Rogue Emperor: A Novel of the Chronoplane Wars (Chronoplane Wars Trilogy) - Softcover

It was a clear spring day, just a hundred years after the birth of Christ, when Jerry Pierce wandered into the Roman Colosseum to spend a quiet afternoon watching gladiators fight to the death. Sixty men had been killed already, not including the 15 condemned criminals executed at lunchtime, when an explosion rocked the arena.

Bodies flew from the broad terrace just above the arena where the emperor had been presiding over the event. Shrapnel sliced through an enormous awning that shaded the seats, and a cloud of oily black smoke rose above the crowd. It was clear to Pierce--a traveler from the 21st century--that the explosion had probably been caused by an antitank missile.

Emperor Domitian was dead, and Pierce was ordered to investigate the assassination for the Agency of Intertemporal Development--an assignment that would pit him against the best of Rome's gladiators.

Crawford Kilian has been around. He's explored Western Canada and even lived in China, but when it comes to writing, he does his homework the new-fashioned way.online. A professional writer and educator, Kilian spends much of his "writing time" in research. For Icequake alone, he put in thousands of hours learning everything he could from a variety of resources about Antarctica and its denizens. The author estimates that he spent six to eight months "getting it right." However, Kilian is quick to assure you that the research is part of the pleasure of writing. It brings believability to the work and a real relationship with the subject matter. From his snowy enclave in Vancouver, Kilian does his research from the comfort of his cozy home using the Web. But, it hasn't always been that way. In the early '80s, this full-time college English professor realized that the Internet was the wave of the future...for writers, teachers, and students. So, he took up his department's challenge to develop writing courses that integrated technology. What started with some phone conferencing is now an expertise in distance education that takes him to numerous speaking engagements each year. Like many educators, Kilian feels that the Web is a good supplement to the classroom, not a replacement for it. He says, "It's not just a valuable tool for research. It also forces us as educators to examine what works and doesn't work in our teaching...in both areas, the real and the virtual classroom." Kilian is also sold on the latest technologies in publishing and has republished most of his out-of-print classics with toExcel. He says, "I thought the books could find a new audience in a new generation, and toExcel offered that opportunity." toExcel is pleased to add this terrific writer/educator to it's stable of republished authors! ************************** Crawford Kilian's writing career has included a decade as regular weekly columnist for the Vancouver Province, eleven novels, two ch