Michael Codner was born in Singapore, the son of a British Army gunner. He spent his early life there and in Germany and Hong Kong. He is a senior associate fellow for military history at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. Formerly, he served in the Royal Navy as a seaman officer. He was also a professor in strategy and operations at the United States Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island. His degrees are in philosophy and psychology (Brasenose College, Oxford). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Mark is a young British sailor who is deployed to Antioch in Syria as part of a delegation to brief the Emperor Diocletian on the liberation of Britain from a usurper. By coincidence, he meets the Tribune Constantine who introduces him to a fellow Roman Army officer, George. Mark can write in Latin ...
