Authors can go to extraordinary lengths to build their fictional worlds. They have travelled the world, and spent decades in research. James Cameron has gone where few men have gone before--in ocean depths that few have ever seen. Based on his research he wrote The Abyss (one of my favourite movies ever) and Titanic. J.R.R. Tolkien
Q&A about length. In your newsletter, you said that The Branded Rose Prophecy is extra, extra-long. I was curious. What's the longest you've ever written, and what's the shortest (complete story, that is!) you've ever written? This mailbag question was an interesting one for me, as Thor: Ragnarok was released a few days ago. It's the
I’ve been writing about Vikings in one form or another for quite a few years now. (If you’re curious, there’s a list of Viking related stories I’ve written here.) One of the things that interests me the most is the achievements of the Vikings. They reached as far as America in their open long ships,
Odin’s Ride to Hel by W.G. Collingwood The Norse didn’t do things the easy way. Their Norse mythology features a world called Hel, and it seems to be mildly correlative to the Christian Hell…but there aren’t just sinners in Hel. Oh, no, not at all. Hel seems to be a dumping ground for
Why Thor Isn’t as Cool as You Thought He Was The Thor movies and the Avengers franchise have given us some of the most delicious ideas about the Thor character. Chris Hemsworth has managed to turn the Marvel comic character into a seriously sexy and heavyweight romantic hero. But the “real” Thor wasn’t nearly that
It seems like the site host that is currently hosting my site is feeling kindly – I haven’t been suspended yet. But I’ve also been a good little blogger, not using any plug-ins beyond the most rudimentary functionality. No bells or whistles. So for now, the blog posts are rolling on. It’s nice that something
It's Just A Job - Wood Elves Elves as they appear in modern fantasy fiction were plucked from Norse mythology, where there were High and Dark Elves, and the Dark Elves were the forerunners of Dwarves as we know them in fantasy fiction. But Wood Elves were not part of Norse mythology. They have evolved
