The Red Gold by John Snow is now available at Amazon

"John's newest is out. Like Vikings? Like great characters? Like vivid imaging? Like adventure? Like drama? Like passion? Then get John Snow 's latest installment. In fact, get the whole series." 

(Steven Malone)

The Red Gold (The Viking Series Book 3) is now available in the Kindle format at Amazon shops around the world, and beneath I bring a list of links. I will also thank all of my readers who pre-ordered the book. I hope you'll all enjoy it and that some of you will review the book at Amazon or Goodreads.

The Red Gold can be read on all kinds of devices: laptops, iPads, IPhones,
smartphones, tablets and on Kindle readers.

USA (and many other countries)

United Kingdom

Canada

Germany

France

Australia

India

Italy

The Netherlands

Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland

Wardruna, Jara, and the New Year

The old rune Jara (or Jera) symbolizes the year, and in their melody Jara the Norwegian band Wardruna celebrates the new year or more presicely: the coming of the sun. A recurring line in the song is "soli vendar" which literary means "the sun turns around". In the middle of the cold and dark winter, the sun returns with longer days and hopes of a warm summer and a rich harvest.

Jara is one of the melodies on the CD Runaljod - gap var Ginnunga, and typically the song comes just after the frightening and disturbing tunes in Heimta Thurs and Thurs, the songs about the rune of giants.  As Norse Mythology itself, Wardruna's music is full of contrasts; between light and darkness, growth and destruction, birth and death. Even the jotnir or the thurs, the giants, are ambiguous. First of all they represent the destructive forces of nature but at the same time they posses wisdom and sources of life. Also in the optimistic Jara melody, the Wardruna singer has to call upon the norns and pray for "ár og friðar" - growth and peace. The singer very well knows that in life nothing is certain.

Eg såg og eg tydde,

da soli snudde.

Jarteikn for fe og heim.

Solhov.

Svart natt.

Soli har venda,

i haustinga ligg håpet.

Solrik sumar

og allgroande åkre.

Til norne tri,

vi ber dei spinna liv

i åker og i eng,

i barm og i bringa.

Er ár og friðar,

når kornet stig or jordi.

Om vordane lokka sin lokkesong.

På tidleg sådd åker

kan ikkje nokon lite.

For mangt veit eg om vålyndt vêr.

Gro gro, lisle spire,

dager gryr og mørket svinner.

Sól har snudd

og hjulet det har venda.

Sola vendar hausten sendar

graset gulnar, blada fell

lyse dagar er på hell.

Til vordar og vettar,

vi takk gjev med vår song

for ár og friðar.

Ár og friðar.

Wardruna playing in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.

Pre-order THE RED GOLD now!

If you want to give yourself (or someone you love) a new Viking story for Yule, you can now pre-order The Red Gold and have it auto-delivered to your Kindle on December 24, 2014. You can also read the book on a Tablet PC or a Smart Phone.

Go to Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk or one of the other international Amazon stores!

Book description:

The Red Gold by John Snow is the third book in The Viking Series.

After a disastrous fire, Sigve the Awful decides to rebuild the old hall, but in one of the post holes, the thralls find a gold hoard hidden under the stone footing. It’s a huge treasure trove, but how big is it, and who buried the gold there?

Sigve’s guardsmen have spotted a large warship sailing towards Vik, and in order to defend the gold, the young chieftain may once again depend on Yljali, his thrall lover. Only she can unleash the hidden powers of his magic sword. Yljali, however, is in labour, giving birth to Sigve’s child.

In this third book Sigve is dragged further into the struggle between the powerful claimants to the Norwegian throne. The young and unexperienced leader must use all his wits and strength to defend his property and his people; he may even depend on the gods.

In Snow’s Viking stories, rune magic and shape shifting are no fantasies but facts of reality. The life of Sigve the Awful is weaved by the Norns, but Sigve's prosperity also depends on his own courage, on Odin’s cunning, and on Thor's strength. Luckily, Sigve can ask Grim for advice, but often the sage’s answers are difficult to understand.

In The Viking Series John Snow tells exciting stories, and based on thorough research, he gives a very realistic interpretation of life in the Viking Age.

A large gold hoard is found in The Red Gold.