A blog by author John Snow. "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."
Currently the historical fiction writer Giles Kristian is discussing his debut novel Blood Eye with readers in the group Ancient and Medieval Historical Fiction at Goodreads. I have participated in the discourse, read his book, and written a review. If you're on Goodreads, feel free to add me as your friend. See you there!
I had high expectations, but the book was a bit disappointing. Not that Kristian doesn't write well and he certainly displays a wide knowledge of Saxons, Vikings, and Norse mythology; somehow I felt at home in his world. It was the way the story is told that disappointed me.
Kaupang was an important Viking trading town in northern part of Denmark (today's south-eastern part of Norway). This summer "Saga Oseberg", an exact replica of the Oseberg ship, sailed in Viksfjord to Kaupang. See more pictures in the local newspaper Østlands-Posten and read my review of a beautiful Kaupang book below.
This s a gem of a book. It tells the story of Kaupang, the trading place at Skiringssal in the south-eastern part or Norway. Kaupang was an urban centre or town in the 9th and 10th centuries, and the book places Kaupang among the most important trading centres in the Scandinavian Viking age, along with Ribe, Birka, and Hedesby.
I'm back from my vacation, I've been relaxing on our cottage with my family and I've been sailing in the same waters as Saga Oseberg, the new replica of the famous Oseberg ship. I saw the ship being built, but I still haven't seen here sailing, unfortunately. But here are beautiful photos of her on her way to Risør Wooden Boat Festival.
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 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.
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.
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.
Blood Eye by Giles Kristian
