Have a question or a comment about the Strongbow Saga or Judson Roberts’ other work? Want chat with other readers about the books or related subjects? Post here and look for responses from the author and other fans of the series.
Have a question or a comment about the Strongbow Saga or Judson Roberts’ other work? Want chat with other readers about the books or related subjects? Post here and look for responses from the author and other fans of the series.
Just downloaded The Beast of Dublin. Like others here I am looking forward to #5 in the Long Bow series, please don’t keep us waiting too long.
I’m trying to get it done!
Well I love the books I have read them lots of times waiting for the rest of the books I would like to say thank you and second hopefully Halfdan will meet the other side of his family in Ireland just a thought or priests that know by the book from his mom who he is really thank you for all your hard work
Thanks very much. That’s an interesting idea about having Halfdan meet some of his Irish kin. I’ll make a note to see if it might work when I get to Ireland with him–right now we’re still in Russia.
Oh please! I’ve been thinking how awesome that would be since book 2! On a side note, did the story of Derdriu from early Irish literature influence your choosing the name for Halfdan’s mother?
To be perfectly honest, it has been so long since I chose her name (I researched, planned and wrote the earliest first draft between 1999 and 2001) I no longer remember exactly what led me to choose Derdriu, other than that I wanted an Irish name authentic to the period. And your vote is recorded–I clearly need to start working out how Halfdan’s Irish heritage can come into play. Hmm…I may have an idea.
The fact that I still revisit this site every 3 months or so for an insight to the whereabouts of the final installment is a testament to how strongly this saga has captivated my imagination.. May your mind move quick and your hands even faster to hasten it into my hands.
Ryan
Thanks! I worked out two scenes this week that help me work through a plot line I was struggling a little with.
I just finished the first three books in your series and have enjoyed them very much. I really appreciate that Halfdan, as a former slave, has difference sensibilities than the typical Viking Warrior, and does not not see any honor in raping and killing innocent villagers. I have to say I was disappointed in how the chapter of The Gift in book 3 ended. I was really interested in hearing through Halfdan’s own voice how if felt to be with a woman for the first time, especially a woman he had grown to have strong feelings toward. Regardless, looking forward to book 4 and book 5, and wondering if we will see Genevieve again.
Just curious, have you read Bernard Cornwell’s viking series and has his series influenced your writing at all?
Thanks very much, Deborah. You raise some interesting points. When I began writing Halfdan’s story, I felt that for readers to be able to really empathize and become engaged with him, he needed to be less violent (at least initially) than the “typical” Viking, and to not even consider committing rape, yet at the same time, I wanted him to be plausible for the time period–not a man with modern sensibilities just plugged into the story. He needed to be both a part of the Vikings’ society and culture, but at the same time an outsider who sometimes was uncomfortable with it. That’s why I chose to make him initially a slave, and one whose mother was abducted, almost raped then, and eventually forced to continue to be Hrorik’s concubine after their budding romance was destroyed by his ambition.
But during my research, many years ago I did run across a very interesting doctoral dissertation about the issue of the Vikings and rape. The author did an in-depth study of available contemporary resources about the Vikings–both the sagas and the many chronicles kept as running histories by monks in the various lands the Vikings attacked–to search for evidence to support the widely held modern perception that the Vikings committed widespread rape in their raids on foreign lands. Although there are many accounts of violent Viking attacks, he was unable to find a single reported incident of rape by Viking pillagers (and I’ve never run across one, either, during my own years of research). His conclusion was that either rape by Vikings during raids was actually extremely rare, or else that rape was so common during warfare and armed attacks on civilians by all peoples–i.e., the Franks, English, and Irish, as well as the Vikings–that it was not “newsworthy” enough to include in the brief chronicle summaries of Viking attacks.
Certainly within their own society, the Vikings considered rape of a free woman a very serious crime–I have not found any saga accounts of it happening. But sex by an owner with one of his own female slaves, with or without her consent, would not have been considered rape.
Sorry to disappoint you with the ending of The Gift in book 3. Although when I began writing Halfdan’s story, I always intended it to be general (i.e., adult) historical fiction, when HarperCollins originally purchased the rights to publish the first three books, they chose to publish them as young adult fiction, so I had to try to keep certain types of scenes somewhat discrete. And given that the story still has a very wide age range of readers, and that some schools use Viking Warrior as assigned reading in middle school or high school classes, I feel that in the long run that was good decision.
Re: Bernard Cornwell, I actually decided to write a historical fiction series after hearing him speak at a conference many years ago. But I only read any of his Viking period series (and I’ve only read the first two) after I’d already completed books 1 through 3–I’m leery of reading other Viking fiction because I want to avoid any unconscious influence on my story. I love his Richard Sharpe novels, but to be honest, I don’t think he quite captures the Vikings’ culture and society with complete accuracy, although I’m admittedly biased on that issue.
You might get some insight about seeing Genevieve again when you read book 4, The Long Hunt (it has been out since late 2013, but some booksellers still don’t seem to have it linked to the first three). And I’m planning to complete and release book 5, which will conclude the Strongbow Saga story, by the end of this year.
Do you have a release date for book 5, I’m chomping at the bit to read it.
Thanks, but I’m not far enough along yet to have a release date. But I’m working on it!
The new “Vikings” exhibition at Discovery Times Square is, in a sense, built around something that isn’t there.
The exhibition, which opens on Friday, was organized by the Swedish History Museum in conjunction with MuseumPartners in Austria, and the people behind it really want you to know that during the 350 years (750 to 1100) that Viking culture flourished, horned helmets were never a thing. They have amassed 500 artifacts — some copies; many the genuine article — to make the point.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/arts/design/vikings-here-to-set-the-record-straight.html
Thanks for posting the link to that article. It looks like an interesting exhibition, and I like that its focus is trying to correct the many and widespread misconceptions about the Viking peoples.
ready for 5 and more
I like the books. It seems the reader is moving from one adventure to anougher. This is great for a person with a short attention span like myself. I am also ready for #5
Don
Thanks! I’m working on it.
I have a vision of Judson wandering around his house wearing a Helm and a Brynie chatting to His Fylgja.
Excellent stories bringing history to life
I just finished book one- immediately purchased the rest of the saga ,and will be waiting (not so patiently) for book 5 . Thanks for creating this saga ,looking forward to spending time in the world of Strongbow saga.
Thanks! I’m working on it, and plan to have it out this year.