"The Viking War" moves to Denmark

In my historical Viking series, the story moves to Jelling in Denmark where King Harald Bluetooth is in conflict with Gold-Harald, his nephew, who claims the throne. The story dives into the events that lead up to the great sea-battle at Hals, in which Sigve the Awful plays a decisive role.

At the beginning of the book, Sigve, rather unwillingly, serves King Greycloak and his mother, Queen Gunnhild, at Avaldsnes in Norway. At the king's farm, he has met a woman called Life. She is the king's pet, a prey from a Viking raid in the far north, and Sigve's grudge against King Greycloak turns into hatred when he hears Queen Life's story.

Sigve owns a very fast longship, the Sea Serpent. When the king asks him to escort an envoy to Denmark, he meets old enemies and old friends, among them Earl Hakon, the great schemer. In the tense situation – a battle is approaching – Sigve seeks opportunities to solve both his own and Queen Life's problems.

Sigve the Awful and Harald Greycloak sail to Denmark

The conflict between Harald Bluetooth and Gold-Harald

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DGYQXFY

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DGYQXFY

Tyr - the slayer rune - opens Wardruna's album Ragnarok

The album Ragnarok (2016) finishes Wardruna's trilogy Runaljod (sound of runes). In three albums Einar Selvik and his band interprets the 24 runes of the elder futhark (the old rune alphabet). Prior to Ragnarok, they have released Gap var Ginnunga (2009) and Yggdasil (2013), and in each album, they present melodies interpreting eight runes - plus extra melodies, like the popular Helvegen (the road to Hel).

John Snow aka Terje Hillesund (to the right) at Eidsivablot
waiting for Wardruna to play.

In Norse mythology, Ginnungagap is the name of the deep chasm or gap in which the world was created. Yggdrasil is the name of a huge ash tree, the world tree, and Ragnarok is the end of the world; the final battle in which gods and humans will perish.

Tyr is the name of a rune and the title on the first song in Wardruna's last album. Tyr is originally a Norse god of war. He put his right hand in the mouth of the wolf Fenrir who bit the hand off after the gods had bound him with an unbreakable ribbon.

Einar Selvik from Wardruna interprets the rune Tyr in Ragnarok,
the third album in the Runaljod trilogy.

The Old Icelandic Rune Poem says about the Tyr rune, that "Tyr is a one-handed god / and a wolf's leftover / and the temple's chief." In The Lay of Sigrdrifa (in The Poetic Edda) Sigurd the Dragonslayer wakes up a valkyrie, Sigerdrifa, who starts giving him words of wisdom and advice. In the sixth stanza of the lay, she tells Sigurd how to use the Tyr rune:

Victory-rune you must cut if you want to have victory,
and cut them on your sword-hilt;
some on the blade-guards, some on the plates,
and invoke Tyr twice.

In my book The Slayer Rune, this is exactly what the young hero Sigurd Haraldson does. Sigurd (who is later called Sigve the Awful) carves Tyr on his sword-hilt and gives it magic powers, but without knowing the consequences. Tyr, of course, is the slayer rune.

John Snow interviewed by Steven Malone

Buy the books at Amazon.com!

Read Steve Malone's interview!

The Slayer Rune at Amazon.co.uk!

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

New edition of The Slayer Rune

A second edition of The Slayer Rune is now available on Amazon (with The Lethal Oath soon to follow). The new edition of The Slayer Rune is thoroughly copyedited by Karen Conlin, who has done wonders to my text. The book has also got a new cover designed by Stephen Mulcahey who has made covers for Lee Child, Frederick Forsyth and other great authors. Stephen has also made new cover for The Lethal Oath and the third book in the series: The Red Gold.

BUY THE BOOK AND ENJOY!

The Slayer Rune on Amazon.com
The Slayer Rune on Amazon.co.uk

Old oak forests and the Oseberg ship

This morning I went hiking in a primeval oak forest. The old, twisted oaks thrive in the hillsides of a narrow valley along with birch, elm and linden trees. At the bottom of the vale a hiking path threads its way along "Uråa" , which means "the brook under the scree". I Norway spring is now at its most intense with plants blooming, woods turning green, and birds singing like crazy. On my way into the ravine, I past a precipice and heard the hoarse croaks of a pair of ravens, but I saw none of them.

Both oaks and linden trees take on strange shapes in the primeval forest.

Oaks are among the last trees to come into leaves
and this old giant is among the latest of the late.

In the old days large oak forests covered much of Southern Norway before the woods were cut down and the timber exported to the Netherlands and England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Back in the Viking Age the oak and pine forests were essential to the building and development of the Viking ships. Pine delivered timber for the strakes and masts, and oak, with its variety of forms, gave solid and enduring materials for knees, ribs, curved stems, keels and all the different shapes needed in the construction of a Viking ship, whether they were slender warships - longships - or heavy merchant ships - knorrs.

The Oseberg ship at The Vikingship Museum in Oslo.

The famous Oseberg ship may very well have had timber from the very wood I was visiting this morning. The ship was used in a burial in Eastern Norway, but examinations have shown that the trees used in the Oseberg ship were cut in the southern part of Western Norway.

Building a replica of the Oseberg ship.

Walking in the oak forest and watching the warped and crooked oak branches, I thought of my novels, and I could easily imagine Sigve the Awful's shipwrights walking the woods around Vik, searching for  materials for their shipbuilding. But on my return down the path beside the brook, I passed the precipice once more, and again I heard the ravens caw without seeing them. This time one of them was laughing a very hoarse laughter, and in the car back home I wondered whether it was Huginn, "thought"  or Muninn, "memory" who so overtly had been mocking me.

Viking sheep of many colours

When I look out my windows, I see sheep of many colours grazing in the fields around a replica of a Norwegian Iron Age farm from the centuries before the Viking Age. In my Viking stories the hero Sigve the Awful wears woollen clothes, usually woven from natural wool, which of course doesn't mean that Sigve's cloaks were colourless. If Viking sheep only remotely resembled the sheep that are pastured in my neighbourhood, Sigve's clothes would have been very colourful indeed.

Swords in Rock and Harald Fairhair

The "Swords in Rock" monument seems to be an everlasting motif in the online Viking communities. I took this picture this evening just an hour before sunset. Spring is coming to Norway – now the days are longer than the nights – but only a week ago the weather still was grey, as shown in the photo below. 

"Swords in Rock" is a sculpture made by Fritz Røed. It is placed in Møllebukta (the Miller's Bay), which is a very popular recreation area in Stavanger. I often take an evening stroll along the seaside in Miller's Bay, experiencing the nature and the historical surroundings.

The Miller's Bay and the monument lie at the bottom of Hafrsfjord, where the famous King Harald Fairhair won a great battle in 872 AD. Having defeated a lot of petty kings supported by the Danes, he is regarded as the king who united Norway into one kingdom.

Could Harald Fairhair have
looked like this?

King Harald Fairhair had several wives and fathered a lot of sons, who after his death fought among themselves for supremacy. Eric Bloodaxe were among the sons, and so was Hakon the Good, who was fostered by King Æthelstan in England. Coming home from England, Hakon defeated Eirik Bloodaxe, his brother, who fled to Northumbria where he later became king. After a few years Eirik's sons took revenge and killed Hakon the Good in a fierce battle on the West Coast of Norway.

Among Eirik Bloodaxe's sons, Harald Greycloak was the most prominent, and he is a major figure in "The Viking Series" (in which "The Slayer Rune" and "The Lethal Oath" are the first books, and Sigurd (who is later to be called Sigve The Awful) is the main character).

In the books, set a hundred years after the Battle of Hafrsfjord, the descendents of Harald Fairhair still fight over lands and power, and Sigve the Awful finds himself squeezed in the middle between Harald Greycloak and Godred Bjornson, another of Fairhair's powerful grandsons.

At this time in history, the Norwegian kings had close relations to the kings in England, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, and Sigve the Awful, who becomes a great warrior and swordsman, will in the Viking Series soon have his hands full in the struggles between the mighty kings. Exactly how Sigve will manoeuvre in these struggles are among the things I ponder when I stroll along the beaches in Hafrsfjord watching the Swords in Rock sculpture.

In the first two books, young Sigurd is still trying to find his place in his Viking world. A task that becomes very complicated when he falls in love with the mysterious thrall girl Yljali.

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Viking novella for only $0.99!

A new episode of Vikings is due, and for the remaining period of season 2 of this wonderful TV series you can buy The Slayer Rune for the special price of $0.99! The book is a historical action-adventure novella and the first instalment in a series from the Viking Age. The second book is titled The Lethal Oath ($2.99).

I can't wait to see Bjorn's first fight.
 Bjorn, in Vikings, being the son of Ragnar Lothbrok and Lagertha.

There is a growing interest in the Viking Age, and modern people seem to be inspired by the Vikings at multiple levels of myth, legend, and actual history. Movies like Valhalla Rising and TV series like Vikings include both mythological and historical elements, even if creative uses of legendary motives seem to dominate. Authors like Bernard Cornwell, Robert Low, J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin are all deeply influenced by Viking culture and Norse mythology, and the lyrics by music bands such as Amon Amarth are all about Odin, Loki and Ragnarok. In this blog I try to cover some aspect of the profound influence the Viking Age has on modern popular culture.

I also write Viking stories in the form of short novels, and without making invidious comparisons, in my books I try to create a world and an atmosphere in which social, mythological and historical events are equally important in the lives and experiences of my characters. Even if the stories contain supernatural elements, the books are nevertheless realistic in the sense that long-forgotten creatures, powers, and gods are treated as if they were real, an integral part of the world in which I imagine Sigurd and his family lived. For me it is extremely inspiring try to describe the feelings and sensations of my characters as realistically as possible and at the same time create action and suspense for the readers.

When I put so much effort into writing my Viking stories as entertaining as possible, I also hope to get as many readers as possible. For some weeks, therefore, the first book in the series will be sold for the give-away price of $0.99. Buy it and enjoy yourself!

Amazon.com
(NOW $0.99!)

Amazon.co.uk

The Slayer Rune - book description:

The Slayer Rune is an historical action-adventure novella with slight supernatural elements. In this first instalment in the new series, the stage is set in Norway in AD 967. Young Sigurd, the chieftain's son, is in love with Yljali, a pretty, foreign thrall girl. Helgi Blackbeard, the king's captain-of-arms, has also discovered Yljali's beauty, and he wants to possess her. Helgi Blackbeard is a powerful man, but he is not the only one lusting for the girl. Harald the Chieftain, Sigurd's father, often looks in her direction. 

Sigurd does not fight his battles alone. The old and mysterious Grim reveals the secrets of the runes to Sigurd, and Gisli, the captain-of-arms at Vik, has promised him a very special sword – Gisli's own blade. But when Sigurd decides to act, he sparks off a chain of events that no one is able to control.

    

The Slayer Rune is the first book in The Viking Series.

Amazon.com
($2.99)

Amazon.co.uk

The Lethal Oath - book description:

The Lethal Oath, the second book in The Viking Series, continues the late-Viking Age saga of Sigve the Awful – begun in The Slayer Rune.

Despite his young age - and mostly because of the slayer rune, the spell that quicken Sigve's sword and grant superhuman strength to him as its wielder - Sigve has gained a reputation as a swordsman. At the opening of this second instalment, Sigve becomes the youngest chieftain in King Godred's realm. During the inaugural feast, he swears a sacred oath on his blade, only to discover it stands in the way of his bedding Yljali – the mysterious, beautiful thrall who, along with Sigve and Grim, knows the secret of the slayer rune.

He breaks the oath with dire consequences. He looses control of his sexual desires; he finds himself in conflict with both his mother and his captain-of-arms, and he becomes deeply involved in the war between King Godred and Harald Greyfell, two mighty kings. Soon Sigve has to fight for Yljali, for the people at Vik, and for his own survival.

Odd the Squinter, Skarphedin the Second-Sighted, and Sigrunn Silkyhair continue their roles in this segment of the story, and new players arrive: Kale Curved-Cock, and his daughter, the Body, among them. Sigve continues to make poor decisions under the blinding influence of his lust for Yljali, ignoring the words of his one-eyed tutor, Grim: Everyone's life is entangled in the great struggle between order and chaos.

And then, there is Odin …

Vikings: Life and Legend

Today I received a very encouraging message from one of my readers. He had read an article in The Guardian about the coming Viking exhibition at British Museum. In a review of the exhibition the Guardian journalist asks for a more engaging Viking story. My reader had titled his message: John Snow tells the story.

Tha background is that  British Museum in London opens the exhibition Vikings: Life and Legend on the 6th of March this year. It is the largest Viking exhibition at the museum for more than 30 years and at its centre is Roskilde 6, the biggest Viking ship ever found. From stem to stern it is unbelievingly 37 meters long.

Roskilde 6, 37 meters long; the largest Viking ship ever?

Special offer: Free e-book

FOR THREE DAYS YOU GET THE LETHAL OATH FOR FREE AT AMAZON.COM.

For German readers, click here.
French readers, click here.
British readers, click here.

(The offer will last until Thursday the 15th of August)




DESCRIPTION OF THE LETHAL OATH

The Lethal Oath is the second book in The Viking Series. It's a historical action-adventure novella with Sigve the Awful as the main character. The story is set in Norway in the late Viking Age.

In the novella, Sigve enters into a hot erotic relationship with Ylajali. She is a mysterious thrall girl and the only person who knows the secret of Sigve's sword. She knows the slayer rune, the spell that quickens the sword and gives its wielder superhuman strength.

Despite his young age - and mostly because of the slayer rune - Sigve has gained reputation as a swordsman. In the beginning of the book, Sigve becomes the youngest chieftain in King Godred realm. During the inaugural feast, on his sword, he swears a sacred oath, only to discover it stands in the way of his getting Ylajali in bed.

Free e-book: THE SLAYER RUNE

FOR TWO DAYS YOU CAN GET  THE SLAYER RUNE FOR
FREE AT AMAZON.

For German readers, click here.
French readers, click here.
British readers, click here.

(The offer will last until Monday the 8th of July)

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

The Slayer Rune is stirring

I am proud to tell you that The Slayer Rune is now for sale. You can buy it here at Amazon.com

The Slayer Rune is a historical action-adventure novel with slight supernatural elements. It's a story of love and hate and Viking action, infused with Norse mythology. Does Sigurd’s love for Ylajali lead to his actions, or do darker powers force him to do terrible deeds?

In the book you’ll meet Helgi Blackbeard, Big Bork and his brother Bork Berserk, Skarphedin the Second-Sighted, Grim, Hild, Sigrunn Silkyhair, the Witch from Spedale and the main character Sigurd (later called Sigve the Awful) and his love Ylajali. Will he get her?

Next book in the series is The Lethal Oath. Here I have added in Kale Curved-Cock and the Body, his daughter.

The Slayer Rune

Here is a new cover. I have done a lot of small adjustments based on comments in Writer's Discussion Group at Google+. I’m glad I joined this group. In addition to comments on the e-book cover, I’ve received good advice on my writing. Both the prologue and the first chapters in The Slayer Rune have been edited. You can read the new versions here on the blog (see sidebar), and I'm open for more comments.

The volva and her herbs

"In a sad voice, Sigurd's mother began to sing, followed by the rest of the women.

It was a song about Freya, daughter of Njord, the goddess of love. The lay caused people to sway, moving to and fro. They sang it slowly, there, inside the hall, they lamented Freya's love of Od.

The song turned really sad when Od ran away. "Where is Od?" the women moaned in the song. In the glowing light of the pit fires, his mother changed into a volva, offering herbs to the flames. Making a flash, the burning leaves filled the room with a heavy and sweet-smelling smoke.

The lay was arousing, and soon the men fell in, enchanted. They all sang about Freya's longing, and the song was for Njord, the god who brought the grain – and the bjor."
(From The Slayer Rune)

Hemp and bjor

Archaelogical findings show that Norwegian Vikings grew hemp. Or as the researchers would say: they cultivated cannabis. Hemp fibers were used in textiles and ropes, and the plant was probably used to make drugs. Cannabis seeds have been found in excavations in Southern Norway and in the Oseberg grave. This has led some researcher to believe that one of the women in the grave was a powerful volva and a master of seid.

"The women had brewed bjor, the strongest beer; the girls had mixed the brew with hemp and other mind-bending herbs. The chieftain was planning a big feast. The hall was painted and decorated with deep-coloured rugs, and tables were set up and covered with bowls and drinking horns." ...