Alexander Inheritance – Snippet 01
The Alexander Inheritance
Eric Flint, Gorg Huff, Paula Goodlett
Prologue
“Eurydice.” Roxane bowed slightly in acknowledgement, but was careful not to bow too deeply. She couldn’t afford to let the fiery sixteen-year-old think she was in any way superior. Roxane was twenty-two and the mother of Alexander the Great’s heir. Her beauty had captivated Alexander, but without Alexander as protector, Roxane’s beauty was as much a danger as an asset. Tall, with rich lustrous black hair and eyes, a lush figure and a dancer’s grace, Roxane was a temptress whether she wanted to be or not. But she wasn’t Macedonian like Eurydice or Alexander’s sister Cleopatra. The generals wouldn’t be competing to marry Alexander’s beautiful widow…just to use her.
Eurydice, on the other hand, wasn’t beautiful at all. The teenager had a beak of a nose and an almost mannish face, full of sharp edges and hard features. But she had a presence that was potentially dangerous to both Roxane and her son. Eurydice was a powerful speaker, and a member of the dynasty, Philip II’s niece. Roxane was noble, but not Macedonian.
Eurydice had the bloodlines and knew it. She barely nodded in returning Roxane’s bow. “Will you support me against Antipater when he gets here to Triparadisus?” she asked bluntly.
“Why should I risk such a thing?” Roxane looked at Eurydice, ignoring the lamps that had been lit as the sun got low in the sky, paying no more attention to the polished wooden floor of the hunting lodge, the rich draperies that hung from the walls or the expensive rugs. She pointed to the figure watching them from the corner of the room, a little boy with black hair and eyes and the features of Alexander the Great already beginning to show in his face. “Will my son be safer with you as regent than Antipater?”
“I am the wife of Philip III Arrhidaeus, half-brother of Alexander.”
“He’s an idiot.”
“No, he’s not. He just thinks differently.”
“Drawing curving lines and numbers on paper doesn’t make him any less an idiot.” Roxane forced herself to stop. She didn’t actually dislike Philip. She resented that he was co-king with her son, who already understood things that Philip never would. And she was afraid of Eurydice, who, it seemed likely, would have Roxane and her son killed to pave her way to power.
“Never mind,” she said. “Whether he ‘just thinks differently’ or not, having you as regent is not something that fills my heart with peace.”
“And Antipater does?”
“Antipater is seventy-six years old and not long for this world. Also, my son doesn’t stand between him and the throne.”
“I wouldn’t count on that if I were you,” Eurydice insisted. “He has sons, after all. Think, Roxane. If we are allied, the army will listen to us.”
Eurydice tried to put on a wheedling tone, but Roxane didn’t believe it. Eurydice was good at commanding, and her speeches could move an army. Had, in fact, over the weeks that they had been traveling from the disastrous battle on the Nile. But the teenage firebrand didn’t wheedle well, especially women. In this case, she had focused on the short-term goal of stopping Antipater and assumed that Roxane would fail to see the danger she represented.
“And how long will our alliance last? You are as much a pawn of the generals as I, but were I to help you to become a queen, I would be sacrificed in an instant, and my son with me.”
“You’re a fool. Perdiccas is as dead as Alexander. The generals are all out for themselves. The empire is coming apart and bleeding its honor onto the ground as Alexander’s soldiers kill each other.”
“Eumenes maintains his loyalty to the Argead dynasty.”
“Eumenes is a Greek, not a Macedonian, or he’d be rebelling with the rest. And anyway, the army has already declared him outlaw. It will be made official once Antipater is regent. The generals won’t have any choice. Eumenes isn’t going to come riding out of the east to rescue you and little Alexander. Nor me and Philip. We’ll have to rescue ourselves.”
It would have been a good argument, Roxane thought, if I could trust Eurydice as far as I could throw her. And Eurydice is the wrestler, not me.
Life in the household of Alexander the Great had been a mixture of terror and exultation from the beginning. Terror because Alexander’s generals weren’t happy that he married a Bactrian. Exultation because Alexander was truly a great man, frightening and tempestuous, but a man of great and grand dreams. A man who, if his life hadn’t been cut short, might have melded all the peoples of the world into one people. A man who saw past the surface, who could even see civilization, or at least the potential for it, in a blond Gaul or a Roman.
But that dream was as dead as Alexander now, and the generals had turned into jackals.
And Eurydice was a hungry tigress, swishing her tail and ready to pounce.
I’ve been waiting for these snippets for a couple weeks now, when I first learned of the book. One thing I already wonder about, though, is that the title is identical to the title of another book by another author in an entirely different branch of fiction. Was that an oversight, or is it that the authors of this book don’t care?
IMO the authors didn’t think it mattered that they “reused” a book title.
In the history of publishing, there have been plenty of cases of books having titles that are the same as other books. [Smile]
There is no copyright on book titles.
Nor on old poems.
Not that anyone here would rip off dusty poems for—say—chapter headings.
There might not be a copyright violation, but it could be technically a trademark issue. Movie titles are a bit more picky, including book titles identical to a famous movie.
Book publishers aren’t jerks like the film business in that respect. Thank goodness. A title can also change depending on marketing strategies.
At least Eric didn’t call it “Heirs of Alexander” so it would be confused with his “Heirs of Alexandria” Series (“The Shadow of the Lion” etc.)
Chuckle Chuckle
One of the books in the Heirs of Alexandria series was titled “This Rough Magic” which is also the title of a book by Mary Stewart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Rough_Magic
Oh, looking up the title, it appears that somebody else has used it as a title.
Both the Mary Stewart This Rough Magic and the Heirs of Alexandria This Rough Magic take place (in part) in Corfu.
Yep, I noticed that.
I knew the “This Rough Magic” title was familiar so I looked & found the Mary Stewart book so saw that “Corfu” was the main setting of both.
“Drak’s Slumber Party” has been used as a book title, in case anyone was getting any ideas.
With an author “named” Gertrude Gruesome. [Evil Grin]
“A man who saw past the surface, who could even see civilization, or at least the potential for it, in a blond Gaul or a Roman.”
I don’t know why she was mentioning Romans as at this point in time they’re still nobodies.
I suspect they needed two cultures that she might consider barbarians and that a modern casual reader would recognize. Gauls are pretty far from Bactria tool, to the extent that I find them nearly as unlikely.
I suspect Scythians and Pashtuns would be more likely choices for her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_conquest_of_Italy#/media/File:Roman_conquest_of_Italy.PNG
According to this map, Rome was already encrouching Neapolis 15 years before the death of Alexander. That makes the republic 200 km from North to South, not huge, but certainly a major nation.
Also, she means to refer to irrelevant barbarians, and Alexander seeing potential in even them.
In addition, that makes Rome as large as Macedonia, and larger than Laconia (Sparta) or the Theban alliance before Philip of Macedon in ca 350 BC.
Is this setting going to be opened up for collaborations/short stories the way 1632 was? Already have one in mind after devouring the ARC yesterday.
I haven’t heard anything about that.
While Eric has accepted some stories related to Time Spike, it’s unknown if he’ll be opening the “Inheritance” world for stories.
Mind you, I suspect that if he does, it won’t be soon.
You might want to visit Baen’s Bar as ask about it in the 1632Tech conference.
Judging from his announced and pending books, other than outside writers for the short stories in the Grantville Gazette, I do not see him having the time to do any collaborations.
Although the Drak character does need some more adventures. He needs to get out and do field work, rather than just answer questions on line.