Survival, Brotherhood, and the Call of the Long Night
What keeps men going when everything around them has crumbled, when all supports and hope seem to have failed? This is the question that lies at the heart of the Bjornlinga Saga, where survival, brotherhood, and the search for meaning come into sharp focus amidst the silence of the Long Night.
The big news for my December newsletter is that I have published the second installment of the Bjornlinga Saga—a continuation of the epic journey that began in #1, diving deeper into the mythic and the timeless themes of survival, brotherhood, and the human spirit.
I have gotten such an overwhelming positive response to #1, and that was really just the setup for what is going on.
If you haven’t yet checked out my Bjornlinga Saga, you really don’t know what you are missing—a tale of survival, brotherhood, and mythic truths. I can honestly say that this is my best work yet.
How to describe it for you? On the surface, it would, I suppose, be categorized as mythic fantasy. But fantasy is almost a derogatory term nowadays. The genre is full of the most insipid hackwork that I understand when people regard the genre as lacking any true literary value or thought. When fantasy is good, it is amazing. But any fantasy fan knows that there are many titles that just churn out tired tropes and basically tell the same story over and over.
But my Archaios work is much more than mere fantasy. This is not some plot-driven cliché story about a young guy who finds a magical sword and has to save the day against the Big Bad Guy. This is not Harry Potter either. I am drawing upon three decades of study into myth, legend, and medieval sagas and channeling that energy into a new narrative that resonates with the truth of eternity. I am calling upon the deepest threads of reality and putting them into form.
Underlying this, but not overwhelming it, is a very serious meditation on what it means to live properly and be a man of value. I am addressing themes that I struggled to write before, but have now found the proper vehicle in which to express them. Just as Tolkien himself found that he could better present his vision of the universe through The Lord of the Rings rather than through essays of philosophy, so I find that the threads of ancient storytelling serve me better than any expository form.
The basic story in the Bjornlinga Saga is about men pushed to their limits—facing exile, forging a life in the frozen wilds, and battling forces they barely understand. It’s about leadership, brotherhood, and the cost of pride, set against the backdrop of the Long Night—a world where the old gods are silent, and the threads of purpose and tradition seem frayed. In such a world, survival demands strength, cunning, and a relentless search for meaning.
In one part of Bjornlinga #2, these northern raiders strike a settlement, but things turn out unexpectedly:
"The Doon were unlike any folk we had ever faced. They did not flee, nor did they fight. There were no screams, no shouts. They came forth from their hovels with hollow eyes, staring past us into the gray distance, like shades already dead. Their eyes held not mere emptiness, but a hollowness deeper than the void between stars."
The Doon, who will play a significant part in the story, are an eerie people who have no ambition, no drive, no will. They represent a people broken, who do not even live for the most ephemeral of purposes. They are barely men at all. And behind this is a deep, mythic understanding of what it means to be alive. For the Bjornlingas, it seems too good to be true. They are raiders and gladly take these passive people as thralls. But, as in life, the easiest of paths is often fraught with a much deeper danger of damnation. And the Bjornlingas will find that the cost of these thralls is greater than they ever could have imagined.
From all of those who have reached out after reading Bjornlinga #1, I have only received one persistent complaint: “Why isn’t #2 out yet!”
I can promise you that The Bjornlinga Saga is like nothing you have ever read before. But, despite its depth and mythic resonance, I intentionally wrote this in a way that a young adult could also enjoy. I scrape up against serious themes, but nothing in the book is explicit. I’ve had a couple of young teenage boys read the work and they loved it.
This is not just a story; it’s a journey into the mythic truths that bind us all—truths that resonate across time and space.
I want to close by thanking all of those who have continued to follow and read my work over the years, as my work has evolved and grown. Some of you have been with me for a very long time indeed. And really, my message and my vision have not changed in that time, merely evolved in the way I creatively express it. The Bjornlinga Saga is really a culmination of all my thought and all my life energy brought together after years of struggle. It is, deep down, the clearest expression of who and what I am. If my work has resonated with you, now is the time to journey with me into The Long Night of The Bjornlinga Saga. It is a work of passion, of vision, and a call to those seeking meaning from the deepest depths of the mythic. Don’t wait to begin your journey into the Long Night—start today and see what lies beyond.
