More Swords Sandals Sex and Sin: Good & Trashy Historical Fiction
Dive into the best trashy historical fiction with 'More Swords, Sandals, Sex, and Sin.' Explore steamy, action-packed tales of lust, betrayal, and adventure in ancient worlds. Perfect for fans of bold, escapist reads!
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Empress of Desire
by Jack Mertes
Poppaea Sabina uses her beauty and cunning to become one of the most powerful women in Imperial Rome, Nero's wife
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Morituri
by Barry Sadler
Lucanus, a gladiator famous for courageous fighting, is befriended by the Emperor Claudius and becomes involved in the intrigues of imperial Rome
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Beloved
by Bertrice Small
The daughter of a powerful desert cheiftain, beautiful raven-haired Zenobia, a descendent of Cleopatra, witnesses at an early age the shocking brutality of renegade Roman soldiers and vows to hate all of the blue-eyed strangers forever. Despite that pledge, she falls hopelessly and passionately in love with Marcus Alexander Britanus, a Roman. And it will take all her cunning and skill in war to keep the precious erotic rapture she can find only in his arms.... Bertrice Small creates cover-to-cover passion, a keen sense of history and suspense. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY From the Paperback edition.
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The Kingdom of the Wicked
by Anthony Burgess
A Roman saga, taking in the excesses of Tiberius, Caligula and Nero and an irreverent account of the early days of Christianity. Sadoc, a dying shipping clerk, sets down for future generations a tale of epic proportions: he is charged with recounting no less an event than the birth of Christianity.
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The Shattered Horse
by S. Somtow
Firmly rooted in modern archaeological discoveries about Bronze Age cultures, this novel paints a vivid picture of a decaying golden age seen through the eyes of the survivors of the Trojan War.
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The Assyrian
by Nicholas Guild
In ancient Assyria, Tiglath Ashur and Esarhaddon, half-brothers, best friends, and rivals for the throne, share their women, secrets, and dreams as together they seek a destiny that will change the course of the empire.
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The Blood Star
by Nicholas Guild
Exiled by his brother, the Assyrian monarch Esarhaddon, Tiglath Ashur wanders the ancient Meditteranean in an attempt to avoid the killers sent after him, ultimately heading to another showdown with his brother
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Caligula
by Stephen Barber
Award-winning writers Stephen Barber and Jeremy Reed document in full the atrocities of Caligula and also the other mad Emperors, particularly the deranged Commodus and Heliogabalus, the teenage ambisexual 'sun-god' whose arch-decadent proclivities would inspire Antonin Artaud to eulogise him in prose centuries later. Caligula: Divine Carnage is a shocking catalogue of incest, transvestism, torture, slaughter and perversity brought to life by Barber and Reed's superb authorial skill, making it an essential and eloquent document of murderous decadence.
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Slave Girls of Rome
by Don Winslow
In Slave Girls of the Western World we follow the adventures of Marcus, a lusty officer in the legions of Rome, as he is sent to guard the Northern frontier from the savage blond barbarians - proud Nordic warriors whose women were renowned throughout the empire for their startling beauty. War yields captives — and captives in those less civilized times were forced into slavery, made to obey and to serve their Roman masters. This is the story of the wild debauchery and the sensual decadence that flourished from Rome itself to the farthest reaches of the expansive empire.
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The Eye of Cybele
by Daniel ChavarrÃa
Paperback reissue of the Ancient-Greek thriller nominated for an Anthony Award and a 2004 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The Eye of Cybele is equal parts historical epic, whodunnit-style thriller, highbrow erotica and philosophical discourse. Set in the fifth century B.C. - during the reign of Pericles - the novel fictionally recreates the behind-the-scenes scandals and political intrigues that occupied the Athenian home front at the height of the Peloponessian War.
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The Passion of Mary Magdalen
by Elizabeth Cunningham
"Unforgettably original . . . Matthew, Mark, Luke and John: move over."--San Antonio Express-News
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Conspiracies Of Rome
by Richard Blake
Perfect for readers of Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane, Conspiracies of Rome is the thrilling first book in the new seven-part DEATH OF ROME SAGA. Rome, 609 AD. Empire is a fading memory. Repeatedly fought over and plundered, the City is falling into ruins. Killers prowl by night. Far off, in Constantinople, the Emperor has other concerns as The Church is beginning to flex its own imperial muscle. Enter Aelric of England: young and beautiful, sexually uninhibited, heroic, if ruthlessly violent - and hungry for the learning of a world that is dying around him. A deadly brawl outside Rome sucks him straight into the high politics of Empire. Soon, Aelric is involved in a race against time to find answers before he ends up as just another corpse in the gutter.
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Den of Wolves
by Luke Devenish
Iphicles, a 100-year-old slave, looks back over his lifetime to recount the story of the Julio-Claudians, the great Roman family drawn from two patrician clans, which he has spent his life serving.
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Gladiatrix
by Russell Whitfield
The Ancient Roman public's hunger for gladiatorial combat has never been greater. The Emperor Domitian's passion for novelty and variety in the arena has given rise to a very different kind of warrior: the Gladiatrix. Sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Asia Minor, Lysandra finds herself the property of Lucius Balbus, owner of the foremost Ludus for female gladiators in the Eastern Empire. Lysandra, a member of an ancient Spartan sect of warrior priestesses, refuses to accept her new status as a slave. Forced to fight for survival, her deadly combat skills win the adoration of the crowds, the respect of Balbus. But Lysandra's Spartan pride also earns her powerful enemies: Sorina, Gladiatrix Prima and leader of the Barbarian faction, and the sadistic Numidian trainer, Nastasen. When plans are laid for the ultimate combat spectacle to honor the visit of the emperor's powerful new emissary, Lysandra must face her greatest and deadliest trial. This is a thrilling first novel that combines fascinating historical detail with blistering action.
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The Terror of Constantinople
by Richard Blake
If you loved Gladiator and Spartacus, you'll love the second book in the DEATH OF ROME SAGA. 610 AD. Invaded by Persians and barbarians, the Byzantine Empire is tearing itself apart in civil war. Phocas, the maniacally bloodthirsty Emperor, holds Constantinople by a reign of terror. The uninvaded provinces are turning one at a time to the usurper, Heraclius. Just as the battle for the Empire approaches its climax, Aelric of England turns up in Constantinople. Blackmailed by the Papacy to leave off his career of lechery and market-rigging in Rome, he thinks his job is to gather texts for a semi-comprehensible dispute over the Nature of Christ. Only gradually does he realise he is a pawn in a much larger game.
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Nest of Vipers
by Luke Devenish
Rome is bathed in blood as the Emperor Tiberius is tormented by drug-fuelled terrors of treason. The innocent are butchered while the guilty do evil in darkness. None are guiltier than the Emperor's devoted and deluded 'son, ' Sejanus. In this city of poison three beautiful women are locked in a lethal rivalry. Agrippina--driven mad with grief, her obsession with revenge for her murdered husband imperiling the lives of her children. Apicata--robbed of her eyes and embittered in her heart, she schemes in the shadows to empower the husband who despises her. Livilla--sensual and sly, she is gripped by a lust for a lover as deadly as he is desirable. Three women. One goal. Who will be Empress of Rome? Moving stealthily among them is Iphicles, arch schemer and slave, whose haunted heart is lightened by the eunuch Lygdus, his willing apprentice in murder. With paralyzed Livia now a helpless captive to her slave, it is the repellent brat Little Boots' turn to profit from prophecy. But as Iphicles' deadly plan to enthrone Little Boots unfolds, Livia struggles secretly towards recovery with the help of the sorceress Martina. Rome is a nest of vipers, and Livia, the one true Empress of Rome, is hell bent on wreaking her vengeance.