The Curse of Heatherwell House (Working Title) came from a slightly different place than many of the other stories in this collection. When I decided that I was going to put together a collection of short stories with the theme of Gothic Horror, I quizzed Clemency on what would scare her. She said “zombies”. Not the easiest thing to work with for Gothic Horror – give me a ghost any day. Here are some thoughts about how I went about creating The Curse of Heatherwell House … Once I had spoken to Clem about the things she finds scary – and discovered which of my back catalogue she found the creepiest – I started to get an idea for a story. It involved a vicar (obviously the younger son of a wealthy family, as all these Gothic vicars seem to be) who took over gravedigging responsibilities because the rest of his parish were too sick to do it. I was pleased with the premise – and perhaps it will turn into another story. Watch this space… But there was one major sticking problem: whils...
This week, I've been delving back into Ancient Rome, so this song was October's logical choice for a Horrible Histories blog. I'm so excited about the release of Alternate Endings, a collection of eight short stories from different historical writers. Each one (as the title suggests!) picked an event to change in history. Mine was the sparing of Vercingetorix's life.
So Julius Caesar has been at the forefront of my mind!
But Crassus was already dead by the time my story was set. In fact, his death triggered the collapse of that First Triumvirate. Unlike the later triumvirates, theirs was established solely to further their own ends individually. As the centuries turned, a certain hierarchy was established within each set of three, the geography reflecting this, but Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey were all as close to equal as they could be.
Despite the appearance in the video, however, they all equally disliked one another. There was a circle of mistrust amongst them and, although the triumvirate was formed to help them gain their own personal foothold with the senate, ultimately they sought to undermine one another's proposals. Caesar remained the quietest of the three in regard to this arguing, perhaps demonstrating the stubborn patience which would drive his campaigns over the next decade and a half. He married his daughter to Pompey and remained largely silent towards Crassus, who had acted as a guarantor for his debts.
Crassus knew the value of money, although he did not realise the limits such a value had. Unlike his fellow members of the triumvirate, the military was not second-nature to him and he believed buying his way into running an army was all which was required to lead men. Prior to the forming the triumvirate, he had the golden opportunity of the slaves' revolt, but a number of his men turned tail and fled from the battle. Determined not to lose face, Crassus resorted to decimation, randomly choosing one in ten of his remaining troops for execution. This act restored order and discipline, but it also served to unsettle his troops.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his death was as a result of his failure as a military leader. Following the death of his son in a battle he was leading, and being forced by his men to recognise that his only way out was through negotiation with the Parthians, Crassus was on his way to an embarrassing submission. A misread action, when the Parthians believed Crassus was attempting to flee, resulted in his death, along with all the members of his party.
Money couldn't buy his way out of that!
The First Triumvirate collapsed. Animosity festered between Pompey and Caesar with no middle-man. Pompey was assassinated as he fled from Caesar, while Caesar went on to reach the position of dictator.
This song suits Crassus well: larger than life. When this one comes on in the car, the volume is turned up to maximum (minus one, because you should always keep one in reserve!) and the car rocks slightly as we reenact the dance as best you can while sitting down!
The moral of his story? Money can't buy you everything. But...
...It can buy you the opportunity to read my story, Vercingetorix's Virgin, along with those other seven fantastic what if? stories. Pre-order it here: Alternate Endings - and see what could have happened next!
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