Two years after beginning the saga he started with 2015’s Clash Of Eagles, writer Alan Smale has brought his alternate history trilogy to a close with Eagle And Empire (hardcover, digital, audiobook). But while some writers plan out their trilogies to the last detail, in talking to Smale about this last book, he admits that while he did that to, not everything went to plan.
In speculative fiction, the author tries to figure out what would really happen if a historical event went differently. Y’know, like what the world of the 1200s would be like if the Roman Empire never fell. Such is the premise of Alan Smale’s Eagle In Exile (hardcover, digital), the sequel to his 2015 novel Clash Of Eagles, and the second part of a planned trilogy. In the following interview, Smale talks about the impetus for this series, where the new novel fits in, and why it’s not about what would happen if the Romans had a space program.