Here the link to both the ebook and paperback versions on Amazon.
It's epic fantasy, and, as you can probably tell from the cover, with a setting inspired by Norse legend. I have however avoided the usual myths of Odin and Thor. The single biggest inspiration was probably the Finnish "Kalevala," folk tales of great heroes and ordinary people.
The world I created is permeated with voima, meaning magic, power, the force of life. Heaven and earth are ruled by the Wanderers, the lords of voima, but a fated end is coming for them, unless the mortals they recruit can somehow help them.
Voima is a Finnish word meaning "power"--I believe the word is part of the name of the national electric grid. Finnish is a very different language than those derived from Old Norse (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish), but there are certain similarities in their approach to legend. The Finns themselves will tell you their "Kalevala" is totally different from the Old Norse legends of the Elder Edda or the sagas (not to be confused with the Elder Edda), many of which sagas turn on sheep farmers killing their relatives. But to those of us with a certain distance, we can pick and choose the elements we like.
Here's the description to whet your appetite: _____________________________________________
In the tradition of Norse legends….
Voima: Magic, strength, the force of life and renewal.
Earth and sky are ruled by the Wanderers, the lords of voima. But an upheaval is coming, a time when even the powers of the immortals are fated to end. The Wanderers enlist the help of three young mortals:
- Roric No-man's son, a royal warrior who wants to find his real father.
- Karin, a foreign princess held hostage at court.
- Valmar, the king's son and heir.
Together and separately, the three are swept into the conflict between the Wanderers and those who would overthrow them, not even sure they are on the right side. The conflict becomes a struggle between kingdoms, between the generations, between the sexes, and between the demands of love and honor. Even enemies must sometimes trust each other, as true glory is found only in this precarious mortal world, where there is only so long one can run from fate.
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The book, when it first came out 25 years ago, was entitled Voima. For some reason it never sold well, perhaps because the name seemed weird and confusing, which is why I gave it a new title. It may also not have done as well as Baen (my publisher then) was hoping because it's not like Yurt.
I've got a loyal band of Yurt fans, who love A Bad Spell in Yurt and all its sequels (I love you too, guys!), and this is definitely different. Some have gone so far as to say they hate voima and all its ways. Who knows why? Everyone has their own personal taste. This one is definitely grimmer, it's told in third-person rather than first-person, and it's set in a pagan universe rather than a Christian one. It's also not as funny (but Yurt has very serious bits!).
On the other hand, it is the perfect book for the legions of George RR Martin fans who love A Game of Thrones and all its sequels but wish that George would let even the occasional main character survive and prosper. My book wraps up its plot in one volume, rather than 7 or 8 or ??. It came out originally two years before A Game of Thrones, and I've sometimes wondered if George had read it and gotten some ideas from it. ("Mom! Make him stop copying me!") It also manages to pull out a (more or less) happy ending, though probably not what the reader expected.
(I also sometimes wonder if JK Rowling got her idea of a wizards' school from me, given that Yurt with its wizards' school first appeared four years before Harry Potter, but there's no point in getting worked up by it, except for wishing that her fans would also read my books.)
At any rate, I hope you read and enjoy if you haven't read this book already. And if you like it, leave a review! Thank you!
© C. Dale Brittain 2018
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