The tide of soldiers washed over the Legion shields

Buried, the ranks of Legionaries sagged.

“Push!” the Legion NCO yelled.

Welcome to 264 B.C.

Over the grunts and cries of men struggling against the mass of bodies pressing down on them, the Optio bellowed again, “Push!”

And the Legion shields rose, rolling back the tide. The higher the shields, the more soldiers slid off, and the straighter the Legionaries stood. One shield tilted back, and a mercenary soldier tumbled behind the ranks. An infantryman stepped back and drove his blade between the soldier’s ribs. Once the breach was sealed, he returned to his place in Legion combat line.

With the Qart Hadasht Empire controlling the port of Messina and the shipping lanes, one Legionary is sent across the Messina Strait to do the impossible. Open the harbor for the Legion. Once behind enemy lines, Alerio Sisera relies on his style of physical negotiations and brutal diplomacy to complete the mission.

Brutal Diplomacy is book #5 in the Clay Warrior Stories series

I write military adventure both future and ancient

Other books by J. Clifton Slater

Clay Warrior Stories series:

#1 Clay Legionary#2 Spilled Blood#3 Bloody Water#4 Reluctant Siege#5 Brutal Diplomacy#6 Fortune Reigns#7 Fatal Obligation#8 Infinite Courage#9 Deceptive Valor#10 Neptune's Fury#11 Unjust Sacrifice#12 Muted Implications#13 Death Caller#14 Rome’s Tribune#15 Deranged Sovereignty#16 Uncertain Honor#17 Tribune's Oath#18 Savage Birthright#19 Abject Authority

Terror & Talons series:

#1 Hawk of the Sorcerer Queen

#2 Magic and the Rage of Intent

Call Sign Warlock series:

#1 Op File Revenge

#2 Op File Treason

#3 Op File Sanction

Galactic Council Realm series:

#1 On Station

#2 On Duty

#3 On Guard

#4 On Point

"The Company of Archers" is a good read. It is an exciting action-packed adventure saga set in medieval England during the days of the Templar knights and the crusades. It is the tale of an Englishman who rose to become the captain of a company of archers and lead its survivors back to feudal England from King Richard's crusade—and forever change medieval and modern England and Britain.

Many of the archers do not return as a result of disease and intense fighting, but some of the former serfs and free men do return—as battle hardened veterans determined to improve their lot in cruel and brutal feudal England. This exciting war novel combines action-packed historical fiction with a family saga during a time of almost continuous war and conflict.

"The Archer's Return" is the third novel in this great saga. William leaves his son George and his brother Thomas in England and returns to the ports of the Holy Land with his company's ranks and galleys filled with newly recruited archers armed with long bows and bladed pikes—to earn coins for his family and men by helping refugees escape from the victorious Saracens and carrying pilgrims and merchants between the crusader ports in the face of the Moorish pirates who dominate the Mediterranean Sea and the Barbary Coast.

Readers interested in the following themes will enjoy this epic saga:
Military Historical Fiction
Family Sagas
Action and adventure fiction
Action and adventure War & Military
World history medieval
Thriller and Suspense
Family saga fiction
Historical military
Historical fiction
Action and adventure romance
War fiction
British & Irish Historical
Genre fiction war
Genre fiction saga
Genre fiction historical
Alternative history

Fated to lead a rebellion against Rome.Destined to become a legend.From New York Times bestseller Melanie Karsak, author of the Celtic Blood series, comes a gripping historical fantasy series of ancient Britain, Celtic gods, a fated romance, and the warrior queen who defied Rome.

Britain, A.D. 42—Boudica, second daughter of a Celtic king, has little concern for tribal tensions and political intrigues. Called by the gods and the stirrings of her own wild heart, she listens instead to whispers of the oaks. But Boudica would be wiser to heed the warning cries of eagles.

Rumors abound that the Romans are amassing forces for another invasion. In an effort to consolidate power, Boudica’s father turns to Prasutagus, the formidable ruler of the Greater Iceni. To win Prasutagus’s aid, Boudica’s father must strike a bargain—a deal with implications beyond Boudica’s imagining.

BookViral Readers Award Winner! A wartime novel of friendship, hope, and how in the end, it is the small things that enable love to survive.

In 1939, young sweethearts Rhoda and Peter are torn apart by the outbreak of the Second World War. Peter enlists, only to be captured in France, and sent to a German prisoner-of-war camp.

As war drags on, Rhoda hears nothing from Peter. So when a film crew arrives to capture the iconic scenes for David Lean’s Brief Encounter, Rhoda finds herself caught up the thrill of a new and exciting love affair …

But when the war ends, and Peter returns home, their secret lives begin to tear them apart. How did Peter manage to survive the brutal war years? And did Rhoda ever get over the man who captured her heart?

As they both struggle with their past encounters they have to decide if their love deserves a second chance, and if they can hope to rebuild a life shattered by the war.

PAST ENCOUNTERS encompasses the atmospheric filming of Brief Encounter and the extraordinary Great March of prisoners of war through snow-bound Poland.

‘a genuine joy to read with an intoxicating, old-fashioned feel about it...Highly compelling historical fiction and a genuine page-turner’ Book Viral Millennium Readers Award Winner ?????

Includes Discussion Points for Reading Groups