About
About me
Hello and welcome! Thank you for visiting my website.
I write historical fiction set in the viking age, drawing on the sagas and scant records that so fascinate me to recreate those turbulent times on paper and in the minds of readers.
I am currently working on my debut novel, Fetters of Fate. It is the story of a man who becomes entangled in the chaos of 10th century Scandinavia, all the while searching in desperation for his lost love.
Please feel free to get in touch with me on social media, as I have an active presence on various platforms and am always keen to meet fellow writers, readers, and anybody who is remotely cool.
Why historical fiction?
I cannot recall the first historical fiction novel that I read. Growing up, I was always a fan of fantasy and at the same time had a fascination with almost all eras in history. In my teens I began supplementing my reading list with copious amounts of non-fiction, and somewhere amongst that, the two genres combined and I became hooked on historical fiction.
I suppose my favourite aspect of historical fiction is its power to transport people back in time, to a foreign land, to witness some of the most dire circumstances humanity has ever known. Whilst the focus of historical fiction will always be to tell a great story, I believe there is lots to learn about our history from reading the genre. But more importantly, well-told historical fiction has the power to instil passion and interest, which might compel a reader to do further research and seek to truly understand the history. What better motivation for learning than a good story?
Why vikings?
Before I had ever put a Viking Age word on paper, I spent three years drafting a novel set in the Pacific theatre of World War Two. The sheer volume of information available for that era is astronomical. There are even diaries available that describe the lived experience of these conflicts, day-by-day. Being a detail-oriented person, I simply became bogged down in the research and found myself writing what might one day become a great non-fiction book, rather than historical fiction as I had intended. My characters were surrounded by the greatest conflict of human history, yet they themselves had no stories.
Enter the dark ages. Dark, because there is little known about that period in time when civilisation temporarily lost its way. Dark, too, by the sheer nature of life during that bleak span of our history. Much of the ancient knowledge of great empires such as the Romans disappeared and illiteracy took hold. Stone buildings crumbled, replaced by thatch-roofed huts. Brother battled brother across shieldwalls in dispute of land, silver, and the infamous blood-feuds. Merchants filled their pockets with the profits of the slave trade and trafficked exotic wares to and from distant lands. The old gods struggled for their very existence against the preachings of tonsure-headed priests, and men set out ivíkingr to make their fame and reap easy plunder.
Compared to many other periods of history, and indeed World War Two, we know nothing about the dark ages. The only surviving knowledge is gleaned from archaeology, sagas recorded based on oral tradition, and scant written records that were formed through the filter of the biased, literate few. On top of this are the misconceptions born from modern pop-culture. The modern stereotype consists of dirty vikings with ridiculous, horned helmets, covered in tattoos (for which there is no Old Norse word), leaping from the beast-headed prows of longships to rape and pillage. Forgotten are the farmers, thralls and common warriors who could not afford proper war gear, so conquered their foes with nothing but an axe or spear and grim fatalism.
There is so much room for the imagination in the dark ages, and I have felt my characters running wild since I first put chisel to runestone. So much turbulence. So much culture, much now forgotten. It is a truly fascinating period and a lot of fun at the same time. I hope my writing might provide you with the same excitement that I feel.
