Coming soon…

How soon depends very much on when I get a technical hitch sorted out. This is a collection of five short stories set in the Northlands. Some of you might be aware that my current WIP is an epic saga set in an alternate ninth century with Norsemen, Celts, and a certain monstrous fantasy element. Apart from the monsters, I’ve tried to keep to historical accuracy and have written several stories as spin-offs from my research. The Celtic stories will be for another volume.

A rickety wooden escalator carries a child from his safe, comfortable world of department store Christmas glitter to the midnight zone inhabited by legendary nightmares.

On the windswept east coast of Northumbria, a Saxon thegn avenges his murdered chief by selling his village to the sea wolves, and a ruthless war leader prepares for battle, gloating over the blood dream sent him by the wicce.

In Viking Sverige, Jussi and Solveig plan a future juggling bride price, parental expectations and the knarr they have yet to acquire, but their future falls beneath the shadow of the mountain.

Antar seems like the answer to Inna’s dream of escaping the bleak steading on the fjord, but her father and his chosen son-in-law have other ideas.

What links these tales is the North Sea that beats the coast, brings the cold and the long ships, laps the winter nights in snow, when the wind howls stories of trolls and giants. It brings the herring, the sea mews and the grey seals, and it joins a people with the same vision of the world—harsh, vivid and full of magic.  

While you’re waiting, why not go to Wild Geese Books and choose something to read?