'A gripping and exciting read, well-researched and convincing.' Peter Tonkin, author of The Ides

Nest of Vipers

Philippi. 42BC.

Caesar is dead and his successors crave vengeance.

The massed legions of Octavian and Mark Antony face off against Cassius and Brutus.

Primus pilus Titus Villius Macer is ordered to probe new defences thrown up by the assassins' auxiliaries.

His success wins him an audience with the young general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who sends him on a mission to his native Sicilia, which is ruled by the pirate Sextus Pompey.

Macer's homecoming is different to what he expects, however. His wife has changed - and so has the governance of the island.

The soldier becomes a spy and is drawn into a plot, which will test his mettle and loyalty, involving piracy and assassination.

Viper Pit

Rome. 38BC.

Pirates have cut off Rome’s grain supplies, antagonising the new Caesar, Octavian.

Pacts and compromises have failed, so now Octavian must go to war to eradicate the threat.

But can his impoverished navy overcome a superior fleet, commanded by Sextus Pompey?

His spymaster, Agrippa, has placed a man inside Pompey's camp – but former centurion Titus Villius Macer must choose where his loyalties lie.

Viper’s Revenge

36BC.

Rome has tired of Sicilian pirates disrupting their grain supplies.

Twice the new Caesar, Octavian, has tasted defeat at the hands of the pirate chief, Sextus Pompey.

To combat the problem, Octavian creates a naval base and a new fleet manned by thousands of freed slaves.

But Rome is a hotbed of treachery, and when a trusted admiral sails into the new harbour to attack the enemy's shipyards, one of Octavian’s most senior spies is cruelly exposed.

Titus Villius Macer, former centurion of the Fifth Alaudae legion, must race against time to save his family from the vengeful Sextus.

The agent of Rome must bloody his sword once again, and so must his trusted friends as Rome’s new navy and twelve legions from Africa close on the pirates’ stronghold in a pincer movement.

Scores will be settled on land and sea in the Battle of Naulochus, the climax of a world-changing conflict and the making of New Rome.

Alistair Forrest is a journalist and editor. He is the author of Libertas and Line in the Sand.

Praise for Alistair Forrest:

'Libertas is a fast-moving tale of fortitude, survival and eventual retribution told against the background of Rome's bloody civil war.' Douglas Jackson, author of Glory of Rome

'Libertas is a good read: pacy, exciting and often funny. Forrest makes us care about Munda. He captures the tragedy of a people dragged into the horror of a vicious war brought about by circumstances over which they had no control and could hardly understand.' Lynn Guest, Historical Novel Society