I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, penning poems, plays, short stories, and the like. These early efforts never amounted to much, of course, but I never stopped writing. A voracious reader, as a child I often asked for books as gifts instead of toys. I recall getting an H. G. Wells collection one Christmas, which included The Time Machine; it made an enormous impression on me. I discovered that by merely opening a book and reading you could be transported to new and marvelous, adventure-filled worlds. At about the same time my mother, a lover of literature and poetry, introduced me to the magical world of the public library, and I’ve been a fan ever since.

 

Growing up in a family proud of its Norwegian roots, I felt an inherent fascination with all things Norse. This eventually led me to the ancient realms of Odin, Thor, Loki, and the whole Norse pantheon of gods. I later discovered the Penguin Classics series of Medieval Icelandic Sagas. There is something about the terse, straightforward writing of the Saga literature, combined with the heroic and often tragic deeds of the medieval Norsemen, that strikes a chord deep within me. Although I thoroughly enjoyed them all, I am especially fond of The Vinland Sagas, chronicling the Norse discovery of North America. This saga is not merely literature; it is an unparalleled recounting of a unique historical event as well. 

 

Later in life, I began to write on a more serious level, publishing a first novel, The Beauregarde Affair, and otherwise honing my craft, writing short stories for diverse anthologies. I came to realize that through my writing I aspire to create complex yet believable characters playing out their lives and dramas in worlds as realistic as the reader’s own. Suspension of disbelief, bringing the reader into a living story; that is my guiding rule. Otherwise, there are no limits.

 

Being a Lost Viking Writer has given me the unique opportunity of creating a story about the modern Oslo I know combined with the lost world of 15th century Norse Greenland, a world I’ve only ever known through books. It could be said that with The Salt of Ancient Tears, my literary path has, like the Norse Jörmungandr, the serpent consuming his own tail, come full circle.