Axios

About the Book

The Year of the Four Emperors was preceded by one of the more dissolute and depraved emperors in Roman history.  Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, known as Nero, governed the most powerful political power in the known world.  He surrounded himself with panderers and pleasure-seekers of all sorts.  His reign was marred by a variety of disasters, both natural and man-made.  The Great Fire destroyed huge portions of the Eternal City.  But another upheaval of epic proportions was already shifting the sands beneath his Throne.  It was during Nero’s reign that Peter and Paul sowed the seeds of a new religion.  Mistaken at first for a Jewish cult, Rome quickly perceived that this creed would shake the foundations of her empire.  She could not contain it.  Not through persecutions legendary for their bestiality, not through raids, proscriptions, punishments, and outrages of all descriptions could she root out this burgeoning vine that had sunk its roots deep into her dirt.

            Claudia Acte was a gifted and highly intelligent hetairi (women of Greek origin who were educated to be companions for wealthy men in their leisure moments).  She was purchased and brought to Rome to be Nero’s consort and to act as an influential agent for interested politicians.  She had everything a cosmopolitan woman of her time could possibly hope for, except her freedom. Traded in a secret deal to the next rising star within Nero’s Court, Ofonius Tigellinus, she found herself cornered into a degrading and hopeless situation without any future for her or the child she was forced to carry.  And then on a warm and sunny day, she simply wandered off into Rome, away from her slavery, away from the life of degradation she had known and accepted throughout her existence, into a new world from which she could never return.

            Recaptured, re-enslaved, but redeemed, Claudia Acte quietly dwelt in joy and peace, awaiting her time of release.  The profound change within her rippled its influence among all who knew her, excepting no one, not even Tigellinus, the man who ultimately held all the true power within Rome.  And while Nero’s reign continued for a time, a great sifting of human hearts was underway.  The general populace did not approve of Nero’s bloody reign, they did not approve of the persecutions, and they certainly did not approve of his hedonistic lifestyle and undignified pursuit of the arts.  While their emperor pined for the cheers of “AXIOS” — the applause of the ancient Greeks for theatrical performances well done — Rome longed for a return to the days of her own glory.  And beneath it all, spreading like a virus, was the new religion that was infecting all of the empire, from slave to freedman to Equestrian, to Praetorian, to the Commander of the Guard and his mistress, the infamous Claudia Acte.

About the Author

Dolores A. McCabe is no stranger to literature.  She graduated from Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1973 with a B.A. in English Literature and Philosophy.  In 1990, she graduated from SUNY The College at New Paltz with a B.A. in Applied Music, Piano.  Ms. McCabe worked at the Mid-Hudson Library System, Poughkeepsie, New York, during the time she worked toward her second degree.  While there, she reviewed for The Children’s Book Review Service.  Upon graduation, Ms. McCabe operated a private piano instruction studio for fifteen years in the Hudson Valley.  During that time, she began work on her four novels, and has devoted twenty-five years to dedicated research, editing, and revision.  Her characters are drawn from real historical figures and are firmly planted within their real historical times.  Ms. McCabe’s novels are the product of extensive research and artistic imagination.

The creative imagery in each of her four historical romance novels is set around one of the four ancient Alchemic symbols that govern life on earth:

THE SHADOW OF THE PHOENIX:  fire

NORTHWIND:   air

AXIOS:  earth

THE HIGHEST DESTINY:  water

In a recent interview, Ms. McCabe was asked to comment upon the inspiration for her books.  Her reply was that every true romance novel revolves around the author’s personal definition of what love is and how it manifests itself.  The author chose the four elemental symbols that govern life on earth because, while we can’t live without them, they are ultimately beyond our ability to control them.  When they arise in all their power, they cause great destruction, but they also create new conditions for new ways of life.  It is a concept that the author finds fascinating.

Two of her books are currently in print and available through AuthorHouse. 

Ms. McCabe now lives in central New York with her husband and her beloved Miniature Poodles and Cocker Spaniels.