The Guardians--A Novel

I apologize for the tardiness of this entry, but I wanted to write something of quality. My earlier attempts did not live up to my standard.

While many may believe that dictators rise from their own designs to seize power for themselves and force their will on others—I would suggest that you may have seen Star Wars one too many times. People do not often take power, but have power given to them. Life is not a space opera. The good guys and the bad guys can not be so easily discerned, and often there neither kind. As I work on the research plot for The Guardians, I am drawn to the fall of the Roman Republic. More that two thousand years ago, the great republic of ancient days has lessons and parallels even in the 21st century and beyond.

The fall of the Roman Republic was not instant and did not happen because of one man’s dream for dictatorship. It was a multi-generational degradation into the imperial age. It rose from social strife, economic bankruptcy, ineffective government, and people who thought more of themselves and their power than of the their nation. When people generally think of the fall of the Roman Republic their minds fall on to Julius Caesar, Magnus Pompey, Marus Antonius (aka Mark Anthony) and Octavius Thurinus (aka Augustus Caesar). The civil wars fought for power between them was only the final hammering of the nails in the coffin of the dying republic. The events before any of these men came to power laid the foundation for the fall—the civil war between Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Gauis Marius.

Like the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, the predecessor was fought between two generals who had once been friends. This is the story that gives the concept to The Guardians—two friends who are faced with having to break the nation they love and to war with each other in order to fix their nation.

Thank you for reading. Please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for updates on the short stories, novels and blogs I am working on.