Poul Anderson is dead, but while he was alive he did awesome things, namely, the authoring of some very good Viking novels. It is somewhat unfortunate that he focused most of his writing efforts on science fiction (although I have heard that his science fiction is good, I have not […]
Heroes of Norse Proliferation: Jesse L. Byock
Jesse L. Byock takes the spotlight for the inaugural entry into this wild and crazy new category that I’m calling Heroes of Norse Proliferation. Basically, it just seemed like a good idea to me to give a shout out to the folks out there who have done a lot of […]
A Good Day to Hail Leif
Today is the official Leif Erikson Day of 2013, and what appropriate and ironic timing! Leif’s Icelandic ancestors all bailed from Norway when they finally got too disgusted with their slimy politicians to bother sticking around. Lucky for them, they were able to find a nice (if harsh), uninhabited island […]
Skálmöld Trip Out with the Wolf
It’s the last Frey’s day of the month, the nights are becoming longer than the days, the average daily temperatures are dropping, and “winter is coming.” That makes it a perfect time to trip out with Icelandic Viking metal band Skálmöld in their new music video. In it they take […]
Eastern Geatish Street Art
Who doesn’t like some good old-fashioned Geatish street art? Especially when said good old-fashioned Geatish street art greets you on your way to visit ancient Geatish rock carvings of boners and longships (see post below)? I think my point is made. Hail to A CanZlit, whoever that may be.
The Boners of Östergötland
In Östergötland, Sweden there are many boners carved into the surfaces of large rocks that protrude up through the ground. And, while we’re on the topic, I am sure there are many other boners in Östergötland of another sort as well…that also do their own sort of protruding. But those […]
Icelandic Lava Beer
Finally! The Icelanders have begun smoking their beer (in addition to smoking their whales and their puffins). I personally can’t think of a more befitting national, Viking-appropriate meal for Iceland than one composed of smoked endangered animal, smoked cute little penguin-type thing, and smoked beer inspired by volcanic eruptions. How […]
Chiseling the Scandinavian Cheekbones
So I just gave this website a major facelift, and by that I mean that there is now a very aggressive-looking, native Blue Sheep from Birka hanging out in the background off towards the right (and slightly towards the left as well, but that guy is fainter). If you look […]
Raise a Horn to the New Year’s Winter Darkness
So I’m not very big on timely, punctual, or even consistent blog updates, but I am big on depictions of majestic northern landscapes, especially if they feature Viking ships plowing the waters under what I presume to be the aurora borealis. Or maybe it’s meant to be the midnight sun, […]
Heimdall Blows
When Heimdall blows his horn it can only mean one of two things: the world is coming to a terrible, violent end and you might as well give up on whatever it is that you’re doing because you’re about to be set on fire, or you’re in central Stockholm on […]
Leif Eriksson on the Rocks
Highland Park has gone and done something wonderful: they have produced Scotch in honor of Leif Eriksson. Why did no one think of this sooner? It took the discoverer of North America approximately 1012 years before he had a Scotch whiskey named in his honor? Sometimes I am ashamed of […]
Death in Digital Fire / World Reborn
During the middle of the month, this site was sacked, pillaged, and put to the sword. My poor little Viking-toy-avatar-thing was passed around like an unfortunate Irish woman during the great Norwegian conquest of what was to become Dublin. But as the great story says, that which was the end […]
Victorious March!
I’m not sure whether this painting is saying, “We are coming to destroy everything in our path!” or “We have just destroyed everything in our path!”, but either way, if this isn’t a victorious march of some sort, then I don’t know what is. John Charles Dollman wasn’t dicking around […]
Glory in a Bottle
The Norsky brewers up at HaandBryggeriet are clearly modern day recipients of Odin’s wisdom and have held a cherished spot on my Viking Barley Brew list ever since I first compiled it. But they wanted to outdo themselves and so they started to age some of their brew in aquavit […]
Fenrir was Bound on Askøy
Remember how Loki got really wild one night—even by his standards—with a giantess, who then ended up giving birth to a wolf and two other monsters? And how that wolf then grew and grew and grew till the gods finally feared him so much that they made the decision to […]