Roman Universal Citizenship and the Parallels with America

Caracalla

In 212CE, Caracalla, murderer of his own brother Geta, and sole heir to the ever decaying Roman Empire, made a calculated decision called the Constitutio Antoniniana, which granted universal citizenship to all free subjects of the Roman Empire.

The purpose of the decree was twofold: ease of bureaucracy and to help fill Rome's near empty coffers.

What Caracalla failed to understand, and to the detriment of an already declining society was that the people he made citizens; Moesia, Dacia, Pannonia, supplied an endless resource of able bodies who have had at the time, no dealings with Rome itself. Not only were they unfamiliar with Roman custom's, insofar as everyday Roman life and the worship of Roman gods, they had little knowledge of the universal language of the empire: Latin.

This lack of attachment to Rome, and the relevant non-allegiance to a city hundreds of miles away allowed the infiltration of foreign ideals and norms into an already established Roman culture, which had been in existence since the early 700s BCE. The "1000 Year Empire" as it styled itself to become was already in it's final death throes before universal citizenship.

In 21st century America, with the ongoing debate of illegal immigrant status and universal amnesty, a parallel is being drawn. There are the many who seek advancement in America through legal processes, and others who believe they have a right to be here, legal or not. Immigrants are the backbone of the United States, and keep the blood of the county refreshed. New ideas and innovations came with immigrants of the 20th century, and they assimilated into an already established culture.

The early days of immigration to the United States saw the influx of people from various nations in Western Europe: England, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Spain and Ireland. During the Slavic upheavals of the late 19th/early 20th centuries due to war, famine and disease, the face of the immigrant changed to that of the Pole, Croat, Lithuanian and Russian, in addition to many other cultures across Eastern Europe. The people who settled in the large cities of America did so in their own small communities, keeping their heritage and culture alive. After a generation though, they began to move out of the cities and into suburban areas. Though some retained their languages, all became Americans. They pledged their allegiance to their newly adopted country.

From the mid 20th century until the present, the largest immigrant population has come from Central and South America, with Mexico leading the pack. Values changed, and indoctrination has taught the newly arrived immigrant from South of the Rio Grande that they no longer need to "lose" their culture and become Americans. They have their own culture, and should be proud of it. It is not they that need to conform to America, it is the Americans that need to conform to them.

In retrospect, mass citizenship to people who have little to no allegiance to the nation/empire granting the citizenship is like the Trojan Horse of Homer's day. The nation will tear itself apart from within.



Robert E Howard: Historical Poetry

I would like to thank fellow REHupan Frank Coffman for sharing this wonderful video of the panel on Robert E Howard's poetry at Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas this year.

I will definitely need to make the pilgrimage there one day.

The Alchemist: New Horror Short Story now available Smashwords

The Alchemist

The Alchemist is now available at Smashwords of a whopping .99 cents.

 That's right, .99 cents.

It took me a long while to finish this little gem. Actually, I had it sitting on my hard drive for about 3 years; unfinished and unsure of how to finish it.

In keeping with the style of the pulp writers of the 1930's, I developed a rather simple plot: Man meets woman at bar, woman lures man with her beauty into a bad situation, man held prisoner and experimented on by mad scientist, woman seeks redemption and aids man in escape.

Oh, and that damn magic dagger is back, the one used in my other story, Ritual of Fire.

On creating the antagonist, Doctor Martin, I mixed two area that I really dig; history and psycho-thriller. The story takes place sometime in the 20th century, and the doctor is already centuries old, after stealing a flask full of water from the Fountain of Youth. The doctor uses small quantities of the magical liquid to keep himself young, and to perform experiments on hapless victims.

Hope you enjoy the story, and please leave honest comments.

Bringing Back Pulp in the 21st Century

I grew up reading mass-market paperbacks of sci-fi and fantasy books by Ace and other publishers. Fueling my imagination were books such as Michael Resnick's Redbeard, books by Andre Norton, Philip Jose Farmer's Dark is the Sun and The Cache, and the most influential writer in my life, Robert E Howard and his stories about our favorite barbarian, Conan, in addition to other stories REH wrote including the stories collected in the Gods of Bal-Sagoth.

The art of pulp is to create a fast-paced story, setting a main problem for the protaganist to overcome, and introducing obstacles to the solution for the main problem along the way. (see Lester Dent's Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot)

In today's face-paced entertainment scene, in which a movie that doesn't have CGI explosions and gun-battles within the first couple of minutes on screen time is quickly labeled as "slow-paced", I am surprised that pulp-fiction is not more readily accepted by mainstream readers of thrillers and crime stories, and to an even more extent, horror and fantasy fans.

But the times, they have a'changed. Young adult novel depicting vampires and werewolves are still selling well, riding on the coat-tails of the Twilight series. The vampire had changed from an oafish, unbelievable monster, to a more human-like being with emotions. The idea of a tortured vampire was introduced by Anne Rice in Interview with the Vampire in 1976. It took Hollywood over 10 years to get a movie deal going, which in turn influenced the next generation of vampire writers. Everybody and his sister were writing vampire stories, and the trend is still going strong.

Pulp-fiction lasted for decades, and in my opinion died during the late 1970s. I am talking about books being put to print, but were still being sold through the mid-to-late 1980s. Tor and Dragonlance were putting out D&D books, which in my opinion, though considered high-fantasy, were the closest thing to pulp being printed. They were being mass produced, and at any bookstoer you would, and still can see hundreds of titles available by a few authors in the D&D universe.

The fast action of the pulps drew me in, and will always influence the way I write.

Interview with David Wisehart at Kindle-Authors

I just finished an interview with Dave Wisehart at Kindle-Authors about my new novel, When Giants Speak.

Kindle-Authors is an excellent resource for discovering wonderful indie-writers for the Kindle market. Dave is also an author whose book Devil's Lair can be found at Amazon for the sale price of only .99 cents.

The interview can be found here: Interview with Jeff Woodward

It's All About the Detail When You Write

I was just talking with a friend of mine who just happens to be a radio host and boxing fanatic. He recently wrote a short story, and asked me to read it. I read the story, which had a good plot, but it was missing some of the fine-tuning that helps a reader envision in their minds what they are reading.

It's always about details. It's not just a "flower in the garden", it's "a white, rather wrinkly carnation with specks of pink around the front petals." The same concept goes when describing people and places. The reader wants to see what's going on, and you the fabulous writer need to show them.

My first story I ever submitted was a short about a guy contracting the HIV virus, and using it as a sort of revenge by having unprotected sex with women (I know, I know, it was 1995 and I was young). I submitted it to the Lumpkin Times in Chicago, and they shot it back at me with a rejection note. But it wasn't an automated note, I mean they actually hand wrote one and told me the story was "good, but lacking detail." From that day forward, I followed the advice of the anonymous editor and gave me some insight into fiction writing.

Detail, detail and more DETAIL! The more adjectives you use to describe an object, person or place, the happier your reader will be. Robert E Howard did jsut that in his Conan and Soloman Kane yarns. He sucks the reader in, with well-thought out descriptions of females scantily dressed, lying on silk covered divans as the mighty Conan came to carry them away......

New Short: The Voice from Beyond is Available

Ever wondered about 'white noise', and what you would do if there was something in the room with your child, something you knew was there but shouldn't be?

The Voice from Beyond is a story I wrote some years ago, again in pulp-style. A young couple starts to hear voices on their baby-monitor, and to their horror discover that their baby is wanted by another form of life. As the plot unfolds, Mark's wife learns more details into the sinister spirit, and the tragedy she faced while still alive. Tragedy at the hands of her own brother....

Read the complete story here: The Voice from Beyond

Ritual of Fire

Put up a short story on Smashwords that I wrote years ago called Ritual of Fire.

I love the old style pulp stories; the fast action and women in peril with an unlikely anti-hero that comes to the rescue in the nick of time. Pulp writing is a form onto itself, and I may take the time to write here how I try to produce the stories I want to tell.

Ritual of Fire is about a man who is sent from a secret order of demon hunters to stop a human sacrifice before a demon is called forth. He is armed with a magic-knife that can drain the essence of any living thing it is thrust in (insert jokes here). He has been a hunter for some time now, but has yet to come across a sacrifice in person. He's strong, he's resilient and resourceful, but he's also scared.

Check it out, it's available as a free download here: Ritual of Fire

Let me know what you think.

When Giants Speak is Available



When Giants Speak

 When Giants Speak is now available at Smashwords.

Though I have been writing since I was a kid, this is the first time I created a novel length story.

I put off self-publishing for years, shopping my manuscript to various literary agents instead. After more rejections than I can count, i decided to go the self-publishing route, especially after The NY Times reported that ebooks are outselling print books on Amazon.

I am very happy I went this route. The Kindle and other e-reading devices have created a means for writers to be heard. The authors keep all rights to their works, and can enjoy nice royalties from sales.

Smashwords Me'Thinks

Getting ready to publish and I think I am going to be using Smashwords. Aside from distribution to Kindle, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles etc., I believe the concept is well worth the trouble to format your writing to pass through their meatgrinder.

I was hesitant at first to self-publish, but after reading numerous blogs and meeting many wonderful self-published authors, I must say my mind was changed.

E-publishing is going to be the way of the future. Smashwords is just one option to help an author along the way.

Ariovistus: Caesar's Head for the Senate

During the Gallic Wars, after J. Caesar pushed the Helvetii out of Adeun territory, he was asked to come to the aid of the Sequani to help push Ariovistus and the Suebi out of Sequan territory.

Ariovistus was originally invited by the Sequani to help in a war against the Adeui. Ariovistus and the Germans decided to stay in Sequan territory after the war, taking over a third of the territory for himself. The Sequani realized a little too late that they made a mistake, and invited a worse threat to themselves than other Gallic people such as the Adeui could prove to be.

When Caesar approached Ariovistus for the first parley, the leader of the Germans basically rebuffed Caesar and told him he came invited to Gaul, he won their territory by force of arms, etc. After the conclusion of the first parley, there were a few minor skirmishes between the Germans and Romans. When Ariovistus realized the Romans weren't budging an inch, and because German soothsayers were saying that Ariovistus would not win a battle before the next full moon, Ariovistus decided to approach Caesar to parley.

When Caesar approached, Ariovistus opened first with a bit of bragging about himself and the Germans, how they haven't slept under a roof in over 10 years, how brave they are, etc. He also stated something very interesting:

"I know for a fact that if I were to kill Caesar" said Ariovistus, "if I were to kill Caesar, I would earn a great reward from some of the Senators in Rome." Ariovistus then added, "I know this, because I heard it from their very messengers."

Now the great question: Which senators would have sent messengers to Ariovistus and the Germans, promising them fortune if they would kill Caesar? Who would have had the ability to get messengers across the Province, through a part of Gaul, and to the area where Ariovistus was camping?

Or, did Caesar fabricate Ariovistus' words to sow seeds of loyalty among those who favored Caesar or at least were on the fence between Caesar's and Pompey's factions?

Wicker Men and the Gauls

The first known recording of the Gauls creating wicker objects shaped like men comes from Julius Caesar's The Gallic Wars. Caesar describes how the Gauls would tie up criminals in the wicker men and then set them ablaze as a form of human sacrifice. He also states that when not enough criminals were found, even innocent people were bound and burned to death.

This is in stark contrast to the Germans who lived across the Rhine. The Germans worshipped the things they could see or feel, such as the sun, the moon and the earth. They did not perform human sacrifices according to Caesar, but later on we discover that Roman prisoners caught after the Varus Disaster in 9CE had their heads nailed to tress, and according to Peter Wells in The Battle that stopped Rome, they were even ritually drowned.

The use of human sacrifice was a custom among the Kelts whose Druids were the final say in all matters concerning religion, and if we believe Wells, was even practiced among the Germans to some extent.

The Latins and Greeks did not practice human sacrifice, and after the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West and with the advent of Christianity, the practice was dropped altogether.