“What I love about your trilogy is that it’s bold and unapologetic. It’s raw and wounded. Finally… we see the man at the end of the series. And he’s vulnerable... He’s damaged, lost, struggling. We also see what he’s haunted by.”

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About the Books

The Violent Season Trilogy is a re-release in three installments of Ray Gleason’s novel, The Violent Season, now out of print. The trilogy relates the stories of three young men and their families during the Vietnam war. The books are a “coming of age” saga that begin in the lush valleys of the Hudson River and in the streets of New York city to provide an insightful perspective of youth and innocence plunged into the crucible of war. The narrative presents a depiction of good people – American and Vietnamese – caught up in grim, unthinkable circumstances. The trilogy is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit and its ability to triumph over the horror and tragedy of war.

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About the Author

Ray Gleason is a medieval scholar and the popular author of the novels, Violent Season Trilogy, the Gaius Marius Chronicles, the Gaius Marius Mysteries, and A Grunt Speaks: A Devil’s Dictionary of Vietnam Infantry Terms.

Gleason received an MA and Ph.D. from Northwestern University where he teaches Medieval Literature. He received a BA in History and English from Hunter College in New York.

Gleason is a decorated, retired, army Ranger officer, who served three combat tours in Vietnam. He recently retired from the Culver Academies where he developed and taught courses in leadership ethics.

Gleason swaps his time between Chicago and northern Indiana with his wife, Jan Peyser, an award-winning silversmith jeweler, and the author of The Opera Cat.

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Ray and Jan

The Gaius Marius Chronicles

The Gaius Marius Chronicle is the memoir of a retired Roman soldier, Gaius Marius Insubrecus, a legionary who fought with Caesar throughout his Gallic campaigns and the Roman civil wars, and then supported Caesar’s son and heir, Octavius, in his struggles against Caesar’s assassins, and finally against Antony and Cleopatra.

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Praise

"You don’t need to be a history lover to enjoy this story and it will leave you with a much clearer appreciation of life in an ancient civilization. Through Gai and the characters that surround him I also gained a new level of understanding of Julius Caesar and his triumphs and defeats. It is a masterful piece of historical fiction that will keep you engaged throughout."

The Gaius Marius Chronicle

“An amazing intertwining of stories of the lives of ordinary men and women who became involved in the Vietnam War. As a veteran who served in an armor company (1967/1968) in Nam, this book touched me very deeply. The author evokes memories of the loss of innocence, anger and disillusionment but added to that are very deep feelings of love for the men with whom I served.”

The Violent Season Trilogy

“As a former Platoon leader with the 9th Inf Div in the Mekong Delta, I think this book captures the essence of the “field” environment of the infantryman in Vietnam.”

A Grunt Speaks: A Devil’s Dictionary of Vietnam Infantry Terms – 2nd Edition

"I must say it was a great read. ... as the main character, Gai, begins to come to life, the story gets rolling and never loses its momentum. Gleason does a magnificent job of weaving his detailed knowledge of Roman politics and military practices into the compelling story of a young man coming of age in a turbulent and unpredictable society."

The Gaius Marius Chronicle

"Cornwell did it for the British soldier under Wellington. Forrester did it for Hornblower and the British sailor, and more recently, James Nelson for the birth of the American navy... We now have a wonderful and worthy addition to this literature in Gleason's Gaius Marius."

The Gabinian Affair

"In school, I learned about the war in history classes, but none of this compared to the emotional closeness and rawness that I felt when reading The Violent Season by Ray Gleason. Superbly written, this series transports the reader to 'Nam' with the perfect balance of soul-wrenching honesty and soul-feeding beauty."

The Violent Season Trilogy

Latest Essay

  • The Roman Week

    The first thing to know about the Roman week is there wasn’t one. During Insubrecus’ times the Romans recognized nundinae, “market days,” which were like a modern one-day weekend during which certain social classes could rest from work. The nundinae were originally market days when farmers brought goods into a settlement; think of modern weekend flea markets. When urban settlements established permanent markets, the nundinae lost their meaning as “market days.” The nundinae were separated by a seven-day period called nundinum forming a recurring cycle.…