Guest Author ....Michael E. Wills

I am delighted to welcome back to the blog historical fiction writer

Michael E. Wills

 Michael has written this fascination guest post about The Lure of Miklagård...
                         

In the third of my quartet of Viking novels for young readers,” Children of the Chieftain: Bounty”, a seventeen-year-old boy voyages with his crew down the rivers of Russia and the Ukraine to Miklagård, the Viking name for Constantinople, or Istanbul as it is known today. There they seek their fortune and are well rewarded by the emperor for their services. Fanciful? Not at all, there is an historical precedent, a story which really illustrates the statement, “the truth can be stranger than fiction”.

St Olaf is the patron saint of Norway and many churches, even in England, are dedicated to him. He was killed in 1030 when defeated in a battle against his discontented subjects. At his side in the battle was his fifteen-year-old half-brother Harald Sigurdsson. The boy was commanding six-hundred warriors, his own followers.

Harald was wounded in the battle, but his men managed to rescue him and take him into hiding in a farm in the mountains between Norway and Sweden, before they escaped into Sweden. There he spent the winter recovering from his injuries. In the spring, his men returned to collect their leader. The small army was re-armed by the king of Sweden and set off east to serve Grand Prince Jarolslav, the ruler of a huge area of what is now Russia. At the age of sixteen, Harald was made captain of Jaroslav’s forces as they fought insurrections and invasions by Poles.

Before Harald was twenty, seeking his fortune, he led his force of six-hundred down the Dneiper River and across the Black Sea to Constantinople, which the Vikings knew as Miklagård. There he offered his services to the Emperor of Greece. (The area now known as Turkey!) And in the service of Emperor Michael IV, Harald and his men really did make their fortunes. They were given the task of ridding the Aegean Sea of pirates who had been plundering the islands. This work was extremely lucrative as not only were the Scandinavians paid for doing the work, but they were able to keep the goods, many of them valuable cargoes, which they seized. The Emperor required only a small percentage of what they recovered.

Impressed by their work, their employer drafted the force into his elite personal guard, the Varangians. Harald was given the rank of commander of this unit. Much of the work of the Varangians was to guard the Emperor, but they also acted on orders to take retribution and revenge on enemies of the state. This work was often far from pleasant as apart from executions, a standard form of punishment was “blinding”.

Nevertheless. Varangians were not always gainfully employed and seemed to have plentiful spare time. In what was once the Greek Empire there are still today, some ancient relics which have Scandinavian runes scrawled on them, graffiti written by bored Varangians. One example of this is shown in the picture. This marble lion statue on the left is three metres tall and was sculpted around 350 BC. It once stood in Piraeus, the harbour of Athens. 

Clearly, it was visited by the Varangians as can be seen in the close up picture of a copy of this lion, in Stockholm Museum of History. The runic text commemorates a dead Varangian warrior called Horsi. He came from Roslagen, north of Stockholm and the runes tell us that he had “earned much gold”.

                         

Harald and his men became victims of their own success. In 1042, when they had amassed a considerable fortune they asked for the Emperor’s permission to go home. By this time there was a new ruler of the Greek Empire, Empress Zoe. She refused to let the Varnagians return to their own country, they were too valuable to her. However, risking the terrible vengeance of his employer, Harald managed to ecape with a few of his men in two ships laden with valuables. He then embarked on the lengthy and dangerous voyage home to Norway. On his way, he visited Grand Price Jaroslav and persuaded him that he was now wealthy enough to marry the Prince’s daughter, Princess Elisiv.

On his return to Norway, Harald used his enormous wealth to gain the throne. But his ambition did not stop there. He decided that he had a legitimate claim to the throne of England. He built up a formidable army of around sixteen thousand men and a fleet of three hundred ships to mount an invasion to claim the throne. Forming an alliance with Tostig, the exiled brother of King Harold of England, he landed in the north of England in September 1066. That year is of course most famous for the Battle of Hastings, however, Harald’s invading army was far bigger than the Norman one. What happened next was to shape the future of England, its people, its language and culture.

King Harold of England force marched his army to York to meet the threat. His arrival was completely unexpected by Harald of Norway who was still celebrating a victory over the local Earls. Despite his army being travel weary and outnumbered, the English King won the Battle of Stamford Bridge on 25th September. Harald Sigurdsson and Tostig were both killed. However, the price in English lives was high and when King Harold then set off south to counter the second invasion, that of the Normans, his army was much depleted.  He had few cavalry left and most of his best archers were dead. The rest is history, but there is no doubt that had Harald of Norway not interfered, the Battle of Hastings might well have gone another way.

As I said at the beginning, “the truth can be stranger than fiction”. The story of Harald, who later became known as “Harald Hardrada”, that is, “Harald Hard Ruler”, is so incredible that I doubt that any historical fiction writer could have written it.

About the Author

Michael is the author of a series of Viking adventure novels aimed at younger readers.

Find Michael on his website

Follow him on Twitter @MWillsofSarum

Huge thanks to Michael for this informative guest post about The Lure of Miklagård.


His latest novel Children of the Chieftain: Bounty is soon to be published by Silverwood Books.

Silverwood Books

~***~

Review ~ I am in Blood by Joe Murphy

Brandon

2015

A dying century,a killing presence

I am in Blood is a dark and brooding Gothic novel, which, primarily aimed at the YA market, is one of those books which can quite comfortably cross genres.

At its centre, is the riveting story of seventeen year old Nathan, who, in modern day Dublin, is bewildered and confused by the death of his adopted father, and as he struggles to make sense of the world around him, the sense of pain and loss is ever present within him, and dark thoughts seem to overwhelm him. In late nineteenth century Dublin, a murderer is systematically targeting prostitutes who linger in the alleys and doorways of The Munto, a notorious place where despair and degradation often go hand in hand. George Frohmell, a police sergeant in the Dublin Metropolitan Police force, is under extreme pressure to find the perpetrator of these deadly crimes, before too many woman lose their lives. In England in 1846, a strange child seems to delight hurting others and the darkness in his soul is as dangerous as it is deadly.

What then follows is a well thought out Gothic mystery which takes the reader on a journey into the very heart of Victorian Dublin and as the sights, sounds and smells of a teeming city come to life, so the terror at the heart of a community starts to bite. The book is divided into distinct chapters, so that we always know who is speaking and yet, as all the stories start to come together and coalesce, the boundaries start to blur and the edges become less defined and George and Nathan, both troubled in their own way, need to find some sort of resolution.

Overall, the story is quite compelling, dark and dirty in places, with glimpses into the tortured souls of characters who stay with you long after the story is finished. The writing is succinct and quite beautiful and the wonderful use of descriptive language really makes the story come alive in the imagination.

My thanks to Real Readers and Nudge for my copy of this book.

~***~

Review ~ A Dream of Lights by Kerry Drewery

Harper Collins Children's Books
2013

It began with something so simple.

A dream.

Of a city like no city I had ever seen before.

Firstly, I want to reiterate just how important book covers are - visually, I think this book is quite stunning and the rider "The only thing they can't take is your hope” is the underlying theme which runs throughout Yoora's story.

Yoora, and her parents and grandparents, live in a small settlement in North Korea, a place were neither hope nor charity is allowed to flourish.  Emotionally sterile and devoid of all compassion, Yoora and her family face hardship on a scale which we, in the ‘civilised’ west can barely imagine. And yet, hope is allowed to linger in hidden corners and as Yoora and her family face tough challenges, you can’t help but be drawn into the significance of their plight.

The story is beautifully written, with a fine eye, not just for the history and genetic makeup of a country at odds with itself, but also with a deep understanding of the power of the human spirit.  A Dream of Lights really gets into the heart of what it is like to live under such a fierce regime. Life is unbearably hard for Yoora and her family and horrendously shocking, and yet, the strength of the narrative ensures that this fictional story really gets its message across, and shows that determination and the will to succeed is a fundamental human right, whilst at the same time forcibly reminding us, that we should never forget those for whom life is a constant struggle against almost impossible adversity.

Aimed at the young adult market, this is one of those books which easily crosses the great divide into adult fiction, and as such, is well worth reading by a wider audience.

Recommended.

Amazon UK

My thanks to the author for sharing her book with me.


You can read an interview with Kerry Drewery 
where she talks about her inspiration for A Dream of Lights



UKYA Extravaganza is an event happening on 28th February in Birmingham and is showcasing 35 great YA authors from all over the country.

 It’s an opportunity to meet, mingle and chat about all things YA.

#UKYAExtravaganza


~***~

UKYA Extravaganza with Kerry Drewery

Today Jaffa and I are hosting a stop on the UKYA Extravaganza Great Big Book  Tour

UKYA Extravaganza is an event happening on 28th February in Birmingham and is showcasing 35 great YA authors from all over the country.

 It’s an opportunity to meet, mingle and chat about all things YA.

The tour runs through until 27th February.

Follow on Twitter

#UKYAExtravaganza

***

Please welcome 

Kerry Drewery

the talented author of 

A Dream of Lights

Harper Collins Children's Books
2013

Yoora is a teenage girl living in North Korea, dreaming of the lights of foreign cities while eking out a miserable existence in a rural northern village. But then she makes a mistake: she falls in love. With someone far removed from her social class. Someone dangerous to know. When tongues start to wag, her father is executed and she is taken to a prison camp in the mountains. There, escape seems even further from her grasp. But Yoora is about to learn an important lesson: love can surprise you, and it can come in many forms

Welcome to Jaffareadstoo Kerry ~

What gave you the idea for writing A Dream of Lights

I've always been fascinated by North Korea.  It's such a strange country and the fact that it's so secretive just adds to the enigma.  The little I did know about it filled me with more questions - why do people live like that?  Why don't they try to escape?  Are the people happy? - but I wanted to know more.  A friend recommend a book to me - Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demmick - which was utterly compelling yet shocking and I decided from that that I'd like to explore the idea of writing a story set there.

The reasoning behind writing A Brighter Fear was very similar - why were we being taken to war?  What did I think about it? - but ultimately, again, my real interest and where the story was for me, was with the people on the ground living it.

Tell us three interesting things about your novel which will pique the reader’s interest? 

Oh that's hard! I'm not very good at selling myself! OK...  Because it'll take you to a place you could never go and show you things you never thought could happen....Because you'll be inspired by some peoples strengths yet shocked by the inhumanity of others...Because it'll show you the power of hope and love...  I think technically that's more than three...I'm cheating...

What was the most difficult aspect of the writing the story? How did you overcome it?

The most difficult aspect of writing the story for me was the very beginning in the village.  I needed to get across as effectively as possible what their lives were like before the reader kind of 'defaulted' into their own ideas of village life, yet didn't want massive chunks of description.  Life in a North Korean village is almost akin to our medieval times with no cars, shops, and their homes very basic too.  It's written in first person too, so Yoora wouldn't be walking around describing the things she was seeing.  To get over it, I suppose I made sure that everything I was writing was there for a reason and doing its job - does that make sense?  And that the description and information I needed out there was shown alongside things that were happening.

In your research for A Dream of Lights did you discover anything which shocked you?

Yes, a lot, an awful lot.  And there were times it made me cry and times it made me sit back and just stare at the screen or book with my hand over my mouth.  You do 'de-sensitise' to it - I had too otherwise I could never have written the story!  I've had discussions with writer friends about how you feel about 'using' these, and I do think in covering such issues the writer has a responsibility to portray it right - I always wanted to make sure I didn't glamorise any of the violence or suffering, or use it gratuitously.  But also, you have to remember it's a story you're writing, not a non-fiction book, and as such, you can't include something just because you think you 'should' - after all the research is to serve the story.

It was much the same with A Brighter Fear, both when researching the actual war, and Saddam's regime.  I found this incredible story - that after winning an election, to celebrate and thank his people for voting for him, Saddam released ALL the prisoners from a jail.  It seemed so preposterous that I really wanted to include it - however, it did nothing for the story so in the end the chapter was cut.

When do you find the time to write, and do you have a favourite place to do your writing?

I'm fortunate enough for writing to now be my job.  I have a very small office which has no windows so there's no distraction of watching birds or cats, or branches in the wind...  I do seem to gravitate to the kitchen table to work though, I think it must be because it's nearer the kettle and the biscuit barrel. 

Can you tell us if you have another novel planned?

I've just finished one and I'm really excited because it'll be going out on submission soon.  I'm also petrified!!!  It's really nerve-wracking waiting to hear what people think to your work.  But, yes, what's it about?  Oh, I don't know if I can say....death and love and lies...

A Brighter Fear

Harper Collins Childen's Books
2012

My thanks to Kerry and all the authors at #UKYAExtravaganza
for inviting us to join in with this blog tour.



*~*~*