by Matt Larkin
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Author’s Ramblings
What I’m doing, what I’ve been doing for some time, is working to retell and reimagine real-world mythologies within the context of a single dark fantasy setting spanning multiple eras. This era, the Ragnarok era, is a mythical past set in an ice age brought on by the presence of mists escaped from Niflheim. So you see things like dire wolves and mammoths, mixed with the Norse and Germanic epics. I had a lot of sources, but the most prominent you’ll see here are the eddas and the Volsung Saga. Some day, if enough people cared, I could come up with a list of other primary sources—my writing cave is littered with tons of them. One of the most substantial influences was the Prose Edda, in which Snorri supposes Odin was a mortal man living in ancient times, one who travelled west from somewhere in Asia and gave rise to many legends.
I published the original version of The Apples of Idunn in early 2014. At that time, it was about half the length of this book, in part because I had wanted it to be a fast-paced adventure story, and in part because I decided to trim out parts of what I originally wrote. And it was well received—I got invited to a podcast interview, had a college professor want to teach it in her class, and otherwise was pretty pleased with it. I published the sequel (The Mists of Niflheim). I wrote the third book (The Shores of Vanaheim). And I just kept going on, planning the fourth one, but I realized more and more, I had not quite done what I’d wanted with the first book. Book 1 was around 50,000 words. Book 3 was around 100,000 words. That was my first clue.
I had always planned the series to span three trilogies, each with a different focus, but I first conceived of them as these fast adventures. And the one thing everyone wanted—including myself—was just more. Historical fantasy, all epic fantasy, really, has the reputation for being doorstoppers, and I came to realize there was a reason for that. Tales of this scope need it. They need the time and depth, and often things need to be seen through different characters’ eyes. After agonizing with the decision—and this is a hard decision for any author—and consulting with my editors, my mentor (thanks Sean), and others, I finally decided I was going to go back and redo this series the way it should have been all along.
The other factor that changed for me, was that I lost my dad. I had written this epic about Odin trying to avenge his father and had done the best I could to express his feelings. But frankly, until you’ve been through losing someone really close, you just don’t know. That loss demanded I come at the series with a deeper emotional resonance than Apples originally portrayed.
So what changed? Each book now features a prologue and an epilogue told from Loki’s point of view. In addition, the first book did not originally feature Tyr or Gudrun as point-of-view characters. I also pulled back the opening to show more of the events leading up to Odin hunting down Ymir. Mainly through Tyr, it shows how Odin becomes King of the Aesir, which was largely glossed over in the original version. Besides all that, the book went through a huge number of editorial revisions to plot and text (big thanks to Clark and Fred for all the help here). The overall plot is not changed much from the original version, though there are some subtle differences.
I wanted to stay as close to the spirit of the original sources as possible, while still not only putting my own spin on the tales but also fitting them into the framework I was creating for that dark fantasy setting I mentioned. It means, of necessity, some things changed to fit the setting or the story. The end result, The Ragnarok Era, is something I’m immensely proud of, and I truly hope everyone enjoyed this first taste of it. There’s a lot more where this came from.
I could not have done this alone, too, so I want to take time to say thanks to everyone who helped me with this. So thank you Brenda, Eryn, Hanna, Sean, Clark, Fred, Clarissa, Jena, and Juhi. And most of all, thanks, Dad, for everything. I miss you.
Thank you for reading,
Matt
About the Author
Matt Larkin is an American fantasy and science fiction author. He lives in Florida with his wife Juhi and daughter Kiran. With a background in philosophy and publishing, Matt started a small press dedicated to top notch speculative fiction. He adores mythology and history, passions he conveys through his mythic fantasy novels. Matt would love to hear from readers, so feel free to email him at [email protected].