Alessandro Catorcini has announced the completion of the Shield Cycle, a collection of three standalone historical novels set across the ancient Mediterranean. Rather than following a continuous storyline, the books are connected through a shared motif: the shield, and the soldiers, engineers, and craftsmen whose contributions to history often remained outside the historical record.
The completed series includes The Farthest Shield, The Shield Left Behind, and The Hammer and the Shield. Each title is available in English and Italian in paperback and ebook editions through Amazon and Google Play.
Born in Genoa, Italy, and now based in Bellevue, Washington, Catorcini works as a technology executive while writing historical fiction inspired by the overlooked people behind some of the defining moments of the ancient world. His novels focus on survivors, inventors, and ordinary individuals whose lives unfolded alongside the better known figures recorded by history. Each book stands on its own and may be read independently.
The Final Installment Explores the Engineering Behind Rome’s Naval Rise
The newest novel, The Hammer and the Shield, is set during the First Punic War and centers on the development of the corvus, the boarding bridge credited with helping Rome challenge Carthaginian naval superiority. The story follows Manius Fabricius, the disgraced second son of a Roman senator whose understanding of shipbuilding leads to an innovation that changes the course of the war.
After losing both his father and brother in the Strait of Scylla, a tragedy celebrated publicly as heroism but understood privately as avoidable error, Fabricius dedicates himself to solving Rome’s naval disadvantage. Although his invention becomes central to Roman victories, public recognition belongs to the consul whose name appears on the monument, while the engineer remains absent from history and burdened by the one flaw in the device that only he can see.
A Story of Survival Following the Defeat at Cannae
The Shield Left Behind follows a Roman soldier who survives the Battle of Cannae after abandoning his shield during one of Rome’s greatest military disasters. Branded by disgrace, he spends fourteen years in exile in Sicily before eventually returning to the campaigns that culminate in the Battle of Zama.
The novel examines questions of honor, duty, redemption, and the long personal consequences of survival during the Second Punic War.
Following the Lost Legion Beyond the Roman World
The Farthest Shield imagines the fate of one of the Roman legionaries who disappeared after the defeat at Carrhae in 53 BCE. Instead of ending where the historical record grows silent, the novel follows its protagonist across decades and continents toward the Han frontier, exploring one possible journey beyond the boundaries of the Roman world.
Drawing on historical research while embracing fiction, the novel considers how ordinary soldiers experienced events that history often records only through generals and empires.
Inspired by Classical Studies and Written in Two Languages
Catorcini traces the origins of the Shield Cycle to his early study of Latin and Greek. That first introduction to the classical world became the foundation for a writing career focused on historical fiction that examines overlooked perspectives from antiquity.
Rather than producing one language as a translation of the other, Catorcini writes in both Italian and English. The Italian editions, including Il Martello e lo Scudo, are published as independent editions developed specifically for Italian readers.
“The monuments are always for the men who gave the orders. I’m interested in the ranker who lived through it and the maker whose name never got cut into the stone. Those are the people who actually built the world we inherited,” said Alessandro Catorcini.
Availability
The complete Shield Cycle is available in both English and Italian.
The Hammer and the Shield / Il Martello e lo Scudo
Setting: First Punic War
Formats: Paperback and ebook
The Shield Left Behind
Setting: Second Punic War, from Cannae to Zama
Formats: Paperback and ebook
The Farthest Shield
Setting: Carrhae and the road east
Formats: Paperback and ebook
All titles are available through Amazon and Google Play. Additional information, language editions, and purchasing links are available at www.catorcini.com/books.
About Alessandro Catorcini
Alessandro Catorcini is a historical fiction author and technology executive based in Bellevue, Washington. Born in Genoa, Italy, he writes in both Italian and English, focusing on the overlooked people whose lives shaped the ancient world but were seldom preserved in historical accounts. His completed Shield Cycle consists of The Farthest Shield, The Shield Left Behind, and The Hammer and the Shield. In addition to writing fiction, he publishes articles about hardware, home infrastructure, and automation projects at www.catorcini.com. You can email directly to alessandro@catorcini.com.