Meet Piers Horace
I was born and raised in Rome, where the city’s ancient presence was not something to be studied, but lived. As children, we wandered freely among streets and monuments that had once belonged to emperors, gladiators, poets, and pilgrims. The Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, Castel Sant’Angelo, and the Spanish Steps were not destinations, but part of our everyday landscape — places of play, meeting points, and silent companions to youthful indifference. Like many of my generation in the 1980s, we lived firmly in the present, surrounded by early consumer culture, the arrival of home computers, and a world without mobile phones. History was always there, etched in stone and spirit, even if we rarely paused to acknowledge it.
In 1995, I moved from Rome to Australia, which has since become my home. Yet each return to Italy reminds me that my roots remain deeply embedded in the Eternal City. My most recent visit in 2024 brought me back to my sister and her husband — family ties that continue to ground and inspire me. Their encouragement, alongside the enduring presence of Rome itself, has shaped this work.
My professional life has been largely devoted to hospitality and coffee, beginning as a young barista in my parents’ café in Rome and continuing across decades in Australia. Alongside this path, I studied the Arts of Communication and discovered writing as both a discipline and a lasting passion. Fiction and history became the natural convergence of those interests.
With this audiobook, I return imaginatively to Rome during the turbulent final years of the Republic, between 40 and 30 BC — a period defined by power, loyalty, ambition, and transformation.
This work honours my birthplace: its history, its memory, and the way imagination continues to interact with Rome’s eternal spirit. My hope is that listeners will walk these ancient streets with me, sense their shadows and silences, and feel the enduring weight of a city that still shapes how we understand the past — and ourselves.
This project began two years ago and was researched, written, edited, and produced independently. Background music accompanies each chapter, chosen to reflect the narrative's tone and movement.
Author's Note
The Eternal City of Shadows is a work of historical fiction. It weaves together documented events with dramatic interpretation, creative licence, and fictional elements to enhance the narrative’s thriller dimension while remaining anchored to historical outcomes.
This guide is offered to encourage active, engaged listening while preserving the mystery and sense of discovery built into the narrative structure.
Historical, Fiction & Creative Licence
Listeners should be aware that:
The central narrative involving shadowy figures and clandestine activity is a fictional construct, created to drive suspense and intrigue.
Fictional characters and storylines are deliberately interwoven with historical events to heighten dramatic tension.
Dialogue, motivations, and personal interactions are imagined and dramatised for narrative effect.
Political debates and leadership decisions are reconstructed interpretations and may not reflect original historical discourse verbatim, though they lead to outcomes recorded by history.
This audiobook is narrated using advanced AI voice technology, carefully directed and edited to preserve tone, pacing, and emotional consistency throughout the story.
Every chapter intertwines historical and fictional elements. This approach allows for poetic licence, inviting listeners into a world only partially known. Scholars estimate that less than 2% of ancient written material from this period has survived, leaving vast spaces where imagination must respectfully enter.
Imagination still matters. Many of us yearn not only to know what happened, but to experience how life may have felt — its fears, ambitions, loyalties, and contradictions — through a singular, intimate lens.
Structure of the Audiobook
Divided into 12 parts, comprising multiple chapters
Total runtime: 30+ hours
Chapter lengths vary to serve pacing:
Short: up to 7 minutes
Medium: up to 14 minutes
Long: 20–38 minutes
Timelines may be compressed or adjusted to support narrative flow.
To the best of my ability, fictional elements are designed to enhance rather than distort historical context. Events, figures, and outcomes remain consistent with the historical record, even when the path to them is imaginatively constructed.
This audiobook is intended as immersive entertainment, not as a scholarly reconstruction.
Navigating the Narrative
The story unfolds through a multi-perspective first-person narrative, featuring fifteen distinct characters, each with their own voice, motivations, and secrets.
This was Rome — a world where forgiveness was rare, compromise fragile, and violence often decisive. Perspectives shift, overlap, and sometimes contradict one another, revealing different layers of the same unfolding events.
Listen closely not only to dialogue, but to internal monologue. Inner thoughts often reveal more than spoken words.
How to Approach the Characters
Listen to each voice carefully — language, tone, and priorities reveal character.
Watch for contradictions — not all narrators are reliable.
Notice omissions — what is unsaid often matters most.
Track choices under pressure — crisis exposes true loyalties and values.
Allow characters to reveal themselves gradually. Resist early judgment. Trust the process.
Language & Terminology
You may encounter unfamiliar Latin terms such as speculatores or exploratores — loosely translated as collectors of knowledge or intelligence.
A glossary of Latin terms used in the audiobook will be provided via email as part of your purchase.
Historical, Fiction, Plausible
The accompanying timeline distinguishes between:
Historical — events and figures supported by surviving records
Fiction — elements that could not have occurred historically
Plausible — imagined moments that lack records but fit within a known context
Given the scarcity of surviving sources, many aspects of Roman life — private conversations, Senate debates, military planning, and personal relationships — remain undocumented. These gaps allow room for informed speculation within clear limits.
If you notice historical discrepancies or wish to engage in discussion, you are welcome to contact: eternalcity@piershorace.com
A Final Note
By the story’s conclusion, each character’s fate is shaped not by destiny alone, but by personality, choice, and loyalty. Your journey alongside these fifteen voices is as important as the destination itself.
Let the characters speak for themselves.
Allow contradictions to linger.
Immerse yourself in the shadows of ancient Rome.