The "Snake" scene

God Morgen,
     I've had a couple of inquiries about the "snake scene", so I thought I'd give you a bit of background. First, let me say that I'm not quite warped enough to dream that up by myself - yet! During the research phase of Birkebeiner,  I came across an ancient manuscript called Heimskringla, by Snorri Sturluson, a compilation of post-Viking Norse and Icelandic Sagas. With much of the "saga" literature of that time, it is difficult to tell what is fact and and what is fiction, but it's generally a blend. According to one of Snorri's sagas, this was a torture that some employed. Actually, the saga had an accompanying illustration which pretty much convinced me it needed to be in my notes.
     Two things that I felt I had to convince Birkebeiner readers of were that infant Hakon was in grave danger, and that the bishop would stop at nothing to kill him and his father. That's the reason this scene and some of the battle scenes are in the story.
     Frankly, the scenes from which I derived the the most pleasure and satisfaction from writing were the scenes which established  the personalities and characters of the main players, Inga, Magnus, Torstein, and Skjervald. Whichever scenes you liked best, or skimmed over, I hope you enjoyed the story and I welcome your comments.

Jeff

cyclovaXC: Words with Jeff Foltz, author of "Birkebeiner: A Story of Motherhood and War"

cyclovaXC: Words with Jeff Foltz, author of "Birkebeiner: A Story of Motherhood and War"

Birkebeiner Release

Hi Friends,
Here's the press release that you will see in several Maine Newspapers next week. Please check your local papers and e news and let me know what you see. thanks.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             Contact: Jeff Foltz

                                                                                    Phone: 207-236-0608

                                                                                    Email: jfoltz2@myfairpoint.net

            Birkebeiner, a novel by Jeff Foltz, released November 8th, 2010

                                    A story of Motherhood and War

Camden, Maine – November 8th, 2010. Author Jeff Foltz’s new book Birkebeiner portrays a mother’s timeless and primal compulsion to protect her child. It is a fictional account of an historical event that modern Norwegians revere.

Norway, 1203 - Two years after her son Hakon’s birth, Inga, wife of the Birkebeiner leader, King Hakon, realizes that the Crozier army will overrun her home, the fortress of Lillehammer. Inga knows that the Croziers will kill her child because he is the prince who may ascend the throne and unite the country.

To save little Hakon, King Hakon asks his two best warriors to flee with his son for the safety of Nidaros (present-day Trondheim). It’s a long and dangerous journey on skis through two treacherous winter valleys and over a 7,000-foot snow-blown mountain. Willing to risk everything for her son, Inga insists on going with them. For eight harrowing, exhausting days, they’re pursued by a cadre of enemy soldiers bent on killing her child. Magnus, the Crozier’s military leader whom the church and the bishop call King -- and who has lost his own wife and two-year-old son -- must lead the chase.

Foltz, a capable Nordic skier, traveled to Norway to ski terrain similar to that which the story’s main characters would have experienced. He also researched with Cornell University’s Nordic History Library, the Oslo National Library and the Holmenkollen Ski Museum in Oslo, Norway. The novel was his creative thesis at the University of Southern Maine’s nationally ranked MFA, The Stonecoast Creative Writing Program. Foltz graduated from Stonecoast in 2004 .

Other authors have said about Birkebeiner:

“As I read of the birth of the  Birkebeiners, I also witnessed the emergence of a novelist I’d strap on my  skis to follow anywhere. Foltz reaches back to 13th-Century Norway for the spark of this story, but the selflessness with which his characters attempt to protect family and homeland ring familiar even in this very modern age.”
- Suzanne Strempik Shea, author of “Becoming Finola”

“Brilliantly researched, fully imagined, and finely written, this story examines both the tenderness of family relationships and the viciousness of war--a mix of human extremes that is achingly timely.  Here is a book that cannot be described in a line or two.  Let Foltz immerse you in his fictional world; the scenes and relationships will linger long after you've come to the end of his sweeping tale.”

-          Roland Merullo, author of “Breakfast With Bhudda”

"Jeff Foltz's Birkebeiner is not only a raging, action-filled Scandinavian war saga, it is also a damn good novel.” 

- Michael White, author of “Beautiful Assassin” and “Soul Catcher”.

Foltz lives in Camden, Maine, with his wife, Sue. He is available for interviews or to give presentations.

The book is available today at Amazon, on Kindle, and at http://www.birkebeinerthenovel.com/. It will be available soon in Maine’s bookstores and on Barnes&Noble’s Pubit.

Birkebeiner, A Story of Motherhood and War

Paperback, 5 1/4” x 8”, 256 pages

ISBN- 13:  978-1-936447-93-0 - $17.95

                                                                          # # #

   Note the wesite and check it out on Amazon - more later . Jeff