Zenobia - Challenging a Legend book tour FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY!

In the Zenobia Book Series you’ll learn about the Warrior Queen who conquered Egypt and Challenged Rome. In book two, Zenobia – Challenging a Legend we find out what motivates her into action.

We have all kinds of exciting things happening for the release of Zenobia – Challenging a Legend.

First, a special promotion is available on our Websites:

BUY BOOK TWO, GET BOOK ONE FREE

Visit  www.zenobiabookseries.com or www.geodepress.com

FREE BOOK giveaways happening all month at:

Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour Nov 14th- 29th: hfvirtualbooktours.com/zenobiablogtour/

Another way to win a FREE copy of book two is enter the GoodReads giveaway

www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/162094-zenobia—challenging-a-legend

Zenobia is the most powerful woman you've never heard of.

 

It’s time to change that-

Zenobia is incredibly beautiful like her ancestor

Cleopatra, in book two Zenobia – Challenging a Legend,

she will use seduction to bring

revenge upon her enemies.

Zenobia is highly intelligent, well educated and speaks

five languages. 

•  

Zenobia carries the greatest female military mind in

history. She’ll eventually come into control of the

second most powerful army in the world. 

  

In book two, Zenobia – Challenging a Legend,

 Zenobia learns about a slave trade organization

kidnapping young innocent ladies and Zenobia is

compelled to take action and turns her warrior skills

into piracy.  

Zenobia’s love for justice will bring her into conflict

with the strongest empire on earth, she will set her

sights on the greatest conquest of all – Rome.  

Picture from Zenobia the Musical (copyright Photography by Michelle Ho)

For more information see: https://www.facebook.com/zenobiathemusical

 

We appreciate your support and hope you will continue to enjoy Zenobia’s story as it unfolds.

To view the full article about the history of female superheroes please check out our website at: http://geodepress.com/female-superheroes-and-why-zenobia-will-make-a-great-one/

Time for more of my favorite "Did you know" from history.com. This time it's Rome...

10 innovations that built ancient Rome

Me (Julie) at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas with a copy of Zenobia - Birth of a Legend.

I don't even need a passport to experience Rome from Zenobia's time. 

Did You Know?

Many ancient Roman innovations vanished for thousands of years after the fall of the empire. Roman technology was astonishingly ahead of its time, but well-kept trade secrets meant that countless inventions died with their owners. The most famous example is concrete, which disappeared for centuries and was not adequately reproduced until the invention of Portland cement in the early 1800s.

The full article can be found at: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/10-innovations-that-built-ancient-rome

By Evan Andrews

The Western Roman Empire may have fallen more than 1,500 years ago, but its rich legacy of innovation and invention can still be seen today. The Romans were prodigious builders and expert civil engineers, and their thriving civilization produced advances in technology, culture and architecture that remained unequaled for centuries. From aqueducts to newspapers, find out more about 10 innovations that built ancient Rome.

1. Aqueducts

lillisphotography/iStockphoto.com

The Romans enjoyed many amenities for their day, including public toilets, underground sewage systems, fountains and ornate public baths. None of these aquatic innovations would have been possible without the Roman aqueduct.

2. Concrete

Grand Tour Collection/Corbis

Many ancient Roman structures like the Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum are still standing today thanks to the development of Roman cement and concrete.

3. Newspapers

LeitnerR/iStockphoto.com

The Romans were known to contribute to public discourse through the use of official texts detailing military, legal and civil issues. Known as Acta Diurna, or “daily acts,” these early newspapers were written on metal or stone and then posted in heavily trafficked areas like the Roman Forum.

4. Welfare

G. Dagli Orti/De Agostini/Getty Images

Ancient Rome was the wellspring for many modern government programs, including measures that subsidized food, education and other expenses for the needy.

5. Bound Books

aeduard/iStockphoto.com

For most of human history, literature took the form of unwieldy clay tablets and scrolls. The Romans streamlined the medium by creating the codex, a stack of bound pages that is recognized as the earliest incarnation of the book.

6. Roads and Highways

Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis

At its height, the Roman empire encompassed nearly 1.7 million square miles and included most of southern Europe. To ensure effective administration of this sprawling domain, the Romans built the most sophisticated system of roads the ancient world had ever seen. These Roman roads—many of which are still in use today—were constructed with a combination of dirt, gravel and bricks made from granite or hardened volcanic lava.

7. Roman Arches

Vanni Archive/Corbis

Arches have existed for roughly 4,000 years, but the ancient Romans were the first to effectively harness their power in the construction of bridges, monuments and buildings.

8. The Julian Calendar 

grublee/iStockphoto.com

The modern Gregorian calendar is modeled very closely on a Roman version that dates back more than 2,000 years. (*READ an article I wrote about the Julian Calender at http://geodepress.com/how-february-came-to-be/)

9. The Twelve Tables and the Corpus Juris Civilis

Subpoena, habeas corpus, pro bono, affidavit—all these terms derive from the Roman legal system, which dominated Western law and government for centuries. The basis for early Roman law came from the Twelve Tables, a code that formed an essential part of the constitution during the Republican era.

10. Battlefield Surgery

G. Nimatallah/De Agostini/Getty Images

The Romans invented many surgical tools and pioneered the use of the cesarean section, but their most valuable contributions to medicine came on the battlefield. Under the leadership of Augustus, they established a military medical corps that was one of the first dedicated field surgery units. These specially trained medics saved countless lives through the use of Roman medical innovations like hemostatic tourniquets and arterial surgical clamps to curb blood loss.

Zenobia loved to learn and expand her knowledge. Even though Zenobia spent most of her life trying to eradicate Roman control over her Syrian people, I think she respected the Romans many innovations. Especially since Palmyra, Syria (Tadmor in Arabic)  prospered under the Romans influence for many years.

Who is Zenobia? A 3rd century warrior queen from Syria

A recent article on buzzfeed.com talked about the top 11 queens in history and Zenobia ranked #7. Here is the link to the full article:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/whitequeen/the-definitive-ranking-of-the-11-most-badass-queens-in-histo

"Queen Zenobia ruled the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria during the third century. When her husband (King Septimius Odaenathus) died, Zenobia took over. She fought the Romans, conquered Egypt and expanded her empire before eventually being defeated."

Today our world is experiencing so much sadness and injustice, especially in Zenobia’s home country of Syria. My heart goes out to these people and especially the children who are suffering. Here is a full article from abcnews.com:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/envoy-syrian-regime-rebels-face-justice-19739354

Author Russ Wallace was impressed with Zenobia and he decided to write a series following her life story. In Zenobia- Birth of a Legend, we can learn a great deal from Zenobia’s example. Zenobia's experience can even help us today battle for justice.  A novel that not only entertains but educates us and motivates us into action is what we need. Zenobia as a 3^rd century warrior queen fought against Rome and today she would once again battle for justice to free her ancestral homeland Syria. Turning our hearts to our ancestors can help us through these hard times.

Book one, Zenobia – Birth of a Legend is now available at www.geodepress.com ;

http://www.amazon.com=zenobia+birth+of+a+legend;

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/94629;  and participating bookstores and libraries.

Book two, Zenobia – Challenging a Legend will be released soon.

Wallace dedicated his first book to: “For oppressed girls and women everywhere. Hang on to your dreams and know that a better world is coming.” I think this book series is not only for strong women everywhere but for all who battle for justice.

Are we repeating history?

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One great thing I love about promoting Zenobia and her story is she fought for freedom and wanted to stop the injustices. I'm hoping instead of repeating history we can learn from our past and correct it before it's to late. 

Are we repeating history? For a brutal truth watch the video by FreedomFest2013 at Geode Press website http://geodepress.com/are-we-repeating-history/

How February came to be

Calendars and months have changed a lot over the years. Most of this took place before Zenobia’s time but still very thought-provoking. Don't forget to take the discovery quiz at the end. See how much you know of the history of calendars. 

The original Roman calendar was said to be invented by Romulus, the first king of Rome, at around 753 BCE (Before Common Era). The calendar started the year in March (Martius) and consisted of 10 months, with 6 months of 30 days and 4 months of 31 days. The winter season was not assigned to any month, so the calendar year only lasted 304 days with 61 days unaccounted for in the winter.

Februarius (February) was not part of the original calendar, but was added (with a variable number of days), as the month preceding the beginning of the year. Sometimes there was an additional intercalary month.

Februarius became known as the purification month or atonement, as the Lupercalia Roman festival suggests. Originally, Februarius may have had 23 days. In time, the calendar was standardized so that it had 12 months with 29 or 31 days, except for Februarius which had 28. Later, Julius Caesar re-standardized the calendar to line up with the seasons.

Julian Calendar Reform

Among the offices Caesar was Pontifex Maximus, the highest Roman priest. The calendar was the province of the priests because it was they who annually picked the dates of the religious festivals. By 46 B.C., what should have been autumn harvest festivals were lining up with the summer. This would be a problem because you can't harvest what hasn't yet grown. When Caesar returned from Egypt to Rome that year, he fixed the Roman calendar, probably based on what he'd learned from the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria, in Egypt. (Side note: Alexandria, Egypt had the largest library until Caesar visited. It is also the location where most of book two takes place in Zenobia – Challenging a Legend.)

It’s also said the calendar was changed from the Roman Republican Calendar by Caesar because he was tired of its corruption. Priests back then would exploit the calendar for political reasons, and would add in days, sometimes months, in order to keep favored politicians in office.

The new calendar had an average of 365 ¼ days per year. So to solve this problem, Caesar created a leap year every four years, which meant that every four years, they would repeat February 23. In the Julian calendar, there was never a 29th of February. The year was broken into 12 months: Ianuarius, Februarius, Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. In 44 B.C. the Romans renamed Quintilis, Iulius, after Julius Caesar, and in 8 B.C. Sextilis was renamed Augustus, after Caesar Augustus.

The major problem with the Julian calendar was the fact that it was off by 11 minutes every year. The Julian system says a year is an average of 365.25 days, when it takes closer to 365.2422 days for the earth to return to the same point while orbiting the sun, putting the calendar off by 11 minutes, or 1 day every 128 years.

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar today.  It is derived from the Julian calendar and named after Pope Gregory XIII who decreed the new calendar on February 24th 1582. The Gregorian calendar was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries. The motivation for the Gregorian reform was that the Julian calendar assumes that the time between vernal equinoxes is 365.25 days, when in fact it is almost 11 minutes shorter. The discrepancy results in a drift of about three days every 400 years. At the time of Gregory's reform there had already been a drift of 10 days since Roman times, resulting in the spring equinox falling on 11 March instead of the ecclesiastically fixed date of 21 March, and moving steadily earlier in the Julian calendar. Because the spring equinox was tied to the celebration of Easter, the Roman Catholic Church considered this steady movement in the date of the equinox undesirable.

 How would you like to lose 10 days in one month?

Zenobia loved to learn and expand her knowledge. Take a quiz and challenge yourself:

http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/calendars-quiz.htm

Resources:

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/julian-calendar.html

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/holidaysfestivals/f/CaesarCalendar.htm

http://dsc.discovery.com

What is Ancient History?

1. Ancient History is the history of the ancient world from the earliest known civilization to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD.
2.  Informal -Something that is already long familiar and no longer new, interesting, or relevant.

On a recent trip to Vegas, I was thrilled to find a statue of the Goddess Diana from Roman Mythology in Caesars Palace.  Zenobia in book one was compared to the Goddess because of her skills in archery.

Diana statue in Caesars Palace

I'm excited when I find readers, book clubs, and organizations that focus on history. Most groups spotlight Renaissance or Medieval times. Groups who center on Ancient History can sometimes come off as boring. I might not have been interested in knowing more of the time frame if it wasn't for Zenobia from the 3rd century. She brings a point of view that even today we can relate to. Ancient History doesn't have to be "Ancient History" and we can make it fun and interesting. I'm a visual learner so walking around Caesars Palace made the history of Roman times come to life. 

Even riding on the elevator was a history lesson to be found

As I explored Caesars Palace it was like  being transported back to Roman times.

of course Caesar was a focal point

Zenobia  came along on the Roman tour of  the extensive grounds

There were beautiful gardens and statues everywhere

Roman towers

Sparkling water fountains

and Roman Mythology was all around

I don't even need a passport to travel to different times in history.

next stop Egypt

Tuesday Teaser – Are you a lover of Justice like Zenobia?

Are you a lover of justice like Zenobia? Ch 13 in Zenobia- Challenging a Legend in her critical thinking class in Alexandria, Egypt they are discussing how to build an empire. At the time Egypt is ruled by Rome. Here is a discussion that took place in class when they questioned her on how she would overthrow Rome.

“I, for one, hate that!” exclaimed Zenobia. “To oppress a weaker people is unjust and unrighteous! Lovers of justice should try to fix that.”

    “And what exactly would Miss Righteous do?” Philander asked indignantly.

    “Yes, Zenobia,” agreed Hermeseus, “history shows that rebels don’t live long!”

    “I don’t consider cowering in fear to be living, and ‘rebels,’ as you call them, have toppled world empires. Assyria conquered Egypt, Babylon conquered Assyria, Persia conquered Babylon, Greece conquered Persia, …”

….

    “The answer lies in the ingredients needed to build the empire,” she began. “Remove those and the empire will collapse, or be weakened enough to be conquered.”

    ….

    “Hypothetically speaking of course, what would happen in Rome if the grain ships from Egypt suddenly stopped sailing?” she asked. The simple question hung in the air for a moment, and then the students erupted, a dozen making comments at the same time. 

Hope you enjoy the Tuesday Teasers and this holds you over until Book two is available.

For a chance at a free copy of book one go to Jan 3rd post (http://geodepress.com/zenobia-birth-of-a-legend-free-book-giveaway/) and answer one of the Trivia Questions and email the answer. 

Zenobia- Birth of a Legend is a 2012 IPPY award winner in Historical Fiction

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amazon.com/author/russwallace

Thinking Thursday - Zenobia learns the challenges of being a leader

In Zenobia - Birth of a Legend chapter 24, we share a scene with Zenobia and Cam her mentor who's training her as a warrior. They discuss the heartbreaks that can come from being a leader. Cam explained to her that justice has many enemies and rulers have shorter more turbulent lives. Cam states, "Justice has a cost". Read below as Zenobia questions why Cam would allow her to follow a path that could lead to so much unhappiness.

     She decided to ask the obvious question. "Then why are you training me as a warrior?"

     "Because I agreed to. I was caught off guard that night when we made the bet about the melon. Of course, I had watched you at a few contests, and I figured you would win our wager, but I couldn't let the others know that. I was just happy that you and your mother were going to live. I didn't consider all the ramifications until later. Then I felt I couldn't go back on our bet. Honestly, you are a strong warrior already, and you will be a great one. 

     "I am also training you because of what you had to endure for the first nine years of your life. I felt you deserved to get what you wanted, and that was what you wanted. Had you wavered in that, I would have been glad, but, of course, that has not happened. Still, if I could grant you a peaceful, protected life in a paradise somewhere, and if I knew you could be content there, I would do it in a heartbeat."

     She looked at her mentor wistfully. "We both know that is not to be," she said. "The desert goddess proclaimed it otherwise. Cam, are you dodging my question about the father of Odenathus?"

     He paused in thought. He had needed to say what he did, fruitless though it had been, but her question remained. "As to the father of Odenathus, there are conflicting accounts, as is often the case. However, the most plausible seems to be that a high Roman official feared that the Senator of Tadmor was becoming too powerful and therefore, with the approval of Rome, had him assassinated. Which substantiates the point I was making earlier." 

     "But Tadmor was a colony and an ally of Rome," she objected, "and its citizens were also Roman citizens. That would have been a treacherous betrayal!" It was redundantly emphatic, but Cam Thought it certainly made the point. 

     "When powerful allies gain sufficient strength, they frequently strike out on their own and turn on their former allies. The Roman governor evidently feared this, especially since Tadmor was so far from Rome on the eastern frontier of the empire."

     "But, clearly," Cam concluded, "it was a betrayal of the worst kind, so I agree with you."

     "Have they no honor!" Zenobia exclaimed angrily. 

     "Some have a lot, some have only a little, and some have none. Remember, Zenobia, the most dangerous enemy is the one whom you believe to be your friend. They can hurt you like no one else. They can come from allies, from your own tribe, from your close friends, or even from your own family. They take advantage of your trust and strike where and when you least expect it. You are never completely safe from them. 

     This was sobering information. "So," she asked at length, "what does one do?"

     "Sometimes people unconsciously reveal their true motives, but we can talk about that another time. For now, we should get back to camp."

     Zenobia had one more question for Cam, but she was afraid to ask it. She did not know if she ever would. The question was, Would you have let my father and the tribal leaders kill me?

     Instead she said, “I wish I could get the education I need in Tadmor, but Odenathus says I will have to go to Alexandria for that, and I agree. It seems that you and Mother do also. I am glad up are considering it."

Tuesday Teaser - Zenobia a Syrian girl challenges Rome

Before I share the Tuesday Teaser from book two Zenobia - Challenging a Legend I want to show you one of the advertisement that will be shown at Harkins Theater in Gilbert, AZ for the prescreening of The Hobbit on Dec 13th and Les Miserables on Dec 19th. Thank you Tabitha and Cadi.

(By the way tickets are still available for both movies. Pick them up in San Tan Valley on Tuesday, Dec. 4th at Burger King on Ironwood & Combs 7-8pm
Les Miserables - $16 Uppers, $5-$12 Lowers. The Hobbit- Lowers: $2 Row 1,$3 Row 2, $5 Rows 3 & 4. They still have a few left on Row 5 for $5 also! Or email them at prescreensby2huns@yahoo.com.)

What do you think of the ad? Would it motivate you to want to learn more and read the book about a Syrian girl who becomes a threat to Rome?

Now onto the Tuesday Teaser from Chapter 14 in book two, Zenobia - Challenging a Legend: 

"As you observed, I got the information I wanted. I considered the risk minimal because I also know that Rome considers women inferior and unfit to rule. Therefore a desert girl from the Syrian wild could not possibly pose a threat to a mighty empire, and thus it would be beneath the dignity of any Roman official to give her the slightest thought."

Thank you for stopping by to read our Tuesday Teaser. We'd love to hear from you, don't be shy to leave us a comment.