The First Law Is Survival centers around a young officer raised in an orphanage whose skills in engineering and strategy repeatedly place him in dangerous situations where only his ingenuity can turn the odds in his favor. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

My first inspiration was the opening passage (which actually occurs midway through the book). A general sitting in his tent contemplating the failures of all his plans, with his new wife clutching a knife as she lies with her back to him in her bed. Everything progressed from there: how did the general find himself at this point, what is the looming threat that the general must overcome, and just what kind of world the characters are operating in.

How did you decide which historical elements to preserve and which to reinvent?

I really wanted to avoid “world-building”. I really hate that phrase. Placing the characters in a facsimile of the ancient Roman Empire was my solution. The attitude of the rulers (have army, will conquer), class systems (I did jettison the slave trope), layout of the capital, loyalty to tribe, references to ancient religions, and the effectiveness of the Legions are already built in for the reader. After that, I just had fun jumbling up history (and adding witches and wizards – not to mention flying females). A student of ancient history will recognize the final two major battles in the book immediately. I also lifted the one speech Marcus gives to his troops from one of them. Even some of the names are stolen from history. The General of the Grand Army and Tertius’ wife, for example.

The most important element I wanted to preserve was people’s attitudes. They do not think like us: no one is shocked when a younger son starts removing his competition, Legionnaires do not suffer PTSD, and Marcus may not agree with his orders, but he doesn’t hesitate in carrying them out. There is only a single character who ever wonders if she is losing her moral compass.

Did Marcus’s character or role in the story change from your original conception as you wrote the novel?

Marcus’s character and role remained consistent throughout. A young man burdened by responsibilities he never sought and promises he means to keep. It did surprise me that revenge is a prime motivation for Marcus by the end of the novel. Actually, many of my protagonists turned out to be motivated by revenge. Not sure what that says about the author.

The epilogue suggests that the trouble isn’t necessarily over. How much of the larger world and its future did you have planned while writing this book?

While writing, I had almost nothing planned out besides leaving unfinished business between some characters. Unfortunately, as of today, I do have most of the second book mapped out. I will need to start writing soon. This time around, I might even describe an Anemoi’s wings.

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In the aftermath of a Barbarian invasion that had only been defeated at the walls of the Capital, the Empire benevolently establish an orphanage for boys – an orphanage run by the Legions. Marcus d ’Ostia is aging out and is signing up as a military engineer. He believes this is the best path to realize his ambition of becoming a master architect. His oldest friend, Septimus, thinks his brilliant friend is making the biggest mistake of his life (Septimus is not wrong). Septimus is signing up with a criminal syndicate (no one thinks he is making a mistake). The third friend, Timolen, is giving nothing away as he plots vengeance.

Our young Triumvirate belong to a cruel and dangerous world. A world where the powerful strive for glory: the most privileged girl in the Empire struggles to escape her gilded cage and achieve real power, the third son of the Emperor plots to move up in the ranking, and a Barbarian Witch initiates her plans of conquest.

The common people have a more practical outlook and live by their first law – survival. The boys from the orphanage have added a few of their own laws – laws that will have unintended consequences for the Empire.