The northern summer

The northern summer is short and intense. In all of July I'm going on vacation, sailing the southern part of the Norwegian coast, taking my family to our summer house, and generally doing nothing. In this period I will dramatically reduce my activities in the social media.

(While waiting for more Viking action, romance and magic, 

why not listen to Fever Ray and her Vikings Theme song)

The only thing I do in my summer holidays, apart from sailing, bathing, eating and relaxing, is reading. If you read too, you could, if you like, try one of my books, The Slayer Rune or The Lethal Oath. If you're in for rune magic, choose the first. If you're more into erotic mysteries, pick the second.

Good summer!

Southern coast of Norway, outside Grimstad and Vik

Twilight of the Thunder God (Amon Amarth)

"A fantastic novel"

Click here.

The last weeks I have been very inspired. In her final letter, my editor says that The Lethal Oath is “truly a page-turner,” and that I have “created a gem of a historical action-adventure novel that is sure to entertain readers.” The characters are well drawn, unique, and engaging, she writes, and concludes that it is “a magnificent, well-written, riveting story (...) a fantastic novel from beginning to end.”

With such words, writing is easy. The editor suggested stylistic improvements, and also pointed to some inconsistencies, especially in punctuation. The last weeks I have rewritten sentences and paragraphs and made even more use of active voice. I have omitted superfluous words and corrected all the small errors that inevitably creep into written manuscripts.

Caught in A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones

So much is said and written about A Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire that I will tell about my reading of the books. I thought I'd never heard about George R.R. Martin when I first read about HBO's TV series on the Web. This was in autumn 2011, and in USA the first season of A Game of Thrones was over, but in Norway, where I live, it hadn't started. When I discovered that all of the four books in A Song of Ice and Fire were among the best-sellers on Amazon, and that fans anxiously awaited A Dance with Dragons, I got curious and bought the four-book bundle for Amazon Kindle for $13.49.

And that was it. I felt ambushed, caught in a trap and imprisoned, with no way of escaping. A Song of Ice and Fire has so many fascinating and complex characters, so many parallel and intertwined plots, so many places and customs, and so much action that I was totally caught. I have never had such a captivating reading experience in my life.

The Last Viking

Harald plots with Svein. (Click the
images to get a larger picture.)

Harald Hardrada (hard ruler) was a Norwegian king, who tried to conquer England in 1066. He lost and died in the Battle of Stamford Bridge. He was defeated by Harold Godwinson, who a week later lost the Battle of Hastings to William the Conquerer. The events in 1066 ended the Viking Age, and Harald Hardrada is often called The Last Viking. Some may recognize Harald in my profile image.

Then Sigrid said, "This could very
well be your bane!"

Another famous Norwegian king was Olav Tryggvason. In the image to the left, he quarrels with Sigrid the Haughty, a Swedish queen, known for killing her suitors by burning. Among them was Harald Grenske, who plays a major role in my book The Lethal Oath.

Olav Tryggvason is the model for Crowbone in Robert Low's Oathsworn series. In my third book, Gold, Olav is a toddler, hidden at Vik by his mother.