This week I have another story out, Odin’s Mirror in Swords and Sorcery. This one’s free to read on the internet, so there’s no excuse for not giving it a go.
The idea for Odin’s Mirror came to me while reading about the history of Latin America. Past 1492, that history is increasingly dominated by a bunch of disreputable Europeans, some of whom were, infamously, mistaken for gods. I can’t imagine any of them played that down. If you’re the kind of armed adventurer who’ll cross the ocean to pillage gold reserves at gunpoint, you’re unlikely to draw the line at religious fraud.
As it happened, I’d just finished reading a book about Norse religion. So when I started thinking about reversing that relationship, about what would have happened if the Aztecs or Mayans had come to raid Europe instead, turning the religious misunderstanding on its head was another obvious feature.
This story touches on the theme of empire that I discussed a while back. I wasn’t thinking about it in as much depth then, so didn’t take the opportunity to fully explore that aspect of the story. But it’s there, one of my little historical obsessions shining through.
All of which makes this story sound like an essay. It isn’t. It’s about a viking warrior. It’s about old religion and new circumstances. It’s about facing Ragnarok, and rebelling against destiny.
So go read, and if you have the time comment here on what you thought. Good, bad, indifferent, I’d value any thoughts.
Finally, a quick note on the formatting of this story. The marks for scene breaks have somehow got lost in transferring this story to the internet. Hopefully that’ll get fixed soon, but in the meantime, if you find a point where odd things happen, that’s probably meant to be a new scene. Sorry for any confusion!