Apollonius

The Oldest Living Vampire Saga #5

by Joseph Duncan, Rod Redux (Writing As)

The body slave of a violent and perverse aristocrat, Apollonius dreams of murdering the Roman senator who engineered the fall of his wealthy family. When he is befriended by a mysterious physician from Thessaly, a man reputed to be a magician, Apollonius finally gets his chance to avenge his family.

With dizzying rapidity, Apollonius is swept into the dreamlike world of his enigmatic benefactor. He discovers that the physician from Thessaly is no ordinary mortal man, but is instead an ancient blood drinker named Gon, a 30,000 year old vampire. Taken to Pompeii to live in his new master's sprawling villa, Apollonius finds himself torn between his desire to be an immortal, and his feelings for his neighbor's daughter, the beautiful and headstrong Julia Varus.

Set against the backdrop of Pompeii's final days, Apollonius is a novel of innocence and evil, revenge and sacrifice, and the tragedy of a doomed love.

Genres: Vampires

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 15, 2013

About the author

Born in Southern Illinois, Joseph was raised in a very liberal home environment and was exposed at an early age to the classic underground comic book scene of the sixties and seventies, as well as European graphic novels by artists like Moebius, Enki Bilal and Milo Manara. At age 9, he was reading Tolkien and Stephen King. He wrote his first novella at age 10. If you want to read the same old formulaic pop lit, don't bother with Joseph's fiction. The novels of Joseph Duncan are challenging, subversive and fantastical, merging genres and pushing the boundaries of propriety and good taste. If you have an aversion to dark subject matter, gratuitous sex and extreme violence, stay far away from Joseph's books. Far. Far. Away!

If you'd like to contact Mr. Duncan, you may do so at authorjosephduncan@gmail.com

Reviews

[Brie Vandergum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite like these side stories to the OLV saga. Duncan does a fair job at creating specific time-space settings, in this case Ancient Rome and Pompeii. Apollonius another of Gon's vampire children starts out as a human slave in ancient Rome (the details of his slavery are key) and is often abused and raped by a Roman Senator until Gon shows up. After Gon he is whisked away into an almost magical dreamworld of freedom, riches and love but underneath it all is, as always, the living blood, Gon's inhuman hunger and the fear of death. Eventually it is this fear of death that makes Appollonius into a vampire in the days before the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Again Duncan is great at creating a believable depiction of an ancient roman city with all its violence, corruption, beauty and people.
Now, because I've seen other reviewers complain at this I'll mention it. There are mentions (even mildly graphic ones) of rape, child rape and murder. I don't mind it because it goes with the territory of vampirism and any description of ancient societies but others might be more squeamish.

[Holly Ingram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love story

A story of love fate and survival. Happiness wonderful happiness at finding amazing love yet followed by events not even the Gods could change . This story starts out with a young man savaged by slavery freed by love of a different kind.. Enjoy this short story and go on to read the next.

[Karen Yee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short Origin Story

This was a brief story telling the history of one of Gon`s adopted sons. It was a love story in the tragic sense. An enjoyable read but would have liked the story to last longer.

[Josh]

As with his previous books, Mr. Duncan has done a superb job with the telling of the story of Apollonius, and Gon, for that matter.

I have read most of the other books that are part of The Oldest Living Vampire Saga, and I have thoroughly enjoyed them all.

[Robert Maneer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story and Characters

I enjoyed the concept of the story and the adventures
The characters were enjoyable and their adventures were entertaining to read

[Barbara Flyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

Thank you for these stories if I didn’t think I kn
ew better, I’d swear they were a lived parable!

[John D. Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

More of the saga.

A great book in the series. I hate to have to leave. I hope Mr Duncan continues the series in the near future. I want more of the story about The Oldest Living Vampire.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Story

I have enjoyed reading almost all of Duncan's Vampire books, still have a few more to read. To me, this is a love story. Enjoyable, I read it slowly, didn't want it to end. Would recommend you read it too.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again, I really like this Oldest Living Vampire Series by Joeseph Duncan. Very creative and also very human (ish). You do start to feel the terrible weight of having to live forever. This was basically a novella which i followed by reading another. (will post that one as well.) now I just need him to pump out th e next full length book in the sereies!

[Lisa Miracle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Ebook

The story line is wonderfully set in Pompeii. The author described the town in a personal sense like you could walk down the streets now and see what he saw. Sad about Paul'os
wife but he should have paid heed to Gon

[Ryan Bayles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent series, ALL of it a must read of vamp fans


A must read. I'm going to buy the hardcover and cherish them. You will enjoy reading them believe me imho

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this series.