First Spear: Pro Denuo presents the saga of Roman Centurion Gaius Crastinus vividly to life. Up close and personal, this often-dark look into the Legions of Rome is seen through the eyes of a brave soldier and man of honor.
Gaius “Killer” Crastinus and his fellow veterans, Vorenus, Pullo and Bacculus, have won honor and glory in the service of the SPQR . Now these comrades must introduce a new consignment of recruits to life in the Roman Army. One of them is Gaius’ younger brother Marcus. But training for the young soldiers is cut far too short, for war brews in Lusitania.
With only three weeks of training , the newly constituted X Legion is ordered north. Their order is to stop Lusitanii incursions into the province of Hispanica forever. Marcus and his fellow recruits follow Gaius in a desperate fight to safeguard their homeland.
If they survive, even larger troubles loom to the east. Mob violence in Rome and a quarter-million Helvetian tribesmen are invading provinces in southern Gaul. When Marcus is the one chosen to enter enemy territory on a secret mission, only the “soldier’s god” Mithras knows if he will succeed.
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First Spear: Acies Triplex
Despite playing a key role in defeating the Helvetii, Marcus Crastinus slays a high-ranking chieftain in retaliation for murdering his beloved Lapidara.
Court martialed for murder; Marcus is sentenced to a brutal death by crucifixion. Forced to witness his brother’s shame, Gaius Crastinus and the Xth Legion, fighting for Caesar in Gaul, march toward a new threat from across the Rhine. Ariovistus and over 100,000 ferocious Germans are squatting on lands wrested from rival Gallic tribes.
Marcus’ sentence was merely postponed until the opposing army is safely out of sight. Offered one last opportunity to regain both rank and lost honor, he must accompany two master spies into the unbalanced king’s lair, keeping them alive long enough to convince Ariovistus to meet with the Imperator and thus avoid a costly war.
They must also find and verify that Gallic hostages are safe, and return them to their people, alive. Under a new identity and utter secrecy to assure success, Marcus has no choice but to accept, as failure means certain death on the cross.
First Spear: Rudimenta
First Spear: Rudimenta preludes Julius Caesar’s Commentaries by focusing on the regular soldiers serving Rome in Spain and Late Republic Italy. Heavily researched on actual historical events, Rudimenta targets fans of historical fiction and romance.
63 BCE: Gaius Crastinus, Titus Pullo, Lucius Vorenus, Publius Bacculus, all of whom eventually follow Caesar into Gaul, are recruited in Baetica, Spain, where four thousand tiros must be trained by too few centurions.
Centurion Marcus Petronius has decades of experience in fighting, but Tribune Lucius Cotta has ideas of his own, putting the two at odds during weeks of brutal training where recruit Crastinus emerges as a trusted leader and the first to be promoted.
Meanwhile, provincial Quaestor Julius Caesar has military aspirations of his own, but little training or experience. While he and his comrades complete their training, Crastinus must also watch over Caesar.
Dispatched to Cadiz, Crastinus thwarts a street robbery, rescuing Cornelius Balbus and his beautiful daughter, with whom he falls hopelessly in love.
The Senate suddenly orders VIII Legion to Italy, where a disgruntled Senator Lucius Catiline plots rebellion against the Republic. Can VIII Legion survive crossing a grueling Spanish desert and treacherous winter Mediterranean to preserve a republic they’ve never seen?
About the Author
Author and former soldier Brent Nielsen offers Rudimenta as book one of his First Spear trilogies. The second and third books are Pro Denuo (2019) and Acies Triplex (2020). Born in Fremont, California, he has made his home in Georgia for over forty years.