The First Ring

What if... we had to do it over and over until we got it right? What if... the end was the beginning? What if... Dante was on to something? James T Lawrence is about to find out.The fate of the world as we know it rests in the hands of an unwitting teenage witch and her overweight cat.In present-day Portland, the Norse gods are alive and well, and hiding in plain sight: Odin is a high school principal, blustering Thor is about to lose his job as a photocopier repairman, and the Norns are operating a psychic hotline—and they and their kin are on the hunt for the newly reincarnated World Tree as they try to prevent Ragnarok.At the same time, sixteen-year-old Sally Dahl is casting rune spells to bring about a better, happier planet, but she instead triggers the return of the legendary Berserker warriors—and their bottomless junk food cravings. When Sally finds herself the victim of her own magick, she inadvertently teams up with a power-grabbing minor deity, Managarm, who wants to capture the Tree for himself and assert his dominion over all.Can Odin rely on a new generation of Vikings—including a marching band and a biker gang—for help? Can Sally fix her magickal mistakes in time to thwart Managarm’s plan—before the Berserkers eat Voodoo Doughnuts out of business?________________________Jennifer Willis loves tales of magickal mayhem, unlikely adventure, and playful intrigue.An admitted sci-fi nerd and urban fantasy fan, she is the author of the Valhalla urban fantasy series and the forthcoming M.A.R.S. science fiction romance series. When she’s not hiking, knitting, baking, star-gazing, or reading like a fiend, she spends her time bringing enchantment to the world. She is also the writer behind the Northwest Love Stories feature in The Oregonian and has a byline in the Hugo Award-winning Women Destroy Science Fiction from Lightspeed.She lives in Oregon with her dude, their dog, a couple of cats, and possibly a family of raccoons residing under the house.