This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
I’m an oyster farmer in my day-to-day life and part of a family who have been farming oysters in Essex, England since the 1700s. My day usually starts with messages coming from restaurants that want oysters at around 6am and then I start filtering those orders through to my team. Where I live is very dependent on the ebb and flow of the tide, so my days vary according to what the tide dictates. On some mornings I will be going out on my boat to where my oysters grow and spend time walking across the mud, hand picking oysters. Other days, when the tide is different, I will be on land in the morning helping my team process our oysters and packing them for our customers throughout the UK.
Once my day is done oyster farming then I focus on my life as a writer and at home, after my wife and I have had dinner and put our three-year-old daughter to bed, I focus on my writing. I usually spend time in the evening writing but I’m not good at writing in silence so usually have a film on in the background. The noise and dialogue help me write and also inspire me in the process. I find listening to other people’s creativity helps me in my own creative journey.
The balance of running a business and writing novels is not easy, but I have an amazing wife who encourages me and a beautiful daughter whose humour and intelligence inspires me.
The rebellion is in hiding. It has been a year since Boatman King attempted to overthrow the Empire, but instead had to escape London with his wife and their closest allies.
Not all of Boatman King’s allies are in hiding. Maverick “The Beast” Kirabo is on a mission to finish what he started on the streets of London. The former gladiator has a score to settle and revenge to unleash: Rome will fear him as they once adored him.
Despite its failure, Boatman King’s rebellion has spread disquiet in Rome’s political circles. Grand Protector Faust dispatches a pair of hunters to search the country and bring Boatman and his followers back to London for reckoning. Although Faust is the official face of Rome’s leadership, Emperor Maximus is thirsty to stamp his mark on the world and step out from his dead father’s shadow.
Unbeknownst to Faust and Maximus, a terrifying presence is watching the unrest and relishing in the vulnerabilities it’s causing.
Enjoy an Excerpt
Maximus called for the nurse. Well, called was a rather generous word for the animalistic noise that his mouth emitted. Ever since his head had been caved in by a hammer, he wasn’t able to vocalise much that made any sense. In his head, though, in his head, everything made sense and the words that bounced around his brain were as clear as the hatred that bubbled in his gut. The hatred was centred on Maverick Kirabo, the man who had wielded the hammer that had left a permanent dent in Maximus’s skull.
It had been eleven months since Max had one minute been enjoying crucifying Olivia King, feeling the butterflies in his belly as he smashed nails through her wrists, and the next minute waking up in this gods-forsaken room, fluorescent lights causing splinters of pain in his skull and tubes sprouting from his body like a plastic porcupine.
Maximus made a guttural noise again to try and get the nurse’s attention. Eventually she appeared; she tried to conceal a look of disgust, but she was either a poor actor or disinterested in trying. Maximus had assumed his face was a picture of horror from his injuries, which it was, but the nurse’s disgust didn’t come from the patient’s wounds but from the patient’s personality.
Maximus Nero was infamous for his sadism. He made no secret of the pleasure he derived from other people’s pain. It was that pleasure that had motivated him to travel to Britannia to track down Olivia King.
About the Author: 
Tom was born in Essex and, at 4 months old, he and his identical twin were adopted into an oyster farming family. Tom now runs the business as generation eight of Haward oyster farmers. He has a fiancée, baby daughter and a cockapoo.
Tom has an MA in Creative Writing and The Path of Chaos (Cinnabar Moth Publishing) is his debut novel, which was released August 2023. The Path of Revenge is the sequel in The Path of Chaos series and will be released August 6th 2024.
Buy the book at Amazon.
It is the year 2030, and the Roman Empire never fell. Emperor Nero II rules half the world, but half the world is not enough for the unpredictable Emperor.
Tom was born in Essex and at 4 months old he and his identical twin were adopted into an oyster farming family. Tom now runs the business as generation eight of Haward oyster farmers. He has a fiancée, baby daughter and a cockapoo.
