R. W. Peake

R.W. Peake wrote his first novel when he was 10. He published his first novel when he was 50. Obviously, a lot happened in between, including a career as a “grunt” in the Marine Corps, another career as a software executive, a stint as a semi-professional cyclist, and becoming a dad. But, through it all, there was one constant: his fascination with history, which led him back to school in his 30s to earn a degree in History from the Honors College at the University of Houston. One morning years later, R.W. was listening to Caesar's Commentaries while he was on his morning commute to a job he hated. A specific passage about Caesar’s men digging a 17 mile ditch between Lake Geneva and the Jura Mountains suddenly jumped out at him. He was reminded of his own first job at 13 digging a ditch in Hardin, Texas. For the rest of the drive that morning, he daydreamed about what life must have been like not for the Caesars of the world, but for the everyday people who were doing the fighting and dying for Rome, and the idea for Marching with Caesar was born. Not too long after that, he quit that job, moved into a trailer halfway across the country, and devoted the next four years to researching and writing the first installments of Marching with Caesar. Some of his research methods-like hiking several miles around Big Bend National Park in the heat of summer wearing a suit of chainmail and carrying a sword so he would know what it felt like to be a Roman legionary-were a bit unconventional and made his friends and family question his sanity. But such was his commitment to bringing these stories to life for his readers with as much detail and accuracy as possible. Even as his catalog continues to grow, he still brings that passion to every story he tells. He has moved out of the trailer, but he still lives on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington with his Yellow Lab, Titus Pomponius Pullus and his rescue dog, Peach.