Carrhae

'Carrhae' is the fourth and final instalment in the Parthian Chronicles, the adventures of King Pacorus of Dura, and follows on from 'Parthian Vengeance'. The journey that took Pacorus from Parthia to Italy to fight by the side of Spartacus and then back to Parthia again reaches its conclusion with him again meeting Marcus Licinius Crassus.

The great Parthian Civil War is over, leaving behind an empire exhausted by years of bloodshed. After the murderous Battle of Susa Pacorus has returned to Dura with a heavy heart, hoping that Parthia can at last look forward to peace and a united empire under King of Kings Orodes. But no sooner have hostilities ended than Armenia, the client state of Rome, declares war on the empire and its king, Tigranes, unleashes his army against Parthia. In reply Pacorus must march north to defend Hatra, the city of his birth, against the Armenians. But before he can do so he is forced to deal with another enemy army threatening Dura's western frontier as the Romans seek to seize the caravan city of Palmyra.

Even Dura's mighty army cannot stave off a series of defeats as the enemies of Parthia circle the empire like hungry wolves. And Pacorus knows that Marcus Licinius Crassus is also marching east to extend Rome's rule from the Euphrates to the Indus and enslave the whole of Parthia.

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Parthian Vengeance

‘Parthian Vengeance’ is the third instalment in the Parthian Chronicles, the adventures of King Pacorus of Dura, and follows on from ‘Parthian Dawn’.

The brooding peace that hangs over Parthia is shattered by a murder that triggers the final confrontation that will decide who rules the empire. Pacorus leads his veteran army east to destroy once and for all the forces of his implacable enemies, Mithridates and Narses. But his foes have been waiting for this moment and what Pacorus believes will be a short campaign will turn into a long war that will culminate in the bloodiest battle in the history of the Parthian Empire.

Once again Pacorus gathers his faithful companions around him for the life-or-death struggle with the treacherous Mithridates and the ambitious Narses – Domitus, the ex-Roman centurion and now general of Dura’s army; Gallia, his fierce warrior queen; Orodes, the landless prince; Prince Malik of the Agraci; and Surena, destined to become one of the greatest Parthian commanders of all time.

And while Parthia tears itself apart the Armenians begin to covet the empire’s lands, while to the west the black cloud of Roman power envelops Syria and Judea and edges ever close to the kingdom of Dura itself.

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Parthian Dawn

This is a sequel to 'The Parthian' and is set in the time after the Spartacus slave revolt. When I was approaching the end of 'The Parthian' I realised that I did not want to kill off the lead character, Prince Pacorus, so I had him and his band of followers escape from Italy and make it back to Parthia.

'Parthian Dawn' continues the story of Pacorus and his new wife Gallia, the Gallic woman he fell in love with during his time with Spartacus. The backdrop to the story is the civil war that breaks out in the Parthian Empire in the aftermath of the death of the aged King of Kings, the man who ruled the other kings of the empire. The Parthian Empire was one of the two superpowers of the ancient world, the other being Rome, but surprisingly little is known about Parthia, which at its height occupied an area from the River Euphrates in modern-day Iraq to the foothills of the Himalayas.

"This book carries on where the first left off – Prince Parcorus is back in his homeland, now made a king with his very own kingdom. His time in Italy, fighting alongside Spartacus, has clearly paid dividends as he puts his foes to the sword with alarming regularity. Juggling a double enemy of the dastardly Romans and the treacherous rival Parthian kings, this book again bowls along at a cracking pace.

"There is sufficient military detail in the book to make the reader feel that Darman has done his homework well whilst recognising that this is a work of fiction based on an ancient civilisation away from the epicentre of the Roman Empire."

 British Army Rumour Service review, February 2012

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The Parthian

My interest in Spartacus and his slave revolt began when I was a boy and watched Kirk Douglas and Jean Simmons in Stanley Kubrick's film Spartacus. It was, and still is, one of my favourite films. The years passed and my interest in Spartacus grew. I wanted to write a book about the man and his heroic uprising that shook the Roman Republic and whose name lives on over 2000 years later. The result is 'The Parthian', my first novel and indeed my first ebook. The tale of Spartacus is told through the eyes of Pacorus, a Parthian who is captured fighting the Romans and sent to Italy in chains. Thereafter he is freed by Spartacus and his escaped gladiators on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius and joins the slave revolt. What follows is a saga of war, honour, blood and loyalty as the might of Rome closes in on Spartacus and his companions.

"Darman has researched this novel extremely well, as one would expect with his military non-fiction background. This detail is meshed with great story telling which flows along with great gusto. Less for the fact that this book is about a Parthian rather than a Roman, I would describe it as a 'Roman Sharpe'. Darman's style is similar to and as good as Bernard Cornwell's, one of my favourite authors."

British Army Rumour Service review, June 2011

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Strange But True Military Facts

ISBN: 9781848844353
Pen & Sword Books, 2010

This book was great fun to put together. It contains 500 individual entries concerning the lesser known aspects of military history. A collection of the crazy, insane, bizarre, ridiculous, most bloody, inept, strangest, and hilarious military facts. These include the British general whose troops were massacred by the Ashanti in 1824 because, during the battle, he mistakenly supplied them with boxes full of biscuits instead of ammunition. Then there was the war between Modena and Bologna in 1352, a conflict caused by the theft of an old oak bucket. The fighting lasted for 12 years and cost thousands of lives. Crazy but true.

"This is an amusing and remarkable compendium of little-known anecdotes from military history. Divided into themed chapters that cover commanders, actions on the battlefield, military blunders, the logistics of warfare, and the history of weaponry, this book tells the stories that are often overlooked. It also contains information boxes throughout that provide the reader with intriguing, thought-provoking and unfamiliar, but true, facts from the annals of warfare."

Classic Arms and Militaria

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Blood, Sweat and Steel: Frontline Accounts from the Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq, 1990–2010

ISBN 978-1847735133
New Holland Publishers Ltd, 2010

Distilled from hundreds of thousands of words, this book attempts to present a cross-section of experiences from service personnel during 20 years of conflict in the Gulf and Afghanistan. The politicians talk about short campaigns and surgical strikes, but for those who have to fight their wars the reality is very different, as this book makes clear. And when the politicians foul up, as they invariably do, it is always the men and women in uniform who pay the price. I've also included a chapter on the wounded, for the legacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is tens of thousands of injured young people, plus many more carrying psychological scars.

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World War II: Stats and Facts

ISBN 978-1435117033
Fall River Press, 2009

This was a mammoth undertaking, and ultimately comprised 100,000 words. It contains thousands of figures, from casualty numbers in major battles to technical specifications of weapons, aircraft and ships to the manufacturing figures of all the combatant nations. The orders of battle include armies, corps and divisions for the Axis and Allied countries, plus ORBATs for air and sea units. At the end of it I felt as though I had taken part in the retreat from Moscow.

Heroic Voices of the Spanish Civil War: Memories from the International Brigades

ISBN 978-1847734693
New Holland Publishers Ltd, 2009

This was written to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. It is compiled from interviews conducted in the 1960s with those British men and women who fought in the International Brigades. The sound archives are held in the Imperial War Museum in London, and it was a great privilege to hear their stories. Sadly they have all passed away now.

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Posters of World War II

ISBN 978-1435104389
Barnes & Noble 2008

This was an immensely enjoyable book to write. The large format allowed the 200 colour posters to be shown to full effect. It also allowed me to follow the different poster styles as they developed during the war. In the Soviet Union, for example, posters spouted communist dogma at the start of the German invasion in June 1941. This was quickly ditched as German armies drove towards Moscow, and Soviet posters started to make an appeal to Russian patriotism and the defence of Mother Russia. By the end of the war, when the Red Army was at the gates of Berlin, Soviet posters had reverted back to extolling the glories of communism.

"This superbly illustrated book features over 200 posters, beautifully reproduced in full colour. Each poster is accompanied by a detailed explanation and in the case of the Axis posters a translation of the text. 

Some of the posters the reader will be very familiar with, others will be new, but in all cases the creative talents of such names as Norman Rockwell in the US and in Britain Tom Eckersley and Cyril Kenneth Bird (Fougasse) will be instantly recognized.

This book is a high quality and wonderfully produced and researched book, the illustrations are beautifully reproduced. WW2 Connection recommend this book highly and it is a welcome addition to anyone's WW2 book shelf."

WW2 Connection

Prince Rupert of the Rhine: A Study in Generalship 1642–1646

ISBN 978-1858185644
Partizan Press 2008

This was my University of York masters thesis, which was submitted in 1987 and, I'm glad to say, passed. Prince Rupert was one of my boyhood heroes, so to spend two years studying him and his cavalry during the English Civil War was a great privilege. It took me a year of research at the British Library, Bodleian Library and Public Records Office, plus another year writing it up (mainly after work and at weekends), but the end result was well worth it. Three copies were produced, one of which resides in the University of York Library. Twenty years later it was published by Partizan Press, who hopefully have sold more than three copies!

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World War II Trivia Book

ISBN 978-0760793978
Barnes & Noble 2007

Where did the Japanese attack the U.S. mainland in 1942? Who said, "Never before have we had so little time to do so much."? The World War II Trivia Book has the answers. This was written as a new kind of reference source about the war, packed with questions and answers, quotations, and 'did you know?' boxes about strategy, battles, spies, weapons and commanders.