Book excerpt: Released from the Arctic ice after two millennia, a Roman gladiator contends with his haunted memories and the modern world in this “marvelous” novel (Los Angeles Times). While exploring the polar expanse for an oil company, geologist Lew McCardle discovers something remarkable: a body encased in the ice. Even more remarkable, the skills of a Russian researcher bring the man miraculously back to life. This strange visitor from the distant past has an amazing story to tell. With the help of a Nordic nun who translates from his native Latin, Lucius Aurelius Eugenianus reveals that in the era of Domitian he was a champion in the ancient Roman Coliseum, a gladiator known far and wide as the greatest of all time. But now the warrior Eugeni must readjust to this new world, with its bizarre customs, hidden traps, and geopolitical and moral complexities, as he struggles to come to terms with painful memories of loves and glories lost, and the bloodthirsty imperial politics and heartbreaking betrayals that ultimately led him to this time and place. An ingenious amalgam of science fiction, fantasy, and history, Richard Ben Sapir’s The Far Arena is a breathtaking work of literary invention, at once thrilling, poignant, and thought-provoking.