The Battle of Holy River, YouTube, and ‘Seraffyn’s European Adventure’

There’s a sort of a book review hidden in this rambling post, somewhere further on, but to start with I just want to bellyache a little about how much I’m suffering my art. Which is writing novels, in case you’ve forgotten due to all the time I take between publications.

I’m happy to say that, to my own surprise, I’ve been keeping up my new regimen of getting up at 6:30 a.m. to write. My goal, nothing superhuman, is 1,000 words a day, and most days I do at least that much.

But right now I’ve been slowed down a little. From time to time my story runs up against actual historical events and real locations, and that calls for research. Stuck in the 20th Century though I am in spirit, I have to admit that the internet provides opportunities that weren’t available back when I wrote The Year of the Warrior (which, if you don’t recall, was only about twenty years after the events in the story).

My challenge is to describe a voyage by Erling Skjalgsson, under the leadership of King Knut of Denmark/England, to the Baltic Sea to attack King Olaf Haraldsson (St. Olaf) of Norway. I have to get them through the Skagerrak and the Kattegat, the entrances to the Baltic, and into the Limfjord, where the saga says Knut gathered his fleet. And then over to present-day Sweden (the border of Skåne, which was Danish at the time) to fight the Battle of Helge å (Holy River). There Olaf pulls off a clever (but slightly confusing) stratagem that I’ll have to work out too. I might mention that historians disagree about the actual location of the battle – there are two Holy Rivers in Sweden, and a third site has also been proposed (purely, I think, out of meanness). I believe I’m going to stay with the traditional site unless somebody makes a strong argument to change my mind.

Anyway, the great thing I’ve “discovered” (and by discovered I mean figured out long after all the other writers did) is YouTube videos. The best resource I found is a series of videos called Sailing Magic Carpet (Episode 1 above), produced by a young couple (I think they might actually be married, which is nice) taking a sailboat into the Baltic. They sail the Limfjord the wrong way for my purposes (it had no western mouth during the Viking Age), but they still provide a lot of vicarious experience with sailing conditions and topography. Unfortunately, they sail up the wrong coast of Sweden for my purposes, but still the videos were useful.

They also recommended a book called Seraffyn’s European Adventure, by Lin and Larry Pardey. This book describes a similar voyage made back in the late 1970s by the Pardeys, in a pilot boat built by Larry himself. Lin was a very good writer, and she does an excellent job describing a simpler – but more dangerous – voyage, back before satellite navigation. Recommended.

I think I may be able to get back to 1,000 words a day tomorrow.

Sunday Singing: He Will Hold Me Fast

Today’s hymn was published in 1906, but the tune we use in my church circles was written within the last ten years. English hymnist Ada Ruth Habershon (1861-1918) wrote the text and many other hymns as well as Bible studies and books. She contributed to the songs distributed and sung during the Liverpool Revival of 1905.

The words performed in the video above are not exactly as copied below; both versions deserve our attention.

1 When I fear my faith will fail,
Christ will hold me fast;
When the tempter would prevail,
He can hold me fast!

Refrain:
He will hold me fast,
He will hold me fast;
For my Savior loves me so,
He will hold me fast.

2 I could never keep my hold,
He must hold me fast;
For my love is often cold,
He must hold me fast. [Refrain]

3 I am precious in His sight,
He will hold me fast;
Those He saves are His delight,
He will hold me fast. [Refrain]

4 He’ll not let my soul be lost,
Christ will hold me fast;
Bought by Him at such a cost,
He will hold me fast. [Refrain]

A Ruined City in Old England and Some Language

Lars has been talking about poetry this week, which provoked me to consider it for the Saturday post.

A 700 A.D. Anglo-Saxon poem called “The Ruin” speaks of a city that was gorgeous even when destroyed.

Well-wrought this wall-stone which fate has broken
The city bursts, the work of giants crumbles.

In this translation by Michael O’Brien, you can see what is and what once was: frost on the stones, brightly color scraps of wood, bath-houses, and attractive homes. It had been a welcoming, beautiful home–a “haven.” Skilled soldiers lived here “proud and wine-flushed.” The baths were obviously luxurious. Only one wall remained standing.

Many men fell in the days of wrath;
Death took all the valor of earth.

Did invaders sack this city? No, it was the curse on all creation that eventually wore it down. One way or another, we all see the day of wrath. How do we live today in the light of what’s to come?

What else can we get into today?

Poetry: David Oates has a few verses on “farthing” and going too far.

Language: “We are lucky that English is our language because it’s better than, say, French for poetry. All those millions of words and all those different ways of saying the same, or similar, things. And new words all the time.” 

Parting Quotes: Here are a couple of statements pulled from Joseph Addison’s 1716 play The Drummer.

“That is well said, John, an honest man, that is not quite sober, has nothing to fear.”

“I should think myself a very bad woman if I had done what I do for a farthing less.”

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

‘Downeast Enigma,’ by Charles J. Thayer

When I started reading Charles J. Thayer’s Downeast Enigma, I thought it very poorly written, but I figured I’d give it a chance. Now that I’ve finished it, I’m of two minds. I still think it wasn’t well written, but the story was effective in its way.

Steve Wilson, our hero, is a former bank auditor who took early retirement to become a private investigator. He calls his agency Paradox-Research (ignorance of proper hyphen use is a writing red flag, in my opinion). He lives aboard his Maine lobster boat, where he’s often visited by his girlfriend Amanda, an FBI agent.

When a Boston banker’s private plane crashes in the Gulf of Maine, killing him, his bank asks Steve to look into his affairs. There was a suspicious intrusion on his computer after the accident, and they fear the dead man might have been involved in something illicit. His death might even be murder. Steve goes to work with the help of a hacker friend, and Amanda seems to have lots of freedom to help him out in her spare time.

I found Downeast Enigma a strange mystery novel. Most of Steve’s investigation seems to be carried out through phone calls and online (though he does interview some people). All the violence (and there is some) happens offstage. You might even call this book a cyber-cozy mystery.

My greatest problems were with the prose. The book is written in the present tense, which I consider an affectation – though I can’t honestly say it interfered with my reading. The dialogue was remarkably wooden – all the characters speak as if writing a report, and everybody pretty much talks the same way.

Still, I read through to the end, and the plot kept my interest. I’m not panning it entirely, but I don’t think I’ll rush out and buy another book in the series.

‘The Tale of Mani the Poet,’ and ‘The Tale of Ottar the Black’

My friends Einar and Tore-Ravn with the statue of King Magnus Erlingsson in Etne, Norway.

Tonight, a couple more tales of skalds (poets) from The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, through which I’m working my way at my own stately pace.

The first is The Tale of Mani the Poet, frankly one of the least impressive stories I’ve run across here. The best argument for its historical authenticity is its sheer banality.

The story isn’t even told in sequence. First we hear how Mani the Poet composed a poem for King Magnus V (also known as Magnus Erlingsson, 1156-1184, son of a different Erling from the one in my novels. I visited his birthplace in Etne, Norway last summer. Photo above) while their ship was becalmed in a harbor awaiting a favorable wind, and was rewarded with a shirt.

Then we learn how Mani first met the king. He showed up at the Swedish border, returning from a trip to Rome. His head was shaved (I assume he was a pilgrim), he was thin, and he was near naked. But he knew how to act in front of a king, and better yet, he knew how to compose poems. Then we’re told about a couple poems Mani composed for Magnus. We’re also told the king’s nickname for him. It’s a play on words in Old Norse that doesn’t really translate well.

After that comes The Tale of Ottar the Black. This one is more interesting — especially for the best kind of people, those who read my novels. Ottar the Black was a poet in the court of King (Saint) Olav Haraldsson. He composed a poem in praise of Olaf’s wife Astrid (whom you may recall from King of Rogaland), a boneheaded move which had to offend Olav. So he was thrown into a dungeon, awaiting judgment and execution. Then Sighvat the Poet (whom you may also remember from my novels) shows up to give him advice, resulting not only in his life being saved, but in his being rewarded. The story provides an interesting, rare insight into Olav’s domestic life.

‘Cozy Up to Blood,’ by Colin Conway

I’m very fond of Colin Conway’s 509 police procedural series, so I thought I’d try out one of his Cozy Up series. Cozy Up to Blood is third in a fairly bizarre series of “Cozy” mysteries. Imagine a cozy whose hero is Murray Lee, a 6’ 3” former biker, covered in tattoos (he does, however, like to knit). He’s on the run from Satan’s Spawn, a biker gang he betrayed for the sake of a woman. Now he’s in the FBI witness protection program, but he keeps blowing his cover because he gets involved in murder mysteries. So the Spawn get word of where he is, and he has to flee again.

In Cozy Up to Blood, Murray turns up in Belfry, Oregon, an island town, just before the bridge washes out in a flood. The town is flooded with tourists who’ve come for a festival celebrating a series of books and movies about sparkly vampires, clearly based on “Twilight.” There’s really no murder mystery in this story, but Murray does investigate a couple thefts (styling himself a “salvage specialist” in the Travis McGee tradition) while trying to figure out how to escape his biker pursuers, who are waiting to roar into town as soon as the flood subsides.

This book didn’t work at all for me. I got the impression that it was supposed to be a comic story, but the jokes didn’t work. I liked Murray okay, but I have no interest in reading more of his adventures.

‘Einar Skulason’s Tale’

Sigurd the Crusader in procession through Constantinople.

It’s been a while since I reviewed one of the sagas from The Complete Sagas of Icelanders. I’ve come near the end of Volume I, where we find a collection of short stories about Icelandic skalds (poets). Just a couple pages long each. These stories aren’t complex – they’re more in the character of celebrity anecdotes. The old poets, home on their farms after years of adventurous living, tell stories to their grandchildren – “I met this or that king, and this is what he was like.”

Tonight’s story is Einar Skulason’s Tale. Einar was a skald in the court of the kings Sigurd the Crusader (1089-1130) and his brother Eystein (circa 1088-1123). These two brothers ruled jointly under the old Norse laws of succession, and did it without going to war with each other – which later kings generally failed to do. Sigurd is best remembered for going on a crusade, the first European monarch to do so. The saga accounts of their reigns offer fascinating personality contrasts.

Those personalities are apparent in this series of three anecdotes. First of all, Einar (who seems to be renowned for quick composition) shows up late for dinner with King Eystein, and is required to compose a poem before the king has finished draining his goblet of wine. He succeeds (the poem is preserved here) and Eystein is pleased. The end. It’s a good-natured story.

The next two stories involve King Sigurd, a rather different character. In the first, King Sigurd catches a thief who happens to be a companion of Einar’s, and tells him the man will be beaten until Einar completes a new poem. Einar finishes in time to stop the strokes at five. Again, the poem is included in the text.

The final story is a little more complicated, and Einar gets a bit of his own back. Sigurd orders him to compose a poem before a departing ship has passed a certain holm, and Einar demands a reward if he succeeds, which he does. And yes, the poem is here as evidence.

I was reminded, as I read, of a couple friends I have in my Viking reenactment group. They like to tell stories of meeting celebrities. One managed to spend time with celebrities at Høstfest in Minot (something that doesn’t happen much anymore, security being tighter). He’s met Victor Borge, the Mandrell Sisters, and Willie Nelson, among others. Another ran into Lee Marvin and Richard Boone (not at the festival). Which goes to show you, Vikings don’t change much, even after a millennium.

‘Rogue,’ by Alex Parman

This is not a proper review. I quit half-way through Alex Parman’s (the name is a nom de plume for a male/female writing team) Rogue. This is the first novel in a series about a loose cannon FBI agent. Ordinarily I’d just pass by a book I didn’t finish, but I felt I ought to leave a warning about this one… which I readily admit is well written.

Cyrus Jennings had a brilliant career at the Washington DC office of the FBI, until his sense of justice led him to stray out of bounds. That led to his transfer to Denver, a much less desirable posting. His true specialty is cybercrime, but his investigator’s instincts incline him to get involved in hands-on investigations.

When a highly popular politician (party not stated, but clearly a Democrat) running for Senate drops dead while jogging, Cyrus is suspicious. He particularly suspects her bodyguard, whose responses just seem a little off. This leads him to ask questions that aren’t supposed to be asked, getting him suspended by his boss. But he has resources of his own, and won’t be deterred…

It was around this point that it became pretty clear to me that this book was about a right-wing conspiracy to undermine our democracy, financed by super-rich oligarchs. I found it particularly ironic that the things the right wing is accused of doing here are pretty much things the left wing is actually doing in the real world. So this story seemed to be projection, pure and simple.

I dropped it. It was well written. The characters were good. The dialogue was good. The dramatic tension was well orchestrated.

But if, like me, you’re tired of being called a fascist, you might not want to buy Rogue.

‘The Last One Left,’ by John D. MacDonald

For half the journey she thought of Staniker. There had been just enough toughness, just enough greed, just enough brutality for him to manage it. But now his eyes were wrong and his mouth was changed. He had expended something he’d never regain. It was, she thought, like what happened to a man who experienced a truly professional, cold, savage beating. It left him with all those little apologetic mannerisms, bob of head, ingratiating smile, a wariness very like shyness.

On the long shelf of John D. MacDonald’s non-Travis McGee novels, pride of place must probably go to The Executioners, which would be filmed twice as Cape Fear. But The Last One Left must certainly rank high. It is complex, with many outstanding qualities, and only one small flaw that I can detect.

Sam Boyleston is a Texas lawyer. He’s principled and ethical. He’s also a hard man, rigid and impatient with human frailty. He can’t understand why his beloved wife has separated from him, taking their son, afraid that the gravity mass of Sam’s personality will warp the boy’s own nature. And he’s baffled by his sister’s decision to marry a do-gooder relief worker with no prospects of wealth. So he pressured them into a deal – they would spend a year apart, and he’d pay for the wedding. Jonathan, the young man, will work on one of Sam’s friends’ ranches, while Leila spends the year on a luxury cruise in the Bahamas with his friend Bix and his family, on their yacht.

How was he to know that Bix was using the cruise to smuggle payoff money to the islands? Or that Staniker, his captain, would get wind of the scheme and murder them all for the loot?

All Sam knows is that Staniker showed up marooned on an island, burned and dehydrated, apparently the last survivor. With uncharacteristic sentimentality, Sam bankrolls Jonathan in a quixotic effort to search for Leila in the islands and atolls, a project in which he has no faith. For his own part, he’s learned about the money. He’s going to find out who planned the murders, and when he knows, he’ll do whatever he has to do.

MacDonald was on top of his game when he wrote The Last One Left. This book is especially strong in terms of characterization. Sam Boyles is a familiar sort of MacDonald hero, a lot like Travis McGee except for a lack of self-awareness, but his journey to wisdom is fascinating.

Perhaps the most memorable character is Crissy Harkinson, the femme fatale of the story. I think she may be the most fully realized dangerous dame I’ve ever encountered in a hardboiled novel. She is at once fascinating, repellant, and oddly pathetic.

But for me the most interesting member of the cast was Sergeant Corpo, a brain-damaged war veteran hermit struggling to survive in a world he no longer understands. He wants nothing more than to do what’s right, and mostly he succeeds.

MacDonald himself must have had a fondness for this book, because he took the boat Munequita, which plays an important part in the plot, and gave it to Travis McGee himself in the books that followed.

I wasn’t entirely happy with the final payoff here. I considered that scene slightly rushed and dubious. But that’s my only complaint (except that there are intense episodes of bad things happening to good people, which is hard to avoid). The Last One Left is one of MacDonald’s best novels, and I recommend it highly. Cautions for mild sex and intense situations.

Oh yes, this Kindle version seems to be converted from a British edition, as Britishisms like “tyres,” “petrol,” and “aeroplane” are used. I’m pretty sure the original American edition did not have those.

Sunday Singing: His Eye Is on the Sparrow

Today’s hymn seems less of a hymn to me and more of a song. Civilla D. Martin (1866-1948) of Nova Scotia wrote it in 1906 and set it to a tune by Iowan composer Charles Hutchinson Gabriel (1856-1932). The Methodist musician wrote and edited thousands of gospel songs that were sung at Billy Sunday­ and Homer Rodeheaver urban crusades.

1 Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely,
And long for heav’n and home;
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant Friend is He:

Refrain:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

2 “Let not your heart be troubled,”
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth,
But one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me; [Refrain]

3 Whenever I am tempted,
Whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing,
When hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him,
From care He sets me free; [Refrain]