Balance
in all things. In writing Horn of the Kraken I realised that I might wrongly vilify
some people. The truth is politicks and privilege corrupt and to be honest a modern
Pagan would probably find they had more in common with a Christian from the
first or second century CE than with many of the Pagans of the time. Most
Christians I have known have been descent people just trying to get by. For
this reason, among others, I worked in the story of Abselema, a haugbui
who follows the white god and proves a wise and good friend to our band of heroes. It allowed me to show a different aspect of
the faiths involved and touch on the universal nature of faith. Don’t get the impression
that this book harps on things or preaches, it doesn’t. I use many things as a
backdrop.
Thursday, 30 July 2015
Tuesday, 28 July 2015
Women of Power
Women
of power. I’ve never cared for helpless women in life or fiction. One, I can be
a jerk. I need a woman who will growl back at me if I’m out of line. Two, helpless
anybody is too high maintenance; you’re always putting out one fire or another.
Give me a woman that can dust it up any day. This doesn’t mean she has to be physically
stronger than the men. I make this point with Sigurlina when she fills in for
the men on the oars, so that they can relieve themselves or get a bite to eat.
She can keep up with the other rowers for a short time, but only for a short
time. This acknowledges the simple truth that men have more upper-body strength
than women. Women have better oxygen metabolism, endurance, and generally a
higher pain threshold. Plus Sigurlina is a Seith, she wins hands down. :-)
In
Horn of the Kraken I play to strong women doing many of the roles they would have
done in Norse society. The Norse did have a division of labour based on gender.
Men did not work looms or grind flower. This didn’t unbalance their society
because both sides had restrictions. I have been told that if a man wanted to
study Seith he would have to live as a woman while he did so. Dressing as a
woman doing woman’s work, the whole nine yards. Conversely, if a woman wanted
to go a Viking she would have to live as a man for the voyage. Frankly, on a
small ship this makes a lot of sense. Gender
was defined by clothing and social function similar to some of the North American
first people’s tribes.
I
was temped to include this aspect in Horn of the Kraken, but for the sake of
the Fjorn, Sigurlina relationship, and the mind set of modern readers, I
decided against it.
Tuesday, 21 July 2015
Guest blog at Kellan Publishing
Just want to let
you know that I have a guest blog going up at the Kellan Publishing site on
July 25, 2015, that’s Saturday. I’ll be talking about my writing process and illustrating
the way I work using my newest release Horn of the Kraken. So drop on by and
enjoy.
Excerpt from blog:
During the time
period I was restricted to the Roman Church was backing some kings in a bid to conquer
the Norse territories. Religious intolerance is a recurrent theme in my work.
As a result this seemed a natural fit for a motivator.
Looking further I
found the rivalry between Eric Bloodaxe, a Pagan Norse King, Jarl, and his half
brother, Hakon, who Rome backed in a bid to take the north. These two
historical figures, and their conflict, gave me a backdrop with high stakes.
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