Ben Kane

Apparently, training to fight as a gladiator has taken off in the city of Trier in Germany. Excellent news! Did it come from the lucky twenty Uni of Regensburg students who got to live as gladiators 18 months ago? Maybe…

And in other gladiator news…only 22 days until Spartacus: The Gladiator launches! If you haven’t pre-ordered it yet, please do so! 🙂

Followed 8 days later by the premiere of the new Blood and Sand series, Spartacus: Vengeance. Check it out here. I haven’t even seen the first series yet…forcing myself to wait until I’ve finished the second book.

There’s a real Christmassy feel to the air now, although it’s 11 C here and raining hard. Tomorrow will be the day to cook the ham, and finish off wrapping presents. Wishing you all a wonderful time over the next week or ten days, and I hope that you all get to be with your loved ones. Also wishing you all a wonderful 2012! It will be a very busy one for me, that’s for sure. But in a good way! Over and out for a bit.

please put all of your money in Spartacus’ hat… (old Roman nursery rhyme)

Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one 🙂

Well, theweather has finally turned very wintery here in the UK; there are regular frosts at night, sleet showers in the day, and many places have had some snow already. Here in Somerset we had about 7cm/2.5in the other day, but I’m happy to say that it didn’t lie for long. I’m all for a white few days, but not until I’m off work. I don’t know how most er of you feel about it, but if you have to drive to work, I suspect you’d rather see snow only at weekends. I hope you’re all getting ready for the festivities and that you have lots of fun planned.

As you’d expect, things are beginning to hot up on the Spartacus front. The paperback of Hannibal comes out on  the same day, making it a great opportunity to increase my profile. I was up in Random House in London last week for a very exciting meeting with my publishers. In the ever changing world ong f pre-publication orders, not everything is yet sorted, but it’s looking as if all the major players: the supermarkets, Amazon, Waterstone’s and WH Smith’s are going to be on board in a big way. There will be big promos on all over the place: great chart positions, half price if you buy both books, a promotional Blood and Sand DVD with the hardback, a competition to win a holiday to Rome and so on.

All very very exciting. I’ll be doing my bit too, with more competitions to win copies of the books, a silver Roman coin, and other Roman goodies. Keep your eyes peeled here, on my Facebook page and on my Twitter profile @benkaneauthor for more details. Good luck!

OK, this week I’ve got 3 signed books to give away to celebrate the new look on the website. There’s one copy of the new paperback of Hannibal: Enemy of Rome, one large format paperback of Spartacus: The Gladiator, and one hardback of same. Another simple question: who was the man to defeat Spartacus militarily? It wasn’t Pompey. Answers to me here on the site, by email, on Twitter or Facebook by 5 p.m UK time on Monday the 12th. Good luck!

Now that’s a sight for sore eyes! My author copies of Spartacus: The Gladiator have arrived at last. Expect some giveaways very soon!! 🙂

I received my first copy of Spartacus: The Gladiator in the post today. It was awesome holding it in my hands for the first time. I think the cover looks fantastic. Even though I don’t want to part with it, I’ve had so many emails from people who want to read it that I’ve decided to give it away. Win this, the first signed copy of the book ever – and the only one to be given away so far, 6 weeks before publication date by answering this question. In what year did Spartacus begin his rebellion?

Answers to be posted here, on Twitter or Facebook by 5 p.m. on Monday 5th December please. Good luck!