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Author

Simon Turney

64 fiction · 2 non-fiction

Simon Turney writes prolific Roman and medieval historical fiction shaped by campaigns, political rivalry and close knowledge of historic landscapes.

Simon Turney is a Yorkshire-born writer who returned to formal study to complete a degree in classical history through the Open University. He has also taken part in Roman re-enactment and travelled widely to archaeological sites, experiences that support the practical detail and sense of place in his fiction. He began writing a full-length novel in 2003, combining his interest in the ancient world with a long-standing ambition to write.

That project became the Marius’ Mules series, which follows Julius Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul through soldiers, officers and political rivals. Turney has since written extensively across Roman history in the Praetorian, Rise of Emperors, Damned Emperors, Agricola and other sequences. His range also includes novels about the Knights Templar, the early Ottoman world and medieval conflict, as well as historical nonfiction. Turney’s books balance military action with strategy, administration and the personal consequences of service. They are particularly suited to readers interested in Republican and Imperial Rome, frontier warfare, crusading orders and the political struggles surrounding rulers and generals.

Periods and events

Alexandrian War48–47 BCE Assassination of Julius Caesar44 BCE Battle of Mons Graupius83 CE Battle of Pharsalus48 BCE Battle of the Milvian Bridge312 CE Battle of Watling Street61 CE Borgia Papacy1492–1503 CE Christianisation of Scandinaviac. 800–1200 CE Crossing of the Rubicon49 BCE Danelaw865–954 CE Fall of Granada1492 CE Gallic Wars58–50 BCE Gothic War of Valens and Theodosius I376–382 CE Hadrian’s Wall122–410 CE Holy Roman Empire962–1500 CE Reign of Caligula37–41 CE Reign of Commodus180–192 CE Reign of Domitian81–96 CE Rise of Normandy and the Duchy of Normandy911–1066 Roman Britain under the Flavians69–96 CE Sack of Constantinople1204 CE Severan Dynasty193–235 CE Siege of Alesia52 BCE Tetrarchy293–313 CE Year of the Four Emperors69 CE

Historical fiction

Historical fiction series by Simon Turney (10 series)

Marius’ Mules in Order

by Simon Turney 17 books 4.6(34,619)

The Marius’ Mules series follows Marcus Falerius Fronto and Caesar’s legions from the invasion of Gaul to the destruction of the Roman Republic. Battles recorded in Caesar’s commentaries are viewed through officers and soldiers who must endure the practical cost of his ambition, while conspiracies in Rome steadily…

Praetorian in Order

by Simon Turney 8 books 4.5(14,984)

The Praetorian series centres on Gnaeus Marcius Rustius Rufinus, a legionary drawn into the Praetorian Guard and the lethal politics of Commodus’s court. Investigations, covert missions and frontier commands expose him to conspiracies involving imperial relatives, prefects, freedmen, senators and rival claimants to the throne. As Commodus’s reign…

Wolves of Odin in Order

by Simon Turney 6 books 4.5(8,148)

The Wolves of Odin series follows Halfdan and the crew of the Sea Wolf from eleventh-century Scandinavia into the interconnected world of Byzantium, Italy, Normandy, England and Norway. Their blood feud begins amid Christianisation but soon becomes a wider search for wealth, honour and belonging among rulers who…

Agricola in Order

by Simon Turney 4 books 4.5(6,842)

The Agricola series follows Gnaeus Julius Agricola from an ambitious young military tribune to the governor who carried Roman campaigning into northern Britain. His career unfolds through the Boudican Revolt, Nero’s final years, the civil wars of AD 69 and the consolidation of Flavian rule. Alongside battlefield command,…

Legion XXII in Order

by Simon Turney 2 books 4.4(7,983)

The Legion XXII series follows Titus Cervianus, a civilian surgeon transformed into a capsarius and soldier with Legio XXII Deiotariana in Roman Egypt. His medical skill gives the campaigns a distinctive viewpoint, moving between the wounded body, the tensions inside the legion and the strategic demands of Augustus’s…

Rise of Emperors in Order

by Simon Turney 3 books 4.4(6,755)

Rise of Emperors follows Constantine and Maxentius from youth and friendship into the succession struggles created by Diocletian’s Tetrarchy. Their lives develop alongside abdications, rival courts, religious division and repeated civil wars as a system designed to prevent dynastic conflict instead produces competing emperors. The trilogy treats both…

The Knights Templar in Order

by Simon Turney 6 books 4.3(12,125)

The Knights Templar series follows Arnau de Vallbona, a Catalan Templar serving during the wars and political struggles of the early thirteenth century. His duties carry him through the Crown of Aragon, Almohad Iberia, the Holy Roman Empire and Constantinople, where obedience to the order repeatedly conflicts with…

Tales of the Empire in Order

by Simon Turney 7 books 4.3(9,641)

Tales of the Empire is a historical-fantasy saga set in an invented imperial world shaped by Roman, Byzantine, steppe and eastern influences. Its novels move across civil war, frontier cities, court intrigue, invasion and the restoration or destruction of dynasties, while recurring families and political consequences connect otherwise…

The Damned Emperors in Order

by Simon Turney 4 books 4.3(4,884)

The Damned Emperors series retells the reigns of Caligula, Commodus, Domitian and Caracalla through people close enough to witness their private fears and public violence. Each novel sets later hostile traditions against the personal, dynastic and political pressures that shaped an emperor condemned by Roman memory. Rather than…

The Ottoman Cycle in Order

by Simon Turney 4 books 4.2(4,616)

The Ottoman Cycle follows the Greek brothers Skiouros and Lykaion after conscription separates them within the recently conquered city of Constantinople. One escapes into the streets while the other enters the Janissaries, placing their relationship on opposite sides of the political and religious order created by Mehmed II…

Historical fiction

Standalone historical fiction by Simon Turney (2 books)

Ranked by rating and voting volume.

Non-fiction

Non-fiction by Simon Turney (2 books)

Reference works, biographies and other non-fiction are kept separate from the historical fiction above.

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