Meet the Team of In Saecula Saeculorum: Will Stanhope

Travel back in time to Ancient Rome. In Saecula Saeculorum. Sword fights. Chases on horseback. Adventure. Love. Loss. Latin.

My novel In Saecula Saeculorum tells the story of four high school students trained to be sent back in time to Ancient Rome to save the modern world. It combines Espionage/Action/Adventure with a touch of Latin language dialogue for authenticity. 

The team that tries to save our world consists of the following characters. The cartoon avatars of these characters are based on descriptions of them found in the novel.

Will Stanhope

Will Stanhope

Will is the only Brit on the otherwise all American team. He's a member of the British nobility and a science whiz. Will is also utterly, madly, and unrequitedly in love with Layla.

My overall goal in crafting this novel was to create a team of kids who were from wildly different backgrounds, but would be forced to gel around their common mission. So we needed a Brit on the team (it's a joint MI-6/NSA project, afterall).

Will channels me in several ways. First, Will is the only openly professing Christian on the team. He's an Anglican; I'm Eastern Orthodox. But the novel by no means preaches at you. It's an Espionage/Time Travel/Adventure, not a catechism. Even so, Will's faith creates a plot tension when he faces moral dilemmas in the course of the adventure.

While I was at the NSA, I was occasionally put into a leadership role. And with the stakes so high (force protection of our men in the field, for example), I loathed such responsibility. Will is put in charge of the mission and he at times buckles under the burden because he, and I, are human and feel pain and loss if we can't bring everyone home safely. The other team members will need him to somehow hold it together if they are to survive. Read the book to learn how he does.


Click on the pictures to meet the rest of the team:

Layla Ramzy

Carmen Mattila

Jonathan Drake