Tony Roberts (author)
Tony Roberts is the British author of the Casca series from 2006 onwards. His late mother was his unlikely route into becoming the author of Casca books. In 1986 she bought him the third book in the series after a shopping trip to the city of Bath. Although book 3 was not the best place to start, it got him interested in collecting the rest of the series, and over the next thirteen years without the help of the internet, he gradually collected the 22 Casca books attributed to Barry Sadler.
The Website
In early 2000, after finally reading the last of these books, he created the official Casca website which helped connect to the fans of the series the world over and received authorisation to call the website the 'official' Casca website from the then franchise owner, Gary Sizemore.
Becoming Casca author
During this time Tony had been writing his own Casca stories, and when in 2005 he contacted the new owner of the franchise who was looking for a replacement to Paul Dengelegi to continue the series, he was offered the post of writing a new Casca novel. Roberts wrote Casca 25: Halls of Montezuma in 4 months, his debut novel, and it was published in September 2006.
Novels written
The other novels written by Roberts are as follows: Casca 26: Johnny Reb published in October 2007 Casca 27: The Confederate June 2008 Casca 28: The Avenger September 2008 Casca 30: Napoleon's Soldier March 2009 Casca 31: The Conqueror June 2009 Casca 32: The Anzac September 2009 Casca 34: Devil's Horseman September 2010 Casca 35: Sword of the Brotherhood March 2011 Casca 36: The Minuteman October 2011. Casca 37: Roman Mercenary March 2012 Casca 38: The Continental November 2012 Casca 39: The Crusader April 2013 Casca 40: Blitzkrieg September 2013 Casca 41: The Longbowman September 2014 Casca 42: Barbarossa March 2015 Casca 43: Scourge of Asia September 2015 Casca 44: Balkan Mercenary March 2016 Casca 45: Emperor's Mercenary September 2016
He is currently working on a new Casca novel, The Cavalryman, which is due for release in April 2017.
Kastania Series
In Spring 2013 he released the first of his non-Casca novels, Empire of Avarice, in kindle format. The paperback was released in September 2013. The sequel, Prince of Wrath, was released in kindle format in August 2014 and paperback format October 2014. In 2015 the third book House of Lust was released. The fourth book in the series, Path of Pride, was released in both ebook and paperback form in August 2016.
The fifth novel in the series, Throne of Envy, is currently being written and is due for release in August 2017.
Dark Blade Series
In September 2015 Roberts released the first in a fantasy series about a dark elf/human girl called Faerowyn, available only on ebooks, entitled Dark Blade which is set in a fantasy world. Faerowyn has been left a trail by her missing father to discover her inheritance but she has to overcome a number of obstacles if she is to realise this.
The sequel, Heir of Gorrodan, was released in ebook format in September 2016.
Siren series
In May 2016 Roberts launched the first in a series of novels about a fictional rock band called Siren, following the life of a girl called Katie Long from her fifteenth birthday onwards. Although gifted with a singing voice and an accomplished guitarist, she has no friends, is bullied at school and suffers from asthma and a series of allergies. The novel charts her life as she attempts to realise her dream of becoming a rock star. The time period of Siren covers October 1979 to August 1981. There are subsequent sequels planned, of which the first, Sirensong, is due for release in May 2017.
As an extra piece of interest, Roberts co-wrote two songs that appear in Siren, along with a couple of guitarist friends, both of which can be heard on the author's website.