Joel Harris
What Is Your Roman Empire?
I grew up with learning disabilities that made reading and writing feel like climbing a mountain barefoot. Every sentence was a struggle. Teachers mistook my quietness for disinterest. What they didn’t see was how hard I was fighting—how much I wanted to understand, to express, to connect.
Stories became my refuge. I devoured them slowly, word by word, line by line. History, especially, fascinated me—the rise and fall of empires, the choices of men who stood on the edge of destiny. Among them, one figure captured my imagination more than any other: Hannibal Barca, the Carthaginian general who led his army, elephants and all, across the Alps to challenge Rome. His courage, his defiance, and ultimately his tragedy spoke to something deep within me.
The Ivory General was born from that fascination—but more than that, it was born from my own battle with limitation. Writing it wasn’t easy. Some days the words felt like foreign soldiers invading my thoughts, refusing to line up in formation. But just as Hannibal adapted, strategized, and pressed forward despite impossible odds, I learned to do the same. I discovered that creativity isn’t about perfection—it’s about persistence.
The Ivory General isn’t just a story about war. It’s about leadership, doubt, and the weight of ambition. It’s about what drives people to keep going when the path ahead is uncertain and the world seems stacked against them. In many ways, it mirrors my own journey as a writer—facing obstacles that seemed insurmountable, yet finding a way through.
Today, when readers tell me that my story moved them, I think back to that child who couldn’t read a full page without frustration. I wish I could tell him that one day, those same struggles would shape him into a storyteller—that the very thing that once held him back would become his source of strength.
Because if there’s one lesson I’ve learned, it’s this: greatness isn’t about never stumbling. It’s about rising each time you fall, carrying your burdens with grace, and turning them into something that lasts.
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