The Crimson Emperor

In troubled 6th century Byzantium, Phocas, a centurion scarred by personal tragedy, is driven by a powerful vision to take the throne to restore the Empire's blessings. He befriends a weapon-maker's son, Romulus Demantius, who saves his life in battle, and in turn he saves Romulus's.
Hiding his plotting and subversion among the troops, Phocas raises a revolt, usurps the crown, and his malign influence spreads over the Empire like a suffocating darkness, seen through the eyes of several families. His incompetent reign of terror and bloodshed in obedience to his deranged mission brings the Empire to the edge of military and financial collapse, inflaming bloody riots and violence across the land. Their ancient foe Persia seizes the opportunity and attacks with all its forces.
Repelled by Phocas's madness, Romulus and his family escape to Carthage, where he joins a huge military expedition to retake the crown and release the Empire from Phocas's misrule. Along the way, foes bring deadly harm to those he loves, leaving him devastated. A final sea battle sees Romulus brought to the point of death, with only the hope of his heart's desire to save him, even as the Empire turns to face a heart-stopping fate.

About The Author, Wim Baren
Wim Baren is the author's pen name. He lives a stone's throw from Colonial Williamsburg, a place rich in history. He imagines himself a novelist. He's written two full-length tales set in long-ago times. He's also written a couple of short stories, and a bunch of short broadsheets about his creative writing experiences and insights. All of these are on Smashwords, and almost all of them are free.
As of the date of this writing, he's feverishly inventing two new tales, also set in ancient times. One is a sequel to "The Crimson Emperor" – a fabulously romantic tale about Byzantium known by practically nobody – and another is an alternative history surrounding the Empress Theodora of Byzantium, a larger-than-life novel about the most powerful woman in the 6th century world at the time. That period of the Eastern Roman Empire did not lack excitement, to say the least...
So, with a spouse he dotes upon and a pleasant prospect over which his front entrance looks to stimulate his thoughts, he's got a quiet and most enjoyable lifestyle. Would that everybody could enjoy the same, or more...
Thought and ideas are welcome, courteously done.
mailto:wbwemple@aol.com