The Pre-Order Bundle for Child of Ash, Heir of Fire Is Here Child of Ash, Heir of Fire hits shelves on September 15, and pre-orders for the full bundle are open right now. I wanted to put together something worth committing to before the book even exists in your hands — not just a pre-order …
If you’ve read A Tale of Scorched Ash and Elm, or been a part of the ARC team for Child of Ash Heir of Fire, you’ve noticed a pattern. Midwinter arrives, the fire gets built, and at some point a horse bites the dust. When someone asks about this, they typically have the look of …
Were the Days of the Week Really Named After Norse Gods? (It’s More Complicated Than That) Here’s a piece of Norse mythology trivia that circulates constantly online, in classrooms, and in the kind of books you find in the mythology section of a large chain bookstore: Tuesday is named after Tyr. Wednesday is named after …
And Why Pop Culture Gets Him Wrong The Norse God Freyr is one of the most important gods in the Norse pantheon. He is also one of the most consistently ignored, misrepresented, and flattened by modern pop culture, and that bothers me more than I can reasonably explain in a single blog post, but I’m …
A Viking Dark Fantasy Author Explains Here’s a question I get asked a lot: how do you research Norse Mythology for a Viking dark fantasy series? The short answer is: very carefully, and with a deep suspicion of whatever you thought you already knew. Because here’s the thing nobody tells you when you first fall …
Will you be watching Norway take on England this Saturday? I will be, and not just for the football. (It’ll be the dark viking fantasy vibes for sure!) The moment I saw this matchup on the schedule, I couldn’t help but grin. Because as many fans and historians have already pointed out, this game is …
Excerpt from Child of Ash Heir of Fire, available on September 14 Sigurn wasn’t sure why she had even come. Leif played his game. Folke played his. And she? She was decoration. A distraction to keep the captain entertained until his judgment blurred enough to fall into the Chancellor’s hands. She wasn’t blind. She knew …
If you’ve picked up a Norse-inspired fantasy novel recently, you’ve probably encountered her: the woman who stands at the edge of firelight, staff in hand, eyes somewhere else entirely. She speaks in riddles. She knows too much. She makes the warriors uncomfortable in a way that no sword can. She is the völva. And she …
Elves in Norse Myth vs. Leifthasir: Álfar, Dark Elves, Seidr, and Viking Fantasy Worldbuilding Norse elves were not tiny fairies or Tolkien-style forest immortals. They were shining, powerful, ambiguous beings tied to gods, ancestors, fertility, death, and the land. In Leifthasir, those mythic roots become a living people shaped by Seidr, divine abandonment, war, exile, …
The Viking Age gives us a complicated picture of women warriors: legendary shield-maidens, rare archaeological evidence, and legal systems that discouraged women from taking up masculine roles. In Leifthasir, that tension becomes the foundation for a fantasy world where women can fight—but never without consequence. Were There Women Warriors in the Viking Age? The idea …