't use a pencil! I haven't even used a biro for creative fiction since I got my first word processor. I stopped my editor using a pencil because it's even harder to read than when he uses a pen - which he tends to do most on my first page, over which I have laboured hardest and longest...

Does that mean it ends up worst despite my loving attention - or does he just tear into the editing keenly then get bored after one page?

Someone could write a thesis on this - if I had not destroyed the manuscripts to prevent them doing so...

[Also, says Ginny, see the new photo on the photo album page entitled "So difficult to get that first paragraph right…"]

I have just joined a class in Senior net.org to re-learn Latin and have just completed my first homework. I had to write a sentence in Latin. I wrote: Metella est in tablino. This was translated, correctly , by a student as, Metella is in the study.

Another student wrote the Latin for "The dog sleeps in the kitchen."

A third student, a man, pounced on both efforts and said no dog would SLEEP in the kitchen as it would be there begging for food. Metella being in the study was dismissed as, it is an unlikely occurrence, that Metella would be able to read and write.

The lady in question was married to Caecilius, a real person killed in Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted. He was a rich banker, a tax-collector, an auctioneer and a money-lender.

I have replied saying that my Metella is based on the Lindsey Davis character, Helena, except that my Metella would have used her skills to check out Caecilius`s will.

You have mentioned your famous rants in several postings. I realise know why you have had these in the past!! My sympathies, Mary (4 January 2005)

Well done. Ginny, in particular, loves this and will definitely put it in Postbag where we have been short of laughs for a while now. [Ginny teaches from the Cambridge Latin Course, the textbook you clearly use, and is thrilled to see it in a discussion.]

Your fellow students are going to drive you mad, I fear. Apart from the fact that the study man might have supposed she was there to do the cleaning, there is evidence that plenty of women, and most rich ones, could read perfectly well. Dogs sleep near food as well as begging for it, especially as kitchens are nice and warm... Oh you just can't tell people like this anything. Only ever reply once to such types, is my advice; if you can bear to ignore them that's better. Rarely, standing up to them makes them mellow!

Just curious.....

Noticed that Postbag section hasn't been updated for quite a while and wondered why. Surely all your emails can't have been from worthy but boring sycophants, critics born of unknown fathers or, worst of all, ageing expatriates from Melbourne in the early stages of senility! --David Gilbey, was handsome circa 1960 (26 September 2004)

Postbag has gone downhill lately - no-one wants to irritate the hell out of me, unless they make me so exasperated I can't put the note on the site, and no-one has asked any fascinating questions. I think it may be because our link isn't as easy to operate as before, therefore people have time to think, and then they confine their thoughts to the waste bin.

[Actually, I fear it is my fault. I failed to post them and am correcting it now! --Ginny]

Sorry about the subject title of this email ["The demise of Falco?"]. But I was just wondering if you might have plans to have Vesuvius be the culprit in such a case. 79AD would be an early end for Marcus Didius - please don't do that to him (but its okay if you do it to Anacrites).

What I actually wanted to ask was do you know if your dustwrapper artists ever issued prints of the wrapper illustrations? I'm not much of a picture person, myself; I prefer words. But a friend of mine spotted my collection of your novels and asked me. I assume he meant the illustrations from both paperbacks and dust wrappers as I have copies in both formats.--Steve Dobson (23 September 2004)

I never reveal my plans - mainly because I either don't have any, or am likely to change them. However, I have gone on record as saying I will never kill off either Falco or Helena. (No comment on Anacrites). If you look at the current version of 'Lindsey's Page' you'll see that even I don't always know what year we are in!

I am not sure there would be a big enough market to issue prints of the dust jackets. The rights belong to whoever publishes (there are other jackets in other countries). That's the rights to the whole thing, titles and all. The copying rights to the frescos, if that was what your friend meant, belong to the museums that have bagged ownership of the originals. (Yes, they are real Roman ones nowadays.) Some of the more famous ones may be already issued as prints by, say, the National Museum in Naples. All the Italian museums, and others such as the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, sell Roman picture prints.

Would like to know more about Petro and his cat. A sophististed layabout like Nux? (the cat not Petro). --Bill (19 Sept 2004)

No chance of the cat, I fear. I am copying this to Ginny in case she wants to raise the cat issue in Postbag (she has one, her only fault in my view). As for me, I garden, and I feed the birds. You can guess the rest, I'm sure. Unless you want something awful to happen to the cat Petronius has, best to leave it in its basket.

It is bound to have a basket, probably with ensuite ball of wool.

[Surely having a cat is not a fault! Neither of mine have baskets; one chases dogs even. --Ginny]

I know that you don't like people analysing your books for academic purposes, but I am at the moment writing an exam paper on historical mystery novels.... My aim is not to show whether you described the architecture of ancient city houses during the reign of Vespasian correctly, but I want to (or better: must) find out, how writers of historical mystery novels combine features of the crime story and the historical novel and whether or not we can call this a new (hybrid) genre. I know that you studied English (as I do), so please understand a poor German student, who cannot know what went on in an author's head.

I have a question concerning your choice of names in The Silver Pigs. You have Decimus Cammillus Verus and Decius Camillus Meto and I can imagine that you called Helena's father Verus, because he is the true one (which might be a hint for a reader knowing Latin), didn't you? The same counts for Flavius Hilaris, who is a lively, friendly and perhaps even HILARIOUS person, whom Falco likes very much. What I want to show is by analysing this is that your story and certain tiny details (like perhaps these telling names) are more important to you than authentic names of historical senators or procurators, which the reader would probably not know anyway.

I have read an essay on names in your novels and those of other autors like J. M. Roberts which outraged me very much, because the author did not understand that - as I think - you know how the Roman naming worked, but sometimes you just ignore this historical knowledge, because it doesn't fit into your story. --Dagmar Dappert (20 September 2004)

I am going to accept that you are a charming person whose questions are well-meant - even though this is a subject where I could very easily have one of my famous Rants! I have been aware for some time that the names in my books are being criticised by some academics - though I have never been directly asked about it, let alone shown the exact criticitisms. So let's put some things on the record: In most of my books, most of the characters have names taken from Latin texts or Roman inscriptions. They are usually pre-Flavian. I try to associate slaves' (Greek) names with slave characters, and provincial names with the right nationality. Dare I suggest that it is just possible that I have looked at more texts and inscriptions than the so-called academics who claim I have 'got it wrong'? But only if they told me which ones they despise would I be in a position to justify my choice.

Yes, I know the rules. In fact, I have looked at this so carefully that I also know that the Romans frequently broke them - probably because of their habit of using similar names in families. Any analysis of the Julio-Claudian and Flavian families will prove my point. As a novelist I have an extra rule to follow: names in any book have to be sufficiently distinct for readers to keep track of the characters. Quite often characters are called "*" (or **, or ***, or even $) for quite long periods in my manuscripts. This is until I come up with a name that feels right - but it will be a mixture of the authentic, the different (from other characters) and perhaps even easy to type correctly (Flaco is put right by my master spell-check but the individual character names in a specific book only get added when I complete the Custom dictionary at the end.)

You see, writing a novel is technical, in its way. Why is the custom dictionary completed at the end? Because 1) it is best to do a full spell check then, and not have parts of the manuscript corrected - or not corrected - at different times, and 2) I don't want to use the book's custom dictionary for other things, to end up with half my characters in the main dictionary... With Windows NT the custom dictionary could actually be printed out for use by the copy editor, though in XP the Microsoft nerds have removed this useful tool. You didn't ask about that. But you need to know that author's have considerations you may not anticipate!

(Also see FAQ page on Names.)

I've read that Christians, even during the reign of Constantine, constituted perhaps only ten percent of the Empire's population. However, they tended to live in the Empire's eastern cities and as such, may have had an inordinate amount of influence given their proximity to powerful officials. That said, while the old State Religion was alive and well in Falco's Rome, what was the plight of Christians during Vespasian's reign? Also, in Virgin, it's clear Falco has a certain disdain for the religious hierarchy of the time but its unclear if he's entirely secular or not. So, what is Marcus's religious perspective? --Elizabeth Napp (2 January 2004)

Not being religious myself, and I am sorry if that shocks you, I see it as my role to overcome the bias of Christian novelists who have in the past suggested that Rome was packed with suffering Christians and Romans just waiting to be converted. I see little evidence of either in my period. Obviously I am not the person to ask about this aspect generally. As for Falco, you have seen what he does and doesn't do. He procures a sheep for a wedding sacrifice - then persuades someone else to do the job. He nurtures the Sacred Geese and Chickens, but there is salary and status in that. When an issue causes him concern, he comments so if he fails to comment you should draw your own conclusions. He hates hypocrisy and fraud, as I do, and that will affect his attitude to organised religion, as it does mine.

I have a wish that someday when I am 'doing' charity, junk and antique shops' I will find the ms. of  The Spook Who Spoke.--Nita Louise Knapp (8 February 2004)

Maybe we could get a spoof 'sighting of manuscript' story going...

I'd like clarity of the pronounciation of the two vowel combination, as in Caesar, Praetor, etc. Hubby (who thinks he knows) says it's 'pray-tor, while I say 'pree-tor'. I read that the first vowel in such instances is silent (as in 'encyclopaedia, orthopaedics, etc.) otherwise the name 'Caesar' should be pronounced 'Kay-ser'. I know the usual rules apply for the 'c'--that if followed by an 'i' of 'e' it is as an 's'. Your clarification would answer one more question in my life! --Karen E. (26 October 2003)

Um, actually according to the Latin pronunciation I was made to do at school, it would be KIsar and prItor, I'm afraid... there have been two major sets of rules for Latin within living memory and I dare say we are due for a new one any moment. If you are reading the words in English I feel you have to do what sounds most natural, not in Latin but in modern English, in any case (just to confuse you utterly). So when I am doing a novel reading I say Seeser - to rhyme with that good old English word geezer - and preetor, with slightly more o in the second syllable. As in all things, the most important aspect is being clearly understood!

I've read all of the Falco novels and have enjoyed them enormously, though some more than others. I was wondering if you enjoyed writing one more than the rest? Is there one you can say is your own favourite? --Louise Coleman (17 August 2003)

My favourite novel has always been 'The Course of Honour', which I enjoyed writing partly because I had empathy with the heroine and also because I felt I was coming into full confidence as an author. I had the chance to revise it, after a long gap, just before first publication, and although there were some historical details to add, the basic draft still seemed absolutely right.

The Falcos appeal to me each for different reasons, from 'The Silver Pigs' being my first published book. It is already a long series and I don't expect readers to enjoy all the books equally. For one thing, they are deliberately made individual and non-formulaic. Maybe we should take a poll?

Late in the night, an effective pub quiz question is "Who wrote the Roman mystery books whose main character is Falco, and whom is/was the Webmaster associated with her website? (sorry, Webmaster is an international term - can't change that for PC-UK)

Anyone who can correctly (and distinctly) say Lindsey Davis and Ginny Lindzey without slurring is given their car keys and allowed to go home after showing receipt for their tab. --Dave Green (28 July 2003)

What excellent news.

I had only previously been told of appearances in quizzes where 'nobody got the answer'. This is a new twist, and whether you invented it or not, I am so proud!

I recently came across some signed editions of  The Accusers where the "Davis" was crossed out. Could you please tell me why this is so, and if it is commonly known. --Gerald (24 June 2003)

A first editions bookseller once told me to do this, and now I usually do it automatically. I always assumed it was as if you are replacing the printed name with a real signature.

In the immortal words of Michael Caine, not many people know this.

I'm sorry but I don't agree what you write about the relationship  between Falco and Helena Justina. I'm quite sure that no one of the  girls in ancient Rome could live as wife whit a man, with such a  different social classes! --unknown (16 June 2003)

This point has been raised before and I have two answers (that's apart from the fact that in fiction, actually anything can happen!) Firstly, I believe that spirited women who make their own choices exist in any society that doesn't make slaves of its women. Secondly, I refer you to the poet Juvenal, whose Satire railing against the modern women of the times tells of Eppia, a senator's wife who ran away with a gladiator. Not just a handsome attractive one, either - but a clapped out elderly who was well past his best. Commentaries usually assume Eppia was a real person.

This possible loose end has been niggling at me for some time, and it just occurred to me that I could maybe ask about it in this forum, so here goes. I have read every one of your novels, (except the latest, which has not hit the States yet) and I really enjoyed "One Virgin Too Many." I thought it was the tightest and most venturesome one in a while, and I'm most grateful for it. But the ending left me a bit perplexed. The child was whipped offstage and there was a brief mention of having been taken into the presence of a physician. It seemed to me that, despite a fairly remarkable survival, she was in very iffy shape, but it was unsatisfying not ever to know whether she survived the ordeal. I suppose it's kind of silly to simply ask, well did she? but perhaps the better question is: why end her story in this way? It's disappointing not to know at all, after having been worried about her throughout the book. --Nadine Harris (17 June 2003)

I am delighted that you enjoyed 'One Virgin' and that you appreciated the tight structure of it. It is indeed one of the most cohesive stories I have done, with a very short timescale because of the need to discover the lost child. It's also the climax of the three books where Falco tries to work with different partners. Now in general, deciding how much to say at the end of a story is crucial for an author - and where there is a very tense action scene with the hero in great danger, this becomes even more difficult. There are two resolutions in this particular book: one is the rescue and the other is about Falco and all three of his partners working together in a way that he would not have chosen but which is imposed on him by the desperate situation. Of those two, I actually think that the partners aspect is more important to the series. So they get about a page of narrative in which the tension unwinds. What is to happen to Gaia is said in a very elliptical way. This partly because I am a British author; you are expected to take things on trust and not have every last fact spelled out for you. Her fate is summed up: 'She is alive, she's gone to the doctor. Well done.' But it has also been anticipated a few pages earlier where her mother comes to speak to her and Falco says of the mother and daughter: 'If we could, by some miracle, rescue the child alive, things might be better for both of them.' That's your pointer really. At the point where the book ends, with him exhausted on the grass, Falco doesn't actually know the child will live and I believe it would destroy the intense feeling of the last page if I looked ahead. But I also think enough has been said. You shouldn't really need 'Oh by the way, Gaia was OK and lived nice and happily with her Mum'. The point is that some people had been indifferent to her needs, but he and his friends have gone to extreme efforts on her behalf. I just reread it and I still believe it's proper to end there with them.

I was interested to read about your "Lindseyisms" on your web page. I thought I would mention that I am sometimes thrown by the use of British slang in your novels. I had to look up what a narc was on the web. In this country it would be a snitch or a stoolie. A narc refers to a narcotics officer. I'm still not sure what bullocks is.--Kathy Rehus (9 June 2003)

Nark should have a 'k' and is of possible French origin, my dictionary of slang says. Not sure if I believe that part but it is a famous English term, as in 'copper's nark', ie a disreputable police informer, probably breaking faith with cronies in the underworld.

Bullocks should be bollocks and is a part of masculine anatomy, human or animal. Specifically, the part referred to in the famous British civil service joke: a draft memo with policy proposals is being circulated and one recipient notes succinctly in the margin: 'Round objects!' A later recipient asks: 'Who is Round, and why does he object?'

Recently there have been hardback reissues of 'Pigs' and 'Shadows'  both of which I bought to replace my paperbacks. I had hoped that 'Venus in  Copper', 'The Iron Hand of Mars' etc. would also be issued in uniform  hardback format. Is there any chance?--Lawrie Hodges (4 June 2003)

It's unlikely there will be new hardbacks. These three titles were reissued, but as an omnibus in paperback form (still available); the following three are now to be done in the same way.

The reason the first two books were done in hardback again is that they were acquired by Random House from their original (different) publisher. On joining the rest of the series a special new version of each was prepared, 'The Silver Pigs' having a new Introduction. The only way other old titles might have new hardback editions would be if the libraries made a case for it because their copies were falling to bits.

It occurs to me that I'm not so interested in what Falco or HJ looks like, but what will Anacrites look like? What will attract Ma and Maia? What will make him look obviously not one to be trusted? --Terrell Bynum (15 April 2003).

Two-tone shoes and Roman hair mousse.

I was wondering if princess Anne had been in ancient Rome and let her dog off the leash would she have been in such trouble? Falco doesn't seem to bother with putting Nux on a leash. I might add that in Canada (at least London Ontario) we have city bye laws that do not allow dogs off leash but as far as I can tell no one bothers with them, if the dog is well behaved it runs free, if not people tend to keep them on the leash anyway. Second question, I keep reading that the Rottweiler (currently so popular in North America) is actually an ancient breed that was favoured by the Roman army for guarding wagons full of important stuff and also fovoured by merchants to take money to deposit in the bank. Any truth to the Rotweiller tales?-- Rob Lannigan (17 December 2002)

Dogs don't feature much in Roman law, but the vigiles would have arrested HRH if her dog ran wild in public and bit anyone - and individuals could certainly have sued her for damages if they were hurt. It's an offence in Britain to have a dog off the lead in the streets, and most wear their leads, though that's because owners don't want them run over by cars. HRH was in a park, but she isn't allowed to have a dangerous woofie there, even though she probably thinks she owns the park. Dogs like rottweilers were known in Roman times, I think, but you would have to ask dog experts whether the DNA actually matches. I can't think of a scene on Trajan's Column with guard dogs, frankly. As I don't like any dogs that are bred to be nasty rather than soppy, I tend to know only about mongrels and strays. Nux is off the lead because 1) she is well behaved, well she doesn't bite 2) Falco thought he had left her at home that day 3) she has eaten the lead anyway and 4) it gives her more chance to be interesting in a novel.

For postbag? (asks Ginny).

Well, I couldn't decide - mainly because I think lots of US rottweiler fans will write and say how lovable they are... Oh go on. We haven't put up much lately! I'll go into hiding. (replies Lindsey)

Well! We have all read "The J... Myth"... a great read...  BUT...  we were appalled at your very questionable characterisation of  Popillius...  you almost redeemed yourself in the final grunt...  but the shady memory lingers.

Someone has been telling you lies about our profession...  we are really  sweet and loving and kind human beings, doing an awful job which no  one else wants to do. We are really akin to a charity. I once heard of a lawyer who did not charge a client a fee for a telephone call....I admit it was hearsay!!  -- Beverley Hassett (13 December 2002)

I had better warn you now, you may have to omit 'The Accusers', which is totally about the law and those who featured in it in Roman times, and none of them are as nice as the ethical and high minded Popillius... Such fun to write!

Ever since reading about the "Lindsey-isms" in your books, I've been trying to spot one. I'm just now finishing up Ode to a Banker and wonder if I've found one. When Falco's planning refreshments, you refer to "nick-nackeroonies." I can't help but think that's the one. I must admit, being American, I also considered "doddle" and "wodge," but I found other articles with those words, so I ruled them out.--Jennifer Oliver (19 November 2002)

Yes! A genuine neologism. Congratulations.
That reminds me, I don't have one in the new manuscript...

G'day! I would be interested in a couple pages of translations and pronunciations. I imagine this would require a lot of extra work on your part! Perhaps a blurb of where to put stress on syllables? --Nikkii in Melbourne (23 July 2002)

Regarding 'translations', I try not to put in any Latin unless the meaning is quite obvious from the context. I hate books where the author shows off by including phrases in foreign languages as if that makes them look wonderfully intellectual and cosmopolitan. I think it's really elitist and exclusive. What's more, experience shows that if I do include Latin I get it wrong... I did once ask people to let me know any particular words or phrases that caused them difficulty, and no one replied. Experience on the 'neologisms' competition suggests that words people find new and strange are often words that are in common usage in my home. This makes it difficult for me to decide which to define! You may not know but there are two major schools of pronunciation for Latin, plus various other versions used by churches, in opera, and so forth. Some words used by the Romans would in fact be Greek anyway! I use the general rule that if in doubt stress the first syllable, and avoid stress on the ending. It's a giveaway that someone is American if they get this wrong (eg MARius would be MarIus) but I don't know the equivalent Australian effect. I suspect it would be getting the wrong intonation, much the same as happens with my own home accent, for which there is no cure. If your voice goes up and you have different vowel sounds from the norm, you do it automatically... Don't worry about it. Even Vespasian was criticised for his mispronunciation of 'wagon'. What chance do we stand?

I've got a simple suggestion for Jeff Parry (Postbag letter dated 7 May 2002) who wonders what to do when he comes to the end of the books he's got - start at the beginning again, Jeff! There's so much detail in the Falco books, you'll be amazed at the information you pick up each time you dip into them. And perhaps you could try reading more slowly, make the story spin out a bit; savour it more. --Margaret Manning (4 July 2002)

Given Lindsey's views on excessive charges for signed copies of books, she may be interested to know that amazon.co.uk is selling a "Collectable" copy of the Jupiter Myth for 27.00. Oddly, although new copies are 11.89, someone's trying to sell a used one at 13.80. The collectable book is described as "Like New" (big surprise there!)and having a plain signature without dedication.

The oddities of the book trade, eh? --Edwin King (3 July 2002)

Perhaps this book was bought by someone who didn't like it (ouch!), someone who fell suddenly on hard times or it is being sold by a reviewer who obtained it from my publisher?

I suppose the only consolation is that the book is still cheaper than the full retain price! May I reiterate my caution to everyone, however: I prefer to sign copies with a named dedication, then I know it is a real reader's copy and will be enjoyed by that reader. In all circumstances, I sign books for nothing. So NEVER pay for my signature. Someone will be ripping you off - and the swines are exploiting my goodwill.

It is good to see that you have mentioned a Falco Companion on your website. We have thought for a while that it would be most useful to have a Falco concordance or reference work. It would come in especially handy when trying to remember the details of minor characters or, most recently, when struggling to recall in which order Petronius Longus' daughters were born (we didn't have any of the other books with us to look it up in!)

I am sure that most of your devoted readers would buy such a companion; we certainly would! If you don't have time to compile one yourself I am sure there would be no shortage of volunteers. Consider one hand raised! --Sam Kilgour (8 July 2002)

We do plan one day to produce a Falco Companion, though this may not be for a while.
In the meantime, I am collecting ideas so please feel free to send in suggestions for what you would like it to include. I don't guarantee to take up the suggestions (as always!) but I'll listen. Falco Companion

I'm embarrassed to tell you that I am writing from the US. From your mailbag it sounds as if we are an entire country of nit-picking whiners! Tell my compatriots to put a sock in it. If they want a serious historical novel, let them find their way to the History section of their local library. If they want a witty, well-written book with marvelously eccentric characters and a fascinating backdrop of Ancient Rome as one hopes it might have been, let them read Lindsey Davis. I am an archaeology buff, but I must admit that my favorite parts of the Falco novels are the descriptions of Falco's riotously (is that a word?) dysfunctional family and his marvelous relationship with Helena. I love the way the books can have you in hysterics one minute, gasping with surprise the next, and deeply touched a page later.

May I most respectfully make a few suggestions? (Not criticisms, of course). I would like to see a disreputable femme fatale from Falco's past (perhaps the intriguing Thalia?) appear to stir up a bit of trouble between Marcus and Helena. And please, not too many more children--I like the focus on Marcus, Helena, and the wonderful cast of old reliables.--Alexandra Tomich (7 July 2003)

I would like it to be said that I do receive a very large number of letters from Americans who are kind, intelligent, and only too happy with what they are offered. I really don't want to have a website that is full of people congratulating me, because we Brits are brought up to be shy and modest, of course, so if anyone says we have done something well we just go all red and mutter, Oh you shouldn't have! To host my own site and put up lots of people saying nice things would be impossible for me. Besides, I love having a rant.

Regarding your suggestions, I will say this: 1) you shouldn't have because I have made it plain I don't care for suggestions (being shy and retiring) and 2) you have not read 'The Jupiter Myth', which shows you are a good American who buys US products. Wait and see.

I've just discovered your website, and am most intrigued by the idea that Helena Justina began as the chief villain. What the plot of Silver Pigs looked like then is something many of your readers would love to be told. --Martin Stacey (26 June 2003)

When you ask about 'what the plot looked like then', you may have the wrong idea of how I do my plotting! I was unpublished when I wrote 'The Silver Pigs', so had no obligation to prepare even the cursory synopsis I usually do nowadays because I have a contract.

I had a vague idea that Helena would turn out to have masterminded the conspiracy (whatever that was supposed to be), that Falco would fall for her heavily, then be hugely disillusioned when she was unmasked. If I ever wrote any more books about Falco, I thought he would then have been embittered about the woman in his past who had betrayed his trust. This is something other private eyes have in their background.

Up until the point where her uncle tells him that Helena is the villain and then hits Falco on the head, that could well have been what I did with the story. When I wrote the following chapter I decided against it.

This is not 'plot construction' as it is taught in writing classes. Or so I believe. Anyone who is paying good money for a writing class may want to think about that. Of course the plot of 'The Silver Pigs' is daft, I am the first to admit this (indeed, I have just reassured Mary Cutler, who is adapting the book for Radio 4, that she may place as little emphasis as she likes on the plot...)

Perhaps there are legal reasons but I am curious as to why you don’t have a “Where to Buy” or “Purchase” page with links to your preferred book selling sources. It’s possible I missed it as I just found this site today. --Felice Smith (8 July 2002)

I know a lot of authors have links to a particular book-buying site from their WebPages. I feel quite strongly that we should in fact be fair to all booksellers and not single out any particular one. I have links to my publishers, to whom I owe such a large debt, and some if not all of them do sell by mail order. Other than that, I believe I should be neutral!

Shall you consider introducing a young Decimus Junius Juvenalis (say ten years before Crispinus’ mullet)? Perhaps not as a “sidekick”, but at least as a sub-plot character. --Mark Johnson (9 July 2002)

I am very picky about which real life characters I use, partly due to a feeling that authors shouldn't make fiction out of real people even if they are dead, partly because we tend not to know enough biographical and personal details about Roman figures to enable a true characterisation. I hate the thought of writing about someone and getting their height and hates all wrong. The Emperors are OK, if you make allowances for flattery and/or prejudice in theory biographers, but I've never been a fan of the 'Hello Chopin, oh look there's Beethoven talking to Napoleon' style of book and without good cause, I don't suppose I'll bring in your favourite.

Silius Italicus and Paccius Africanus are to be in Falco 15, but I don't see that raising wry smiles of recognition in many readers!

Have you ever been tempted to write a chapter or book from one of the other characters perspective? Knowing how Falco feels about certain people it would be interesting to find out what they think about him! Particularly the brother-in-laws he is so harsh about. --Linda Davidson (4 July 2002)

I started the Falco series in the first person because in a spoof 'gumshoe' it seemed natural to have this voice-over approach. It is useful for reminding me that I am writing as a man in theory, but does has the downside that everything must be seen from Falco's own perspective with him present, or told to him by others. You are right that I miss sometimes being able to show scenes from other characters' points of view, though I have learned to do without. The classic thing in a detective story is not to use the regular characters in that way, but to use the suspects and witnesses, but if I were really drawn to that style, I suppose I would have written that way. It's interesting that "The Course of Honour" only has a few key scenes where I moved away from Caenis as the main viewer. (Thinks: why am I giving help to PhD students?...)

The obvious choice in the Falco books would be Helena, but I really do prefer to handle her more subtly, from his viewpoint. As for the brothers in law he hates, I think we can guess what they think. In fact, I think Falco has told us frankly what his family think!

Have you found out what your  'average' reader is yet?--Mary Emery (6 June 2002)

I never think of my readers as average, you know; they are all pretty special!

Reading that you are considering Falco #15 is good news. At least, that is a real good news and shall not pester you with ridiculous wishes concerning Petro or Domitian or Ma ( though the picture of Ma marrying Vespasian and ruling the roost over the Imperial Palace is appealing, but without doubt Laeta and Anacrites would cooperate to poison the old sweetheart) By the way, have you ever considered writing roman absurd fantasies like that Ma marries Vespasian, they exile Domitian  in China, and Petro marries ANACRITES who was a woman in disguise since the beginning (Anna Critesia etc etc) when one becomes mad, one must become really mad, otherwise what is the use of being mad--one must settle for big plans, big looniness!)--Therese Prieur  (12 June 2002)

I don't usually take suggestions, as everybody knows but these seem good ones to me!

Regarding your remarks about neologisms, I thought "Scam" & Hooligan" might fit I into this category, but my knowledge of Latin being zero, I imagined there were equivalent words at the time.  Who wants to be a finicky nitpicker anyway?  I will wait patiently to discover what, if anything happens to Falco in 79AD, assuming he is anywhere near Mt Vesuvius! If you have a fan club, is it called "The Falcontents"? Yours falcontentedly --Ken Hancock (6 June 2002)

I like the Falcontents, though it sounds more suitable for the whingers than the many very kind people who write to me. When I talk about neologisms I actually mean newly made up words - of which I am allowed about one per book by my editor. He calls them Lindseyisms. I would say Scam and Hooligan were modern slang, though the latter is quite old in derivation. I think you are right; there would have been Roman words to cover these concepts. Don't ask me what. Maybe no-one knows anyway, since they would probably not be 'literary' Latin. This has reminded me that I have been meaning to collect together words people find difficult, and perhaps it is time for a neologisms competition, Ginny?

Please, I must know what the devil is a "Winkle". They have been mentioned in several books and I have no clue, it is food, something you wear what? --Lynda (15 May 2002)

A winkle is a small shellfish. There are several varieties and in my experience they are very hard to eat (you are given a pin to 'winkle' them out) - and not always worth the effort.

I know there won’t be any Falco movie in the near future, but if you were given total freedom, which actors (living or dead… I said total freedom) would you pick for the main characters? My other passion apart from literature is cinema (mostly Hollywood classics), so I’m just curious about it. If you ever allow doing a Falco film or TV series I’d be very fussy about the actor who plays Falco… no living creature can reach his levels of cynicism and at the same time tenderness. --Teresa Segura Garcia (15 May 2002)

Firstly, the BBC are likely to choose a complete unknown for their hero. For one thing, if they make the whole series, it has to be someone young enough to be available for years, and able to commit for that time. They have told me they intend to 'create a star' - which is what I always thought would be the best.

People often ask me about actors who are currently in other series; well, it won't be a face that is already well-known for a different character.

And I won't speculate. I shall be asked to give my approval when the time comes, but there are so many imponderables that I don't like to waste effort thinking about this. I don't actually 'see' Falco in any case. He is a voice in my head.

All these comments apply to Helena too.

I have enjoyed reading the Falco series but have one major complaint... There aren't enough of them.

I'm just coming to the last three in the series and am worried about what I am going to do when they are finished. Have you thought of writing  them in your sleep or cloning yourself to improve output? Could you write longer books? Currently I get through 1 Lindsey Davis every day.

If you could double the length of each book then it would help.

You will now have to join the list of favourite writers who only publish every year or so. I will be relegated to checking Amazon every few months to see when the next instalments due.

 It is so bad that I'm even introducing and recommending other people  to your work. --Jeff Parry (7 May 2002)

Thank you for writing and for your wild enthusiasm. I am writing as fast as I can, but I have to have a life (that's why I do it, after all!) and I don't want to lower the standard. Don't trust commercial sites, is my advice after seeing how some of them operate. In the UK the books are always published in the first week in June, specifically to help regular readers know when they can expect a new one. But my site has the most up-to-date information so you may like to ask Ginny to put you on the updates list.

A couple of weeks ago, we adopted a year-old monster - white German Shepherd - from our local animal pound (we won't have to start calling it a euro, I hope). Since the pestiferous brat is always sniffing out trouble and digging up things better left alone, we were compelled to name him Falco.--Jonathan Brookner, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA (6 March 2002)

Enjoy your puppy. I used to be wary of German shepherds but have been converted by seeing some with lovely temperaments on a dangerous TV programme called 'Pet Rescue' where they encourage innocent viewers to fall in love with abandoned goats and ferrets. When it's dogs, I have to be tied to the sofa so I can't ring up and offer a home to large numbers of mutts with appealing eyes who have had sad lives...

I happen to know there are now a lot of American doggies called Falco, and they all sound - let's say - full of character. I know of at least one baby with the same name, though that I feel is rather unfortunate and may lead to playground bullying.

Is there any product on the market today comparable to "malabathron"? --dhk (19 February 2002)

There may be very well be products that include the essential ingredient - which was cinnamon bark, I believe - but modern perfumes tend to have hundreds of ingredients. And their manufacturers are so secretive nobody would know.

Cinnamon is extremely good for you if eaten. It is perfectly possible that baking your loved one a basic cinnamon biscuit might achieve the same results as scent, and at much less cost...

I enjoy the character of Falco although I am still confused about names - as to the etiquette of which name is used and when - and of marriage laws and the buying into different levels of society. The relationship of Falco and Helena seems to be an accepted one which is surprising as they are not married yet seem to be regarded as a couple.

I would like authors of historical novels to include a glossary of terms - I have enquired the price of the complete Oxford English Dictionary to help me in my reading, but I cannot justify the purchase. Some authors like Candice Robb do include a small glossary and this does help somewhat to the enjoyment of reading her books. --Sue Eldridge 26 January 2002

This is something I have considered before, but I decided that (notwithstanding what other authors choose to do) I felt it was best not to pretend my books were some kind of historical textbook. I put in maps, but very simple ones. I do have lists of characters for each book, not just because Roman names are difficult but because it was done in old 'gumshoe' novels sometimes and the tribute to them seems appropriate. Otherwise, I try to make everything in the narrative fairly clear from its context. That particularly means the words I invent! (My editor allows me one neologism per book, and I have been known to slip a few others past him...)

The dictionary I use most often is not the 24 volume OED but its two volume companion, the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, which costs a lot less. In fact I bought mine for a very cheap price as one of those inducement offers for a bookclub, when I was a struggling author with no money, so look out for repeats. The Concise is extremely comprehensive and deserves to be better known.

There is a possibility that one day we'll produce a 'Falco Companion, in which I would put a glossary of words that regularly give people trouble, so if anyone wants to start telling me what words they have stumbled over I can collect them up in readiness.

Yes, I shall explain fish pickle!

I can't help letting you know how much I enjoy reading your novels - even to rereading them without shame. I am a teacher with the United States Department of Defense Dependants Schools stationed in the Azores, Portugal. I teach Spanish, German and all social studies, including American History, world history, law and anthropology. I use information from your books as illustrations and refer students to them for reading for sheer enjoyment as well as edification, especially when tossing in a bit of Latin every semester. I wonder, could you feature a teacher in a future book? Could anything top that as fascinating? Thanks for the many hours of joy and edification!-- Vivla Ray Hill, J.D. (29 January 2002)

Writing the books is enormous fun but hearing from satisfied readers is an added pleasure.

I shall think about putting in a teacher - though I would have to treads carefully, to avoid trouble from Ginny. However, my father was one, so I do have lots of research at my fingertips...