The Battle of Chaeronea in The Heretic by Andrew Feder

I enjoy hearing about books that cover periods of history I am unfamiliar with. I had heard the name Alexander the Great, but I couldn't tell you much about him or any of his military campaigns. In walks The Heretic by Andrew Feder and all that changed.



Synopsis:

Women flock adoringly to him. Men fear his battlefield prowess. He believes in a monotheistic, infinite God and he’s the best friend of the most powerful man in the world. However, in his time, he was considered not only a hero, but a heretic as well. Meet Aias, the unsung hero behind Alexander the Great, in Andrew Feder’s gripping new novel.

The Heretic is the sequel to Feder’s first novel, When Angels Have Risen starring post-modern American Senator Jerry Fletcher. Following some bizarre dreams and an unsettling experience at a Los Angeles museum, Fletcher decides to see a psychic and go under a regression to tap into his past lives. Aias’ story is told through Fletcher’s regression, when he experiences his past life as the Greek war hero.

Aias was Alexander the Great’s mentor and friend, and a key ingredient to his famous military successes. Thanks to Aias’ formidable battle tactics, his enemies nicknamed him The Decapitator. After Alexander’s army enters Egypt, Aias falls in love with an Egyptian high priestess, who shares many of his counter-culture viewpoints and opens his eyes to the secret truth behind the Egyptian sciences and discoveries.

Filled with incredible historical details about one of the most illustrious military campaigns in history, sizzling romance and mystical themes, The Heretic is a provocative novel sure to spice up the day of any historical fiction fan.

I asked Andrew to tell us a bit about one of Alexander the Great's military campaigns and how he incorporated it into his novel. Here's what he had to say:

Though there are many military campaigns that were all intriguing, I would say that the less notoriety campaign at “Wolf’s Pass” would display Alexander the Great’s ingenious and military skill, but it was the battle at Chaeronea which made Alexander’s mark before the eyes of his father King Philip as well as the Greeks in general. This was the very battle that Alexander wiped out the famous “Band of Thebes.” It was also the first battle that Alexander implemented his version of “Blitzkrieg” by striking with his cavalry at an opening created by King Philip’s phalanx-pikemen.

This battle scene at Chaeronea allowed me to incorporate Aias along with the Elite Cavalry in my story while utilizing Alexander’s alert military tactics before all of Greece. Besides being in the beginning of the many military campaigns, this particular battle naturally allowed me to display the very prowess and military skills of Aias to be presented in great detail and allowing the reader to experience these bloody events at first hand as if he/she was there riding along with Aias. This scene allowed me to show the genuine trust and friendship that was deeply held between Alexander and Aias. And when it was quite obvious that it was Aias who made his mark like the “Aries” incarnate to his fellow Greeks or as he would now be called “the Decapitator” by his enemy, he stepped aside unselfishly giving credit for the success in this battle to Alexander which deepened their friendship while also creating in the minds of Alexander, King Philip and Greece that Aias might after all be a god but in mortal form.


THE HERETIC VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '08 will officially begin on May 1, 2008 and continue all month long. If you would like to follow Andrew's tour in progress, visit http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in May. Leave a comment at any of his blog stops and become eligible to win a free copy at the end of his tour! One lucky winner will be announced on this tour page on May 30!

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