A Song Of Steel (The Light of the North saga Book 1)

by James Duncan

  As part of both the research and inspiration for this book series, I have gone as far as training to become an amateur bladesmith. I have forged my own recreation seax from pattern-welded steel I folded and forge welded myself. I have swung a hammer in a few hot forges, tempered, hardened and ground my own blades and, yes, I have spent many, many hours hand-sanding and polishing blades, a process that our protagonist hated so much when he did it for others he didn’t care about and loved so much when he did it for those he did care for. Many smiths will recognise that duality of the hand-finishing process – the frustration and the satisfaction. Some things you have to do to understand. You know nothing of polishing until you have taken a blade from a rough piece of steel to a mirror finish in dozens of hours of repetitive, aching manual labour. It’s one of the best and worst things you can do in all my broad experience of handcrafts.

  For those who want to, I highly recommend going on a taster course to forge a Viking-style knife or similar blade. I have swung hammers and forged steel in half a dozen forges and never met a person I didn’t like there; smiths are as friendly and interesting a bunch as any I have met.

  These courses are available all over the USA and Europe, and if you are in England like me, you can sign up to learn with Owen Bush. Owen is a renowned teacher who I started my bladesmithing journey with and who is as bearded and mad a smith as you could hope to swing a hammer with. As well as being a world-renowned expert on pattern welding and weapons such as the Dane axe, Owen has also forged the ‘real’ Ljós a Norðan. The day I typed this sentence, he was smelting iron ore in a bloomery furnace to make steel for the blade in the same way the Norse smiths once did. Getting Ljós a Norðan made alongside the book is a fantastic and exciting event for me. It will be a prop and a source of inspiration. The sword will be as close as possible to the real thing, a hardened, pattern-welded, battle-ready Norse sword. Some of you may have found this book because of a video or article about the sword.

  If you want to know more about Viking life and culture, I highly recommend Hurstwic. This group of re-enactors and historians have a website that is the best resource for a casual history buff like me that you could hope to find. They cover every aspect of Norse life and culture and have spent decades painstakingly recreating Norse combat from the archaeological evidence, descriptions in the sagas and their own practice sparring to find out what does and doesn’t work with those weapons. I have taken heavily from what I learned from their website and their wonderful series of videos recreating famous fights from the Icelandic sagas.

  I would also thank the people who inspired me to start writing: the authors of historical and fantasy fiction I have been reading for over twenty-five years. I started with the megastar Bernard Cornwell, perhaps the most successful and the cheerleader of historical fiction and fantasy authors, by reading his Sharpe series starting when I was about seven. I have since moved on to other superb writers: Conn Iggulden, Ben Kane, Giles Kristian, Angus Donald, Joe Abercrombie, Daniel Kelly (who was my first beta reader and cheerleader in the business, a thousand thank-yous), Matthew Harffy, John Gwynne, Jonathan French, Griff Hosker, Ken Follett, David Gilman, Dan Davis… (I read a lot of books, as all authors should) and others who don’t spring to mind right now. It was enjoying their books so much that made me so interested in this genre and made me start thinking about writing myself, but it was the work of Christian Cameron that finally tipped me over the edge into writing my first series. He brings a level of detail, excitement, political background, culture and first-hand knowledge into his writing that just blew me away. He writes about fighting in armour, and he does train and fight in armour himself. He writes about living with and using ancient equipment, and he does re-enactments and long marches in replica gear. That kind of knowledge just doesn’t come from reading about it on Wikipedia. It shows in his work and elevates it hugely, which is why I had to go and actually make a pattern-welded blade before I wrote about one. That lesson I owe to Christian.

  I met Christian shortly before I finished this book, and we spent three hours discussing the finer points of sword and shield combat and writing style, which was a perfect evening for a budding author and fan. If you liked my book, go and read his, if you haven’t already. If you see a little of his style in my writing, it is deliberate. I borrowed some of my favourite aspects of his style, his marking of time for example, and I am not ashamed.

  Finally, I have to thank my wife, who put up with me semi-disappearing from her life to hammer steel and write books and was still gracious and supportive enough to beta read and help edit this book for me.

  The saga of Ljós a Norðan will continue. The eyes of the Christian lords will be set across the narrow sea, and the Norse will face a war for their very survival. Book two will be published in winter 2021.

  If you have made it this far, I thank and congratulate you. As a debut self-published author writing in my spare time in the age of Amazon and social media, my publishing career will live and die on reviews, tweets, facebook recommends, goodreads write ups and ‘likes’. So if this tale entertained you and you wish to see more, go to the nearest internet portal and let the world know. Each review makes it more likely I will be able to continue to write. Thank you all so much.

  James C. Duncan. December 2020

  Glossary

  Named Characters

  Adolf, Count of Schauenburg and lord of Holstein and Stormarn: A Saxon lord of Duke Lothair’s patronage, Commander of the Saxon contingent in the first Northern Crusade

  Aurick: Father of Ingrid, discoverer of the sword Ljós a Norðan

  Brunhild: A Norse slave girl in the service of Jarl Ragnvald

  Dengir: The Norse master smith at Uppsala

  Eric Silverfist of Sweden: King of Sweden from 1105 to 1116

  Gjaldir: Legendary Norse warrior

  Professor Hallsson: Dean of the Archaeology Department at the University of Lundjen.

  Halfar Asleson: Curator of the Røros Museum of Norse History and Culture

  Hildewa: Wife of Ragnvald

  Harald Bluetooth: Danish king who made the decision to ban Christianity after a Christian missionary failed a trial by fire and then tried to kill him in the 970s

  Henry V: Emperor of the HRE at the time of the first Northern Crusade

  Herman: Master smith of the Minden forge

  Ingrid: Eleven-year-old girl who likes history and hates fishing. Discoverer of the sword Ljós a Norðan

  Jarl Alf: Swedish jarl, a one-time contender for the throne after Eric’s death

  Jarl Birkir: Ally of Jarl Harnsted

  Jarl Erling: Swedish jarl

  Jarl Frode: Swedish jarl, ally of Ragnvald

  Jarl Gustav: Swedish jarl

  Jarl Halvar: Swedish jarl, ally of Harnsted

  Jarl Harnsted: Swedish jarl, cousin of King Eric and one of the contenders for the throne

  Jarl Ragnvald Ivarsson: Important jarl of the kingdom of Sweden

  Jarl Steinar: Norwegian jarl, close associate of King Sigurd

  Leuter: Farmhand, fist fighter and soldier of the crusade

  Leif Leifson: Huscarl of Jarl Ragnvald

  Lothair, Duke of Saxony: Contender to be the next Holy Roman emperor, crusade leader

  Magnus ‘Barefoot’ Olafsson: king of Norway from 1073 to 1116

  Orbert: Saxon camp master and lover of lists

  Ordulf: German smith from Minden in Lower Saxony

  Otto: A German slave in the service of Jarl Ragnvald

  Sebbi: Huscarl of Jarl Rangvald

  Sigurd Magnusson: Son of Magnus, the king of Norway

  Sir Hans Metel of Oldenburg: A leading knight of the Saxon contingent. Revered as a great swordsman

  Ulf: Huscarl of Jarl Ragnvald and his shipmaster

 

 

  ve.