Part of Series
Byzantium, 248 AD Tarchon has nothing. His mother is dead, his father is absent, and he spends his days doing odd jobs – and the odd crime – on the tough streets of Byzantium. But when an attempted robbery lands him in prison, he is approached by an organisation looking for resourceful, ambitious, young operatives. The rise of the Gothic King Cniva threatens the eastern Roman Empire and the Imperial Security Service is thinly stretched. Drawn by the promise of money, status and adventure, Tarchon sets out to prove himself and is tasked with increasingly difficult challenges. He is then sent north on his most crucial mission yet; only a successful outcome will earn him the coveted title, Agent of Rome.
Author
Nick was born in Norwich in 1974. A keen reader from a young age, he graduated from Enid Blyton to Douglas Hill and JRR Tolkien, and from there to Ian Fleming, Michael Crichton and C.J. Sansom. After three years studying in Brighton, he travelled to Nepal where he worked at an orphanage and trekked to Mount Everest. After qualifying as a history teacher in 2000, he worked for five years in England before taking up a post at an international school in Warsaw. Nick had completed a few screenplays and a futuristic thriller before being inspired to try historical fiction after reading C.J. Sansom’s Dissolution: “Researching the Roman army and life in the third century was a fascinating but time-consuming project and the book went through many drafts before arriving at its final form. I had always intended Cassius to be a somewhat atypical protagonist and when I came across the research about the Roman ‘secret service’, I knew I’d found an ideal vocation for my reluctant hero.” If he’s not writing he might be found at the cinema, in a pub or playing football. Nick is represented by the David Grossman Literary Agency (general@dglal.co.uk) Follow Nick on Twitter @randomrome or Agent of Rome on Facebook.
