My Coffee Pot Book Club Guest Today – Alison Morton and Inceptio

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Series: Roma Nova

Author: Alison Morton

Publication Date: 28 March
2023 (original ebook and paperback 1 March 2013)

Publisher: Pulcheria Press

Page Length: 390

Genre: Thriller

“It’s about Roman blood, survival and money. Mostly yours.”

In an alternative New York, Karen Brown is running for her life. She makes
a snap decision to flee to Roma Nova – her dead mother’s homeland, the last remnant
of the Roman Empire in the 21st century. But can Karen tough it out in such an
alien culture? And with a crazy killer determined to terminate her for a very
personal reason? 

Stifled by the protective cocoon of her Roma Novan family, deceived by her
new lover, she propels herself into a dangerous mission. But then the killer
sets a trap – she must sacrifice herself for another – and she sees no escape.

A thriller laced with romance and coming of age, this
first in series is Roman fiction brought into the 21st century through the lens
of alternative history and driven by a female protagonist with heart and
courage.

 

This 10th Anniversary hardback
edition includes bonus content: Three
character ‘conversations’, two short stories and the story behind INCEPTIO.

Read An Excerpt

Excerpt
2

[Family
background and romantic note]

[Conradus Mitelus speaks to
Karen/Carina]

‘There’s something I
must ask you,’ Conrad said, his expression serious now. ‘It’s why I was in
Washington. What do you know about your family? I mean, your mother’s family.’

‘What’s that to you? Do
you know them?’

‘Bear with me. It’s
important.’

‘No, you explain
first.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
‘I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to know.’

I looked at him,
searching for clues in his face, but his expression was bland and, despite the
eye colours seeming to shift, his gaze was steady but not cold. I shrugged.
‘Mom came from Roma Nova, like you. My father told me they met when he was in
Europe, in Roma Nova, on business. She came here to the EUS, they married, she
had me and then drove herself off a cliff when I was three.’ I heard the
bitterness in my voice. ‘I never knew what made her leave like that, and Dad
never discussed it.’

He pressed my hand as
if to comfort me. After a few moments, he said, ‘I can’t answer that, but I can
fill in some other gaps for you. Do you have any family documents or old
photos?’

‘Why?’

‘Do you always
challenge everything?’

‘Yes, especially when
I’m not told the reason.’

‘I will tell you, but can you get the papers first?’

Why would I? He was a
stranger. An exciting, beautiful one that I found deeply attractive. But he was
a foreigner who looked like he was under surveillance. Maybe I needed to check
with the cops or the FBI first. I hesitated. I could imagine how stupid it
would sound to them – I’d file a complaint and he’d turn out to be an old
family friend. Would they take any notice of me anyway? I was already on their
security watch list.

The hell with it.

I decided to show him
the photographs to start with. In my bedroom, I pulled out the box stashed on
the top shelf of my closet: my parents’ wedding; them with me as a toddler; my
father alone; my foster parents, the Browns; high school friends. In the end,
it was easier to hand him the whole box. He picked out the ones of my mother
looking like any other American housewife and mom and discarded the rest. I had
to dig around in my file box for the certificates and passports. I kept them
bundled on my lap, but showed him her old Roma Nova passport, the corner
clipped off.

‘Have you ever been in
contact with any of your mother’s relations?’

‘I had a letter now and
again from my mother’s mother, but nothing since I came to New York. When he
was alive, my father insisted that I wrote back. I remember going to see her
once when I was a kid. After my father died, I went to live in Nebraska with
his cousins. This grandmother kept inviting me for a visit, but they wouldn’t
let me go. It was too expensive, they said, and Uncle Brown didn’t like
foreigners.’

‘What? There was plenty
of money for that sort of expense. Were they that narrow-minded?’

‘Hey! They gave me a
home when my father passed on.’ I defended them, instinctively, out of duty. I
always had sufficient to eat and was adequately clothed. I hadn’t been Cinderella,
but I was firmly outside the core family circle. Maybe, despite all his
efforts, they’d never forgiven my father his Englishness. Although the
withdrawal by the British in the 1860s had been amicable on the surface,
resentment endured, especially in the rural areas where they’d been big
landowners, and still were.

I came back to the
present with a jolt.

‘What do you mean –
“plenty of money”?’

‘Your mother left you
her personal portfolio, and your father’s electronics business will be yours
when you’re twenty-five. You’ve got income from both held in trust.’

‘You have to be
kidding.’

‘Haven’t you had any of
it?’ His eyes widened in surprise. ‘At all?’

‘Since I’ve been in New
York, Brown Industries has sent me three thousand dollars every quarter from
New Hampshire. I try to save most of it, but I have to use some of it for my
rent.’

‘Your grandmother,
Aurelia Mitela, set up a portfolio for her daughter when she went to live in
America. Naturally, it came to you on her death. Your father and your grandmother
formed a trust for you so you could be comfortable, go to college, do whatever
you wanted.’

I heard the words. I
saw his lips forming them. I ran them through my head again. I sat completely
still, numbed. The only sound in the apartment was the refrigerator humming in
the kitchen.

Uncle and Aunt Brown
must have known about the money. I’d wept angry tears of frustration when Uncle
Brown forbade to me have any thoughts of going to college. I knew Ivy League
had been way out of my reach, but the state university should have been
possible. How could they have done
that to me?

‘And just how do you
know all this?’ I had recovered speech but couldn’t keep the steel out of my
voice.

‘From your grandmother.
Your father wanted you to grow up like any other American girl, but left
instructions in his testament that you should be told everything at eighteen.
That obviously didn’t happen.’ Conrad handed the photographs and passport back
to me, his face grave. ‘He probably never imagined these cousins would keep it
from you.’

Buy links:

INCEPTIO 10th Anniversary special edition hardback:

International Buy Link: 

https://mybook.to/INCEPTIOHardback

Amazon UK: 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BTXR81DZ

Amazon US: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTXR81DZ

Amazon AUS: 

https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BTXR81DZ

Amazon CA: 

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BTXR81DZ

Barnes & Noble: 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inceptio-alison-morton/1143030797

Book Depository: 

https://www.bookdepository.com/Inceptio/9791097310363

Your local bookshop
or library

All other formats (ebook, paperback, audio)

https://www.alison-morton.com/books-2/inceptio/where-to-buy-inceptio/

About the author:

Alison Morton writes award-winning thrillers featuring tough
but compassionate heroines. Her ten-book Roma Nova series is set in an
imaginary European country where a remnant of the ancient Roman Empire has
survived into the 21^st century and is ruled by women who face
conspiracy, revolution and heartache but with a sharp line in dialogue.
INCEPTIO starts the adventure…

She blends her fascination for Ancient Rome with six years’
military service and a life of reading historical, crime and thriller fiction.
On the way, she collected a BA in modern languages and an MA in history. 

Six full-length Roma Nova novels, including INCEPTIO, have
won the BRAG Medallion, the prestigious award for indie fiction. SUCCESSIO,
AURELIA and INSURRECTIO were selected as Historical Novel Society’s Indie
Editor’s Choices.  AURELIA was a finalist
in the 2016 HNS Indie Award. The Bookseller selected SUCCESSIO as
Editor’s Choice in its inaugural indie review. The Historical Novel Society
recently selected JULIA PRIMA, the first Foundation story set in the 4^th
century, the accolade of Editors’ Choice.

Alison lives in Poitou in France, the home of Mélisende, the
heroine of her two contemporary thrillers, Double Identity and Double
Pursuit. Oh, and she’s writing the next Roma Nova story.

Social media links:

Connect with Alison on her Roma Nova site: https://alison-morton.com

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonMortonAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alison_morton

Alison’s writing blog: https://alisonmortonauthor.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisonmortonauthor/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5783095.Alison_Morton
Alison’s Amazon page: https://Author.to/AlisonMortonAmazon

Newsletter sign-up: https://www.alison-morton.com/newsletter/

Twitter Handle: @alison_morton @cathiedunn

Instagram Handle: @AlisonMortonAuthor @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #10YearsINCEPTIO #RomaNovaSeries #AlternativeHistory #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Blog Tour Schedule Page:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2023/02/blog-tour-inceptio-10th-anniversary-edition.html

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