Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The Kraken Lord and the Eater of the Sun Released Today!



Egrill spends his day cloistered in his mountain home, unable to leave behind memories of the brutal war he fought and the lover he lost in the fight. But his peaceful solitude is interrupted by a strange creature that claims to be a mythical Kraken, and Egrill can’t deny that he is certainly like nothing Egrill has ever encountered …


This is another one of those stories which I have been working on for so long that it seems kind of surreal that it is finally being published.

When I saw the call for the Bestiary collection I knew I wanted to write another story about trolls. Since the universe in which I write about trolls is based on Norse mythology I did a little research into other Norse mythical creatures and discovered that krakens are also Norse. Since that idea fed right into my love of tentacles I decided to run with it.

In a lot of ways part of this story always felt bigger than what I usually write. I don't do epic fantasy but Egrill is certainly an epic fantasy character. He's just been taken out of that epic fantasy context, with its armies of darkness, giant battles, and legendary deeds. That is one of the most interesting things about writing him for me.

What always really fascinated me about epic fantasy stories, was what happened to all the character after they defeated the Dark Lord and his army. Did their lives return to normal? What is 'normal' after that? How do you live when people write legends and ballads about your great deeds and you're just trying to deal with the fact that people you know and loved died?  

That is Egrill's story and his challenge I think. while Dagr's is a much small tragedy, the kind of thing that rocked one tiny village but was ignored or forgotten by the rest of the world. Yet it affected Dagr's life just as profoundly.



Less Than Three Press is offering The Kraken Lord and the Eater of the Sun here and you can buy it bundled with four other stories here.

I have to say if you can afford the bundle it's definitely worth you're time. One of the perks of being an author is whenever my story is in an anthology or bundle like this I get to read everyone elses' stories too and I have to say they're all awesome.

I particularly recommend checking out Mell Eight's Cleanly Wrong, which is included in Bundle 1 along with The Kraken Lord and the Eater of the Sun. It's funny, sweet and adorable. I enjoyed it a lot.

2 comments:

  1. This sounds really interesting! ^__^

    And the Bestiary covers are so beautiful!

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  2. Thanks! The cover is great, isn't it?

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