Woman, Captain, Rebel by Margaret Willson

A notorious crime, a lone woman fighting for equality, and the thrills of the wide-open sea

A daring and magnificent account of Iceland's most famous female sea captain who constantly fought for women's rights and equality—and who also solved one of the country's most notorious robberies.

Many people may have heard the old sailing superstition that having women onboard a ship was bad luck. Thus, the sea remains in popular knowledge a male realm. When we think of examples of daring sea captains, swashbuckling pirates, or wise fishermen, many men come to mind. Cultural anthropologist Margaret Willson would like to introduce a fearless woman into our imagination of the sea: Thurídur Einarsdóttir.

Captain Thurídur was a controversial woman constantly contesting social norms while simultaneously becoming a respected captain fighting for dignity and equality for underrepresented Icelanders. Both horrifying and magnificent, this story will captivate readers from the first page and keep them thinking long after they turn the last page.

Review: The Serpent King by Tim Hodkinson

Sysnopsis: AD936 The fight for vengeance has no victors...

The great warrior, Einar Unnsson, wants revenge. His mother's assassin has stolen her severed head and Einar is hungry for his blood. Only one thing holds him back. He is a newly sworn in Wolf Coat, and must accompany them on their latest quest.

The Wolf Coats are a band of fearsome bloodthirsty warriors, who roam the seas, killing any enemies who get in their way. Now they're determined to destroy their biggest enemy, King Eirik, as he attempts to take the throne of Norway.

Yet, for Einar, the urge to return to Iceland is growing every day. Only there, in his homeland, can he avenge his mother and salve his grief. But what Einar doesn't know is that this is where an old enemy lurks, and his thirst for vengeance equals Einar's...

This is a bloody brilliant series! And can I say that when we ever get to the end, I will be starting from the beginning in a self-indulgent binge session.

So, what's happening in Europe and Scandinavia in 936AD. In Iceland, what is referred to as the "age of settlement" was coming to its conclusion. The Landnámabók (“Book of the Settlements”, written c. 13th century) records how the first set of law codes was presented to the Athling (assembly of free men) in around 930AD. Communities tended to be a form of self-government, though often in co-operation with other nearby settlements; the bloodfeud was being replaced by a system of fines; and Christianity was decades away from yet taking foot.

Norway was still in thrall to Eirik Bloodaxe but not for much longer. Eirik's half-brother Haakon, who had been fostered by King Athelstan, as part of an agreement made by his father King Harald Farhair, was being fitted out with with ships and men for an expedition against his half-brother. Eirik was on the back foot and looking for allies. And it is to Orkney that Eirik looks, and where Einar's greatest foe - his own father Thorfinn Skull-Splitter - resides.

But do not for one moment suppose that medieval politics was in any way, shape or form, clear cut. Rulers and their followers formed alliances as and when it was prudent to do so; loyalty was bought and sold across the Kingdoms of Northumbria, Scotland, Dublin, Man, and Norway; kings were raised up and brought down with unnerving regularity. These leaders were often larger than life characters, who, had their deeds not been so readily documented, may have passed unremarked from the pages of history. This was the time of heroes and sagas; great battles and adventures; of an old world fighting to hold back the ever encroaching tide of the new.

It is back into this muddy whirlpool of politics, religion, loyalty and revenge that we once again find our motely band of Wolf Coats, as old enemies return and new ones are sent forth to distract and delay them at every turn. As Einar muses:" ... all the vipers are here .... I am right in the middle of a snakepit ..." Einar himself is still seeking out those responsible for his mother's murder and his journey will ultimately come full circle. Though what awaits him at its ends is quite unexpected.

Hodkinson once again draws the unaware reader ever deeper into the tale (or saga if you will) - like quicksand, once you have taken your first tentative steps, the ground falls away from under your feet, and you are carried along - in this instance, at the author's whim.  

At the end of every book, I constantly find myself asking what more can there be - how can Hodkinson keep the reader spellbound - and yet he somehow manages it, channeling the skalds of old as the words flow from pen to paper, with nary a dull moment in between.  If you haven't yet taken the journey down the Whale Road, it is high time you did.

About the author

Tim Hodkinson was born in 1971 in Northern Ireland. He studied Medieval English and Old Norse Literature at University with a subsidiary in Medieval European History. He has been writing all his life and has a strong interest in the historical, the mystical and the mysterious. After spending several happy years living in New Hampshire, USA, he has now returned to life in Northern Ireland with his wife Trudy and three lovely daughters in a village called Moira.

Tim is currently working on a series of viking novels for Aries Fiction, an imprint of Head of Zeus.

Buy links:
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3oNubLI
Kobo: https://bit.ly/3wKzs9Z
Google Play: https://bit.ly/34edsYu
iBooks: https://apple.co/3ukCyzy

Follow Tim:
Twitter: @TimHodkinson

Follow Aries:
Twitter: @AriesFiction
Facebook: @AriesFiction
Website: www.headofzeus.com

Blog Tour - The Serpent King by Tim Hodkinson

Yes again I am on the blog tour for the new instalment in Tim Hodkinson's "Whale Road Chronicles". Book four - The Serpent King - is due our shortly and is the next in the continuing saga of Einar and the motley band of Wolf Coats.

Come back and check out my review when the tours passes this way! In the meantime, if you haven't already, dip into the first three!

Review: The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Synopsis: When a body of a woman is discovered at a lighthouse in the Icelandic town of Akranes, it soon becomes clear that she’s no stranger to the area.

Chief Investigating Officer Elma, who has returned to Akranes following a failed relationship, and her collegues Sævar and Hörður, commence an uneasy investigation, which uncovers a shocking secret in the dead woman’s past that continues to reverberate in the present day …

But as Elma and her team make a series of discoveries, they bring to light a host of long-hidden crimes that shake the entire community. Sifting through the rubble of the townspeople’s shattered memories, they have to dodge increasingly serious threats, and find justice … before it’s too late.

I think this will become my top read of the year. 

Hauntingly brilliant; atmospheric; harrowing; compelling; dark; suspenseful; edge of your seat stuff.

In the genre of past secrets coming back to take a bite out of those involved, this one packs a punch. Aegisdottir uses (sparingly) the past life of our victim to gently tease out the threads whilst never quite showing her hand. Only as your are propelled down the path of the investigation d little snippets of what is to come are being revealed.

The characters are well written and definitely add to the storyline - and the fact that this mystery is set in the author's home town makes it all the more real. There are other themes running through - and it all links up as we reach the culmination of the police investigation.

I am hoping that this is just the beginning of a new series.

Definitely recommended for those who love their Scandi-crime and for those wanting a change of (fictional) locale. 

Review: The Raven Banner by Tim Hodkinson

Synopsis: Iceland, AD 950: a young man must leave his homeland to forge his destiny, and find his father...

Einar Unnsson is destined to be a great Icelandic warrior. He has already defeated the men sent to kill him by his notorious father, Jarl Thorfinn, the 'Skull Cleaver' of Orkney. He has a gift that makes him lethal in battle. Yet he has cast it all off to be a bard.

When three men attack him, Einar's poetry provides little protection. Luckily, the skilled archer and Norse-Irish princess Affreca saves him. She'd assumed Einar had left to raise an army, challenge Thorfinn and seize the Jarldom of Orkney. Now she's determined to set him back onto his rightful path.

Einar soon finds himself entangled on Affreca's own mission. She's seeking the Raven Banner for King Eirik. Legend has it that the banner is imbued with powerful magic. That it was a gift from the Norse God Odin and any army that marches behind it will be victorious. The quest sets events in motion that are beyond Einar's control.

This is the thrilling follow-up to Odin's Game, and it does not disappoint!

Einar, Affreca and the Wolf Coats go in search of the mythical Raven Banner but fall foul of powerful enemies. We are all just taft pieces on the gameboard of the Gods." - and they certainly are as the embark on one adventure after the next.

But the journey is far from complete  ...... Einar's quest continues with The Wolf Hunt!

Denmark, Iceland at odds over priceless medieval manuscripts

The Japan Times:

They recount tales of Viking raids, Norse history, kings and gods: a priceless collection of medieval manuscripts, bequeathed by an Icelandic scholar to the University of Copenhagen in the 18th century, that Iceland now wants back.

UNESCO, the U.N. cultural organization, has called them “the single most important collection of early Scandinavian manuscripts in existence,” with the earliest one dating from the 12th century.

Some of the texts — known as the Arnamagnaean Collection — have already been returned to Reykjavik, but 1,400 documents are still locked away in Copenhagen.

The jewel of the collection is an almost complete early 15th century copy of “Heimskringla” — the best known of the Old Norse kings’ sagas, originally written in the 13th century by Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson.

Unlike many Icelandic medieval manuscripts, which have few decorative flourishes, this version of the Heimskringla is richly illustrated with intricate red lettering on each page.

read more here @ The Japan Times

Review: Kin by Snorri Kristjansson

Historical crime / mystery set in 10th century Iceland.

The family of Unnthorn Reginsson have gathered at the family homestead - there are all the usual family rivalries and petty jealousies that could easily be found in a more modern setting, say in Midsomer or St Mary Mead. But positing this in remote and wild Iceland makes for an interesting read.

At the heart of the story is promise of long hidden buried treasure, and as the clan gather, the posturing begins and the tension slowly builds - sometimes, painstakingly so. This is where the scene is set, the characters are introduced and brought together. It is not until nearly half-way through that the murder is committed.

Enter the two main characters - Helga, the adoptive daughter of Unnthor, and Hildigunnur, Unnthor's wife. Whilst Helga is intent on solving the mystery and saving the man-boy before the family seek vengeance (blood price), Hildigunnur provides a more calming figure in the face of a rising body count.

Being familiar with the history and the style of the Icelandic and other Sagas enabled me to easily gain a better sense of the period and the characters the author was presenting to us.

suggested further reading:

> The Sagas of the Icelanders by Jane Smiley

>  Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power by Jesse L Bycock
>  Saga: A Novel of Medieval Iceland by Jeff Janoda

Blog Tour - Smile of the Wolf

Eleventh-century Iceland. One night in the darkness of winter, two friends set out on an adventure but end up killing a man. Kjaran, a traveling poet who trades songs for food and shelter, and Gunnar, a feared warrior, must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to the crime and pay the blood price to the family. But their decision leads to a brutal feud: one man is outlawed, free to be killed by anyone without consequence; the other remorselessly hunted by the dead man's kin. Set in a world of ice and snow, this is an epic story of exile and revenge, of duels and betrayals, and two friends struggling to survive in a desolate landscape, where honor is the only code that men abide by.

See my review here @ Goodreads

A well told story of a blood-feud in Iceland, written in the stylings of the medieval Icelandic Sagas.

Our narrator, Kjaran the Landless, a poet, a skald, a wandering minstrel, does what he does best, he tells us - the reader - the story of how he became involved in a bitter feud, and the fatal consequences of all those touched by it. To tell you more, would be to spoil the story, and like all good Viking-age poets, Kjaran must weave his tale at his own pace, revealing little by little, but never out-staying his welcome.

read excerpt here 

The feud began in winter, when a dead man rose from the earth. In the distant lands where men worship the White Christ, I have heard that a ghost is not such a dangerous thing. They are creatures of no substance, who may wail and howl but cannot hurt a man. But in my country, the people are warriors even in death. Our ghosts are not shadow and air, but walking flesh. They wield their weapons with as much strength as they did in life, and more bravely, for they have nothing left to fear. And so, when we heard that Hrapp Osmundsson had crawled from his grave and begun to wander his lands at night, no man in the Salmon River Valley would leave his house after dark without a good blade at his side and a shield on his arm.

In life, Hrapp had been the terror of his neighbours, ever covetous for their lands, their women, their blood. When the winter fever came on him and he knew he was soon to die, he commanded his wife to bury him upright beneath the doorway of his house, so that he could watch over his lands even in death.

Soon enough, the stories spread throughout the dale. Thord the Sly had gone to check on his sheep at night and been set upon by a dead man carrying an axe. Erik Haroldsson, a braver man, had grappled with the creature when it came for him, but was sent running for his life with the heavy tread of the ghost behind him.

No man sought to buy the farm from Hrapp’s widow. Indeed, there was talk amongst the neighbours of selling their own lands and moving on elsewhere, though there were few farmlands so prized in all of Iceland as those in the Salmon River Valley.

For all that was spoken of the ghost, I thought it mere winter talk at first, one of those foolish tales spun to pass the long cold months of near-permanent night, when men do little but huddle round their fires and drink mead, sing songs, tell stories and wait for the sun to return. I am a collector of such tales, yet I tell only the ones I know to be true – or half-true at least. This ghost story held little interest for me.

Viking Society Publications

The Viking Society for Northern Research is making virtually all its publications (and some other related items) from inception in 1893 to the present freely available on this website, though recent titles may not be released until three years from the date of publication.

These digital versions are not intended to replace our printed publications, and titles currently in print will remain available to buy in book form as long as there is a demand for them (the list can be seen at www.vsnr.org/publications/ ). The digital versions are intended to make the range of our publications known to a wider public, and may be used for reference purposes, to evaluate books for purchase or for university courses and for private study. The copyright belongs either to the authors or to the Viking Society, as stated at the beginning of each work, and permission must be obtained from the Society to use downloaded versions either in whole or in part for any other purpose.

See full list here @ Viking Society Publications