🔥 ANNOUNCEMENTS
📖 The Heart of Ruin — Coming April 30th
My new novel, The Heart of Ruin, releases April 30th. I’ve been working on this one for a long time and I cannot wait for you all to read it. I can now reveal the cover, and I hope you love it as much as I do. Without further ado…
COVER REVEAL
🎉 Signed Paperback Giveaway — LAST CHANCE
The signed paperback giveaway is still open but closes tonight at 11:30 PM Arizona time. If you haven’t entered yet, do it now — this is your last shot. Winner will be announced Saturday morning.
DON’T WAIT–ENTER HERE BEFORE THE DEADLINE!
📚 Ebook Promos
I’ve got two ebook promos running right now. Check them out:
Free Books Promo
Kindle Unlimited Fantasy Promo
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EPISODE SUMMARY
In 68 BCE, one of Rome’s most brilliant generals stood in front of his army and begged them to keep fighting. They told him no.
This week on Beyond the Pale, we follow the story of Lucius Licinius Lucullus — a wealthy, tactically gifted Roman commander who won every battle he fought in the east and still managed to lose his entire army. Not to the enemy, but to the total collapse of trust between the men who fight wars and the men who lead them.
It’s a story about mission creep, class divide, veteran abandonment, and what happens when soldiers decide they’re done being spent for a cause that keeps changing shape. If any of that sounds familiar in 2026… yeah. That’s the point.
WHAT WE COVER
• The Third Mithridatic War and how a defensive mission turned into a decade-long eastern campaign
• Lucullus: military genius, political disaster, legendary dinner party host
• The Battle of Tigranocerta — one of the most lopsided victories in ancient history
• Publius Clodius Pulcher — aristocrat, chaos agent, future cross-dresser at Caesar’s wife’s religious ceremony
• The mutiny: when Rome’s toughest veterans simply stopped marching
• Pompey swooping in for the credit (as Pompey does)
• Modern parallels to the Iran conflict, veteran disillusionment, and the forever war playbook
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
• Plutarch, Life of Lucullus
• Appian, Mithridatic Wars
• Adrian Goldsworthy, In the Name of Rome
• Tom Holland, Rubicon
• Philip Matyszak, Mithridates the Great
• Arthur Keaveney, Lucullus: A Life
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Thanks for listening. See you next week.