Category Archives: Bookselling

Bookselling, Uncategorized

Post-event report: The Red River Valley Renaissance Faire

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This is not the Red River Valley Renaissance Faire. I didn’t get a picture there. This is the Viking Age Club of Minnesota at the very last Norsk Høstfest in Minot, ND last year. Our turnout in Fargo last weekend was considerably smaller.

I am back, unscathed (though more than a little stiff and sore) from the Red River Valley Renaissance Faire in Fargo. It was a good event, and I feel each and every one of my multitudinous years.

The faire was impressive. One always compares these things to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in Chanhassen, which boasts permanent buildings on a large site. This Fargo operation is much smaller, and repurposes some of the buildings of the North Dakota State Fair, along with pre-fab, disassemblable constructions of their own, on top of all the tents of the participants (like your humble servant). We Vikings had a space all our own in one corner of the precincts, and we were quite happy and visible there.

The weather was warm, but not uncomfortably hot. The big problem was the legendary North Dakota wind, which tended to lift my awning/shade off its center pole, so that I finally gave up using that pole, and learned to love the low ceiling.

Book sales were good. Saturday was the best day – business started slow, but picked up in the afternoon. More than one person looked at my books, promised to come back and buy later – and actually did so, which doesn’t often happen. I went from worrying that I’d have no sales to wondering if I’d run out of some books. Which did not occur, but it’s a good problem to have to worry about.

For a smaller Renaissance faire, this one was memorable. Near us was a display of raptors, tended by a pair of falconers – they had red-tailed hawks, several kinds of owls, and even a turkey vulture. (Call me prejudiced, but I will never love turkey vultures.) Further down the line was an exotic menagerie, featuring a camel, an albino wallaby, and otters. (So I heard; I didn’t spring for the entrance fee.) Gymnasts worked a high trapeze. I ate a corn dog each day – I don’t often get to eat “fair food.”

Saturday was busier than Sunday, but I sold a good number of books overall. Got to watch the diverse cavalcade of humankind living out its fantasies with various levels of success. Had a few good conversations. Benefited, once again, from the hard work of younger Vikings for my setup and takedown. Didn’t get home till after midnight last night.

I’m told they want us back next year. I’ll happily return.

If my old legs can still walk a year from now.

Bookselling, Uncategorized

Personal appearance alert

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In case you’re in the Fargo, North Dakota area this weekend, the Vikings and I will be at the Red River Valley Renaissance Faire. The Renaissance is not strictly our temporal bailiwick, but we’ll plunder wherever we’re welcomed.

I shall have books to sell, and to sign. Pray for my car.

Bookselling, Fiction

A Skjalg Erlingsson story

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I hope you’ll be happy to learn that I’ve just published a story related to the Erling Skjalgsson saga. The Buried Farm is a tale about Erling’s son Skjalg, and deals with the lead-up to the ill-fated Norwegian invasion of England in 1066 under King Harald Hardrada.

I submitted this story to a proposed anthology of stories about the Battle of Stamford Bridge. The editors did not select it, but told me kindly that their reasons had to do with their chosen approach to the topic, and not with the quality of my wordsmithing.

So I figured my readers might like to read it as a stand-alone. It’ll only cost you a buck.

Bookselling, Uncategorized

Personal appearance alert: Scandinavian Festival, Moorhead MN

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Our Viking camp at the Hjemkomst Center, one of the last times we were there.

I have heard rumors – somewhere – that most of this country (not to mention the world) is not located in the Upper Midwest where I reside. And I’m pretty sure that most of our readers don’t live in these parts either. As a matter of fact, only half our Brandywine Books blogging staff lives anywhere near Minnesota.

Yet I do make these “personal appearances” from time to time, and feel obligated to inform you about them. Who knows? Some super fan may fly in from Florin or Guilder someday, just to meet me and get a book signed.

Hey, I’m a fantasy writer. Improbability is my wheelhouse.

Regardless, I am planning to be (with the Viking Age Club) in Moorhead, Minnesota (adjacent to Fargo) this weekend, for the Nordic Culture Clubs’ Scandinavian Festival.

The Festival will be held at the Hjemkomst Center, a museum built to house the Hjemkomst Viking ship, which was built in Hawley, Minnesota and sailed by a group of Minnesotans across the Atlantic to Norway in the 1970s. The museum’s park also features a lovely full-sized replica of the Hopperstad Stave Church. It is well worth visiting at any time.

If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you may recall that I’ve been to the Hjemkomst Center for Viking events before, but it’s been a few years. I’m looking forward to going back; it’s an excellent venue for Vikings.

If through some geographical anomaly you happen to be around Moorhead on Friday and Saturday, I’d be happy to see you.

If I’m not there, it’ll probably mean that the cold I’ve been fighting has gotten the upper hand.

Bookselling, Uncategorized

Blowing the Elk Horn

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Outside the Viking House in Elk Horn
Panning right, more of the camp

When you drive through the Story City, Iowa exit on Highway I-35 (I have been informed by a distant cousin) you are driving across what was once my great-grandfather’s farm, back around the turn of the 20th Century. I’ve been through that intersection many times before, but I hadn’t known that fact. So I had that to ponder as I drove through on my way home from Tivoli Fest in Elk Horn, Iowa last Sunday (Google Maps took me by a different route going south, for reasons beyond my ken).

Just another satisfaction in a highly satisfactory weekend.

I’m sorry I haven’t posted for the last few days. I was out of town starting Thursday, of course. I could have posted yesterday, but I came home very tired, and seem to be suffering another of my bouts of respiratory infection now. I’ll probably be running on low power until I see the doctor next Monday, but I’ve dragged myself to my desk to do my duty now, before I forget everything.

The event covered Friday, Saturday, and parts of Sunday, though I left Sunday morning. Friday was pretty quiet, but I got my tent and book tables set up, in the grassy area near the Viking house, instead of in the field across the road as in the old days. I did catch one high-roller who bought three books, and may God bless him. He confessed, in low tones, that he was a Norwegian in a Danish town and he welcomed the moral support.

Normann, our locksmith, talking medieval tech with a fellow Viking

I stayed with a dear family of Christian friends in a nearby town, with whom I had enjoyed one of those long, wide-ranging conversations late into the night, the last time I was down there, 15 years ago. We picked the conversation up, more or less, where we left off.

Saturday had good crowds, and I stayed pretty busy. Sold out my whole stock of Viking Legacy, and did a fair trade in my own novels. Credit card purchases were complicated by the fact that Elk Horn is in a sort of satellite black hole, and cell phone signals come and go. But I lucked out and it always worked for me. Greeted a few familiar Vikings, grown a little older now. Ate festival food (but in relatively modest quantities. My habits seem to have changed for the better). I didn’t get to see the fireworks, though, as I went back to spend more quality time with my hosts.

Scott, the comb maker and fabric merchant. Also featured in this image, my left index finger.

I splurged on one addition to my Viking kit, made and sold by  Scott, the fellow pictured above. It’s this Viking traveler’s comb, based on a larger original found in a grave:

When you pull out the little pin, the comb comes out of its case, thus:

Isn’t that cool? Nice craftsmanship, too.

Bookselling, Reading, Uncategorized

Tivoli Fest in view

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A moment in the Viking camp at Tivoli Fest, years ago. Several of these people are no longer alive.

Dropped a book I was reading today. Yet again. I’m old, and have only so much time left; why should I waste any of it on novels that insult me?

This book (which I got in a free offer) was passably written (though the author had a tendency to misplace modifiers). I was giving it a fair chance. I thought it was moving a little slowly, and the characters were somewhat hard to keep straight, but that’s probably because I’m old.

Then the two detectives (one white male, one black female) interview a young male slacker whose ex-girlfriend has disappeared. The b.f. detective thinks he’s a suspect. The w.m. detective says maybe she could give him a break; he just got bad news about his ex. The w.m. retorts that he’s just a typical white male; no responsibility.

And the w.m. male apologizes.

Apologizes.

I didn’t care for the slacker character myself, but his sin wasn’t that he was a white male. Is that the new acceptable stereotype – white males are all shiftless? Seriously?

Into the bin with that one.

I had a scary moment with my car too. Went to the grocery store, and as I left the parking lot I heard a dull rattling sound from the rear end. Feared the worst.

Then I thought, that sounds a little like wood bumping on plastic. It could be my wooden apple crate, in which I keep my linen table cover and various informational signs and promotional items for my book sales. I’d just loaded it in the back of the cargo area.

So after I got home I offloaded the crate and tried driving around some more. No noise. Great was my relief.

Because I’m going out of town this weekend. A long Viking trip – not as long as the Minot drive used to be, but a good 5 hours, probably closer to 6 when you figure in lunch and comfort stops.

The event is the Tivoli Fest in Elk Horn, Iowa. If you’re in the neighborhood of southwest Iowa, you might check it out.

Elk Horn is a tiny town, only 600 or so residents. But it boasts two museums of Danish heritage – the Museum of Danish America and the Danish Windmill Museum.

It’s been many, many years since my group has gone to Tivoli, due to circumstances best left to history. Enough to say at this point that our invitation to participate has been renewed, and we’re happy to be going. It was always a great event. I recall especially the Saturday night fireworks, which apparently are still on the program. Elk Horn punches way above its weight when it comes to fireworks. I’ve seen far less impressive displays in far bigger communities.

And, of course, I will have books to sell. Looking forward to it. Pray for me, if you think of it, that my car will hold up and my sales may prosper greatly. Like a great… Dane.

Bookselling, Uncategorized

My weekend as a cultural ambassador

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Above, you may savor the view I enjoyed most of this past weekend, as I sat in all my splendor in the Viking camp at iFest Minnesota, at the St. Paul RiverCentre. As you can almost see, I was conveniently close to the French patisserie, which is behind the woman in the white sweatshirt – though I can say with pride that I only purchased one of their offerings – a strawberry-and-whipped cream crépe, which I divided with a friend. (I’m taking my doctor’s warnings about blood glucose seriously.)

The whole festival, Friday and Saturday, was pretty generally a success. This is a festival that had gone on for decades, and then died during Covid. But now they’re trying to revive it under a hip new name. The results were promising. Friday was mostly a day for school groups, so the place was filled with shrieking younglings. Such a crowd does not buy a lot of books, though. After the kids were gone, attendance was poor, and we worried a little. This, by the way, is what our camp looked like:

We were conveniently close to the Men’s Room (which I always appreciate) as well as to the food booths. The cultural exhibits (with their wares) were way over on the other side, and I never ventured there. This is not a time for discretionary expenditures.

We were also close to a music stage. Generally I enjoyed the music, but some of it did get a little loud – which made it difficult for a deaf old man to sell books.

But sell books I did. Crowds were gratifying on Saturday, and I had one of the best bookselling days I’ve ever had. Two different customers sprang for the whole Erling Saga all at once – and one of them bought Viking Legacy too.

I was also surprised (and pleased) by the interest so many people displayed in the Vikings. I sold Viking Legacy to two or three people who were distinctly non-Caucasian; genuine interest without personal stakes, which I have to admire. I spent some time telling a young woman in a burka about the extent of Viking voyaging. I spoke of Christian faith with a lovely young Phillipine woman. And I was “interviewed” (sort of, it wasn’t recorded that I could see) by somebody from Minnesota Public Radio who was curious about our group.

So all in all, a great (and profitable) weekend. Sunday I crashed, of course, a spent force

Bookselling

iFest Minnesota

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Personal appearance alert: Tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, April 10 and 11, I will be – Lord willing – at the Rivercentre in St. Paul, participating in iFest Minnesota. I shall be selling edifying literature and generally spreading my special brand of sunshine.

There used to be an event called the Festival of Nations, held in St. Paul for many years. But Covid stifled it, and then they up and decided they wouldn’t hold it anymore. My Viking group had been longtime regulars, and we’ve missed it.

But now it has risen, phoenix-like, from the ashes, in the form of iFest Minnesota. It will be a smaller event this year; I’ll be interested to see what’s survived.

I’ll even have a special offer for purchasers of the full Erling Saga.

Bookselling

Based Book Sale

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My novel West Oversea is currently available at the low, low price of 99 cents! See it, and a lot of other good books at good prices, at the 2025 Black Friday/Cyber Monday Based Books Sale!

Just something to be thankful for.

Bookselling, Fiction

Review a Lars Walker E-book, Win Another One!

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When I reviewed Troll Valley after its first release as an e-book, I said it was an entertaining story about what we can and cannot control. A young man grows up with a deformed arm and a fairy godmother who doesn’t stand around granting wishes with a smile. It’s a little dark and not at all shmaltzy. It’s my favorite of Lars’s novels.

Troll Valley is now in audio, narrated by the author himself. You can get it with an Audible subscription or purchase it for your digital library. In honor of that technological accomplishment, we’re running a promotion. It’s a favor to you really. We’re doing you a solid.

Review one of Lars’s novels on Amazon or Goodreads, send us proof of that review, and we’ll send you another e-book of your choice. It has to be a new review. If you posted a review earlier this month or last month, we’ll accept that too. Just share a link in the comments of this post and we can email you another of Lars’s e-books to enjoy (and review, of course, like, please).

For example, you could post a review of Hailstone Mountain, and we could send you the e-book for The Elder King. Let us know which e-book you would like when you post your review in the comments.

Buy the books via any of our affiliate links. You don’t have to have bought the novel recently. It could be the one in your TBR pile. Only the review has to be new.

Post your review by Jan. 7, 2026 to get a free e-book in exchange, and let us know what you think of the new Troll Valley audiobook when you a chance to listen.

(Photo by Veroniki Thetis Chelioti on Unsplash)