Steven Saylor Books In Order

Publication Order of Roma Sub Rosa Books

Publication Order of Ancient World Books

Publication Order of Rome Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Steven Saylor is a renowned American author who has written a number of widely popular novels based on the historical fiction and gay erotic fiction genres. He is particularly famous for writing down the Roma Sub Rosa series of novels, which is full of famous Roman figures of historical importance as well as the main protagonist Gordianus the Finder. The anthologies of the gay erotic fiction written by him are published under the pseudonym of Aaron Travis. Apart from the historical novels, Steven has also written a few standalone novels in the contemporary genre. Most of the novels written by him have been translated into more than 20 languages all over the world. He began his writing career in the year 1990 when his debut novel was published under the title of Roman Blood. Steven was born on March 23, 1956 in Port Lavaca, Texas, United States and went on to graduate from the University of Texas, Austin. At the university, he had enrolled himself in the subjects of history and classics. The Roma Sub Rosa historical mystery series written by Steven is set in the ancient Rome during the time of Cicero, Cleopatra, Sulla and Julius Caesar.

In the standalone novels, Steven has also described the beauty and essence of the ancient city of Rome. He has given epic-length descriptions about the history of Rome, which have been translated into a number of languages. In another couple of novels, Steven has set the plot in Texas during the period of the 1800s. In these novels, he has described the real life serial killings and trials. In another thriller novel, Steven has set the plot in a fictional town of Texas known by the name Amethyst. The descriptions of the Amethyst town are similar to the hometown of Seven, Goldthwaite, Texas. Since the 1976, Steven has lived along with Richard Solomon. Both of them registered themselves as domestic partners in the year 1991 in San Francisco. Then, they dissolved their partnership in the year 2008 in order to get legally married following the guidelines of the court. They have properties in California, Austin, and Berkeley and split their time at these places. One of the novels written by Steven in the Roma Sub Rosa series was featured in the New York Times bestselling novels’ list after which he appeared on The History Channel as an on-air expert to speak about the history and life of Rome.

Steven often goes on book tours and visits a number of cities like Amsterdam, Madrid, Budapest, Berlin, Oslo and Lisbon. Apart from being an author, Steven has also been a magazine and newspaper editor. He has even worked as a literary agent. He has given an account of his relationship with his partner Richard Solomon in one of his ebooks called my Mother’s Ghost. Steven has had the opportunity of speaking as a guest lecturer at a number of universities in various countries, on the subject of Roman history and culture. He has also addressed a number of state conventions in America. In the year 2002, Steven was invited by the University of California for delivering the inaugural commencement address for the university’s Classics Department. For his excellent works, Steven was awarded with prestigious awards on numerous occasions. Some of them include the Violet Crown Award in 2000 by the Writers’ League of Texas, the Lambda Literary Award as well as the Robert Fish Memorial Award by the Mystery Writers of America, both in the year 1993.

The Roman Sub Rosa historical mystery series written by Steven Saylor consists of a total of 12 novels published between the years 1991 and 2004. The series revolves around the activities of the main protagonist, Gordianus the Finder, who is a private detective during the time of 56 BC in ancient Rome. Author Steven has even described Gordianus stating that he considers Cicero as his mentor and friend. The first novel of the series was published by the Minotaur Books publishing house in the year 1991. The novel was titled ‘Roman Blood’ and featured a number of primary characters such as Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Gordianus the Finder, Tiro, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Marcus Tullius Cicero and a number of other characters as well. The plot of the novel opens up with Sextus Roscius, who is compelled by a message saying that he has been asked by Elena to come at once to the House of Swans. Sextus Roscius, who was a very wealthy and sybaritic does not sense the danger of going to his doom instead of his harlot, and hence, gets savagely murdered by some unknown assassins. Now, it is the spring time in Rome during the time of 80 B.C., when the city is facing the unseasonable heat and the main protagonist, Gordianus the Finder is asked to come to the house of Cicero, where a young advocate is having his reputation at stake in the case of the murder of Sextus Roscius.

Initially, it seemed that the son of Roscius had a motive of killing his father because of greediness and as a punishment for committing the heinous crime, he was going to be rooted deep according to the Roman tradition. However, it seemed to be very horrific and beyond anyone’s imagination. Now, it is up to Gordianus to carry out the investigation of the murder of Sextus Roscius and find out the real killers before an innocent person gets punished for someone else’s crime. He sets himself through the pungent and raucous streets of the city and deep inside the urban Umbria, where he comes across multiple layers of twisted passions, deceit and desperations for murder. The more Gordianus keeps digging into the case, the more deep it seems to appear. He interrogates many people from the rouged and pompous nobles, simple citizens, as well as the wily slaves, but the case keeps getting harder and harder for him to solve and becomes a nightmare. During the court proceedings of the case, the confrontation of the defense team seemed to have devastating results, threatening the greatest leaders of the city of Rome itself.

The second novel of the series was published by the Minotaur Books publishing house in the year 1992 and was titled ‘Arms of Nemesis’. The plot of this novel was also set in ancient Rome by author Rome and also had the same characters as in the first novel of the series. In the opening plot of the novel, a disfigured body is discovered in the atrium. The only clues about the murder were the word Sparta, which was carved on a stone near the feet of the dead body and a cloak soaked in blood. It seemed that the Overseer of the estate of Marcus Crassus was killed by a couple of slaves who seemed to be joining the revolt of Spartacus. In order to honor an ancient law of Rome, the wealthy and powerful Crassus gives the order of slaughtering the remaining 99 slaves within 3 days. However, Gordianus is asked by a mysterious client to do the investigation and find out the truth about the real killer of the Overseer before the deadline of 3 days in order to save the innocent slaves from getting slaughtered for the crime that they had not committed.