David and Pueros, respectively, return with their latest additions to the long-running serials! Both tales are sure to leave you on the edge of your seat, screaming for more!
True to form, David regales us with more blood-thirsty carnage of the newest Baddies of his New World, and Pueros once again shows us that those wonderful Boys of Tamerlane's (as most boys really ARE!) just can't stay OUT of trouble for a minute!
You cant omit Nero 19 from the Serial Lovers Festival! Pueros has provided us with a view of Roman history unlike any youll ever get in school. The period is one of my hobbies - Pueros has the characters exactly right. Nearly everyone in the story is a REAL person attested in historic documents. Nothing said contradicts what is known. Pueros has just brilliantly added the necessary bits and pieces to build a great story. Nero has even driven me back to rereading the classics. Wonderful job.
I agree with you that Tamerlane's Boys is a better read than Nero.
Basically, because the story is more coherent.
All of the historical detail in Nero breaks the narrative and I think it would be better if it were confined to footnotes, but that is just my opinion.
Many thanks, guys, for the kind comments relating to a couple of my longer stories.
I recognise that a number of readers share Colins view that some of the historical background that I provide in Nero is distracting from the storyline. However, I also know, from feedback, that there are others who welcome such insight. Such a conflict of taste is one of the reasons why I try to keep several serials on-going, with a few one-offs thrown in, each hopefully catering for different preferences. For example, Tamerlanes Boys is deliberately shorn of much of the history that I could add to the subject. Im also submitting a near-contemporary tale in James Bonds Boyhood Adventures, a futuristic one in Startrek: Ganymede and a fantasy in The Wish, which is also basically a sexually straight narrative compared to the others, which have gay or bi themes. Perhaps here I should also apologise to the followers of the latter stories for a lack of recent posts but I can assure them that I hope to rectify the situation soon.
Whilst Im writing this message, I feel compelled to report that Ive noticed that some former regular supporters of my work havent been in touch or publicly commented on my stuff of late. I therefore hope that I havent somehow upset them by trying to include the occasional subliminal religious or political message in some of my tales.
Pueros is exactly right! The readers here have a wide variety of tastes. While I enjoy all of the historical pieces (so long as the history isnt TOO badly mutilated), greater accuracy and more historical detail helps me to enjoy a story more. Tamerlane is good (and Ive written privately to Pueros about it commenting on an article in the Journal of World History that came out just as he was beginning the serial and that paralled some of his historical details).
But, the incredible attention to detail (and fine historical accuracy) of Nero makes it, by far, the better read for me. I keep checking back with my reference books to make certain that Pueros has it right. He does! Since I know what happened to some of the historical characters in Pueros story, I know that those who stick with the story have a real treat in store. I can hardly wait to see how the known facts of their lives are embroidered by a master storyteller.
:p 
