My next book: The Bitch Queen

"Freya" by Swedish painter Anders Zorn

The Bitch Queen was one of many names for Queen Gunnhild, Mother of Kings. Gunnhild was married to Eirik Bloodaxe, who was King of Norway and later King of York. The medieval Icelandic saga-writers agree that she was an evil and cunning woman, a practitioner of seid and black magic; she didn't mind using treacherous means to reach her ends. Gunnhild was said to be exceptionally beautiful, and, according to legend, after King Eirik's death she developed an insatiable appetite for young men of high rank.

Queen Gunnhild's many erotic excesses make her comparable with Freya, the goddess of love (see image above), but also with Hel, the erotically oriented goddess of death (see image below).

In the fourth instalment of The Viking Series, which I'm currently writing, the saga of Sigve the Awful continues. In the book, an old enemy of Sigve's family returns to Norway from his exile in Northumbria. Kalv arrives with his son Einar, who leads a fierce band of  warriors. When Sigve learns about their arrival, he decides to eradicate Kalv, his son Einar, and the rest of the family – wives, children, and all.

Einar Kalvson, however, is a good friend of Harald Greycloak, one of Queen Gunnhild's many sons. Harald is King of Norway, and he has promised Einar his support. For Sigve it is crucial to make the king change his mind and support him in stead of Einar. But, as everyone knows, the will of the king can only be moved through Gunnhild, his mother, who exerts great power over his son. Among people in the country there is a saying that “Norway is ruled by the queen's cunt”.

In order to achieve his goal, in this fourth book, Sigve sets out to meet Queen Gunnhild, the Bitch Queen. But the result of their meeting is uncertain, the Bitch Queen is hard to please.

"Gunnhild lets the Finns be killed."
Drawing by Norwegian artist Christian Krogh.

The Viking Series - John Snow

www.TheVikingSeries.com

Visit my new website!

John Snow and The Slayer Rune available on Google Play

I am glad to be able to announce that the three first books in The Viking Series are available on Google Play. Go to Google Play Books (on a smart-phone, tablet, lap-top or PC) and search for "The Slayer Rune", "The Lethal Oath", or "John Snow". Find the books, click TRY FREE, and have a look.

See also: John Snow on Google play

Or this link: Books on Google Play

John Snow on Google Play.

John Snow, also known as Terje Hillesund, is now available
at all major e-book stores: Google Play, Amazon,
Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

With these new uploads, my e-books are now distributed to the entire world and available on Google Play, Amazon, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. This means I can concentrate on writing the fourth book in the series. I have the book's story-line in my head, and I have written a few chapters, but I haven't decided on a title yet.

In the fourth book Kalv Kolson, the old enemy of Vik, returns to the country, and Sigve the Awful has to defend his people. He seeks support from Gunnhild ("The Mother of Kings"), who is Erik Bloodaxe's widow and mother of Harald Greycloak, the new King of Norway. I can promise my readers that the meeting with Gunnhild will be a very special one indeed. Queen Gunnhild, as many will know, was famous for her cruelty, magic skills, and lasciviousness.


About the availability of my books, see:
John Snow available on Barnes & Noble (NOOK) and on Apple iBooks (iPad, iPhone),
and
The Red Gold by John Snow is now available at Amazon.

Read also this article about my writing on ThorNews:
Norse Fantasy Author John Snow: Self-Published, Successful – and Norwegian!

John Snow on Facebook

Post by John Snow.

John Snow available on Barnes & Noble (NOOK) and on Apple iBooks (iPad, iPhone).

John Snow on
Smashwords

Until now John Snow has published his books solely at Amazon, but from now on he has also started to publish his books via Smaswords, a company that makes e-books available on a variety of platforms.

Like great characters? Like vivid imaging?  Like passion and adventure? You can now buy John Snow's books on Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, and a lot of other e-book stores.

"The Slayer Rune" on Barnes & Noble: Click here!

If you want the book on your iPad and iPhone. Go to the store inside Apple's iBooks app and search for "The Slayer Rune".

And of course you can by the books on Smashword's own website!

John Snow on
Barnes & Noble

John Snow on
iPad and iPhone

Vikings in Canada centuries before Columbus

The more I read and hear about the old Norsemen the more impressed I am. In the documentary THE NORSE: AN ARCTIC MYSTERY a film crew follows Pat Sutherland on her journey to prove that the early history between North America and Europe did not unfold the way the history books say it did. In fact the Norse were in Canada several centuries before Christopher Columbus.

“The Norse were here over a long period of time, and they had business to do,” says Sutherland. The dig at the Nanook site at Baffin Island in Canada has revealed stone walls marking out the shape of an trading post, possibly the first European building this side of the Atlantic.

Vikings in Canada centuries before Columbus

“It certainly substantiates that there were Europeans on the site,” says Sutherland, “no question about that.” The excavation team has also found lots of artefact pointing to the Norse, and according to Sutherland the Norse traded walrus tusk and furs with the Dorset people, the local natives of the time.

See animations from the documentary

Unfortunately - and very controvercially - Pat Sutherland has lost her research funding and she has also been fired by the Canadian Museum of History. Hopefully this extremely interesting research will be taken up and continued so that everyone interested in the topic can get more knowledge.

See Pat Sutherland's research article: Evidence of Early Metalworking in Artic Canada.

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