Welcome and well met! You’ve reached my strange little corner of the Internet. My name, you may have surmised, is Scott Oden. I write books. And short stories. And the occasional introduction or article. And I blog. A lot. Well, less than I used to, in the day before the rise of social media, but more than is probably good for me.
The stuff I write is a mix of history and fantasy. I love nothing better than to weave a tapestry of threads drawn from history and archaeology with touches of magic worked into it. I’m not a big believer in “hard” magic systems. I don’t like a bunch of rules with my sorcery. Me, I want wild and chaotic sorcery, rituals of blood and mystery that can take decades just to assemble the necessary ingredients. I want sorcery that comes with a price. And I want it set against the backdrop of our shared history.
There is a sorcery, of a sort, in the crafting of historical fantasy. The names, alone, are a conjurer’s gift: Akkad, Eruk, Chaldea, Babylon, Thebes, Persepolis. They roll off the tongue, and in their wake arise visions of smoky temples, bearded priests, warriors in bronze scale wielding weapons of pitted iron; devils lurking in the heart of the desert, beast-headed gods, cruel kings, and seductive queens. It is, I believe, the original language of Sword-and-Sorcery — that genre of fantasy whose hallmark is the iron-willed outsider who fights not to save the universe, but more than likely to save his or her own ass.
That’s the sort of stuff you’ll find here. And if that’s what you’re looking for . . . then I say, again: hail, stranger, and well met! In these scraps of electronic papyrus you’ll find a bit about me, a lot about my work, and a good-sized archive of blog posts. I try to post new material each week, or so, so check back often!
Thanks for stopping by!
Coming Soon: THE DOOM OF ODIN!
Skrælingr. Orcnéas. Fomoraig. He is Grimnir . . .
For over a century, he has tracked the dragon, Níðhöggr — the Malice-Striker — from the shores of Lake Vänern, across the Baltic Sea, through Russia, and down into the Mediterranean; he has hounded the wyrm from Old Muscovy to Messina. And finally, to the outskirts of the Eternal City — to Rome, itself.
And in the Pontine Marshes, on a cold November night in 1347 AD, in the shadow of an ancient ruin, Grimnir’s saga comes crashing to an end. A crossbow bolt, loosed in terror, slays him out of hand. It is a mundane finale to a life spent hip-deep in bloodshed and slaughter, surrounded by steel and savagery and the sorcery of the Elder World.
But Death is just the beginning . . .
Now, on the grim and misty isle of Nástrond, under the shadows of Yggðrasil, Grimnir is plunged headlong into the twisted Valhalla that is the afterlife of his people. Here, bloody in-fighting, schemes and betrayals are the order of the day. Grimnir is forced to contend with a cabal of witches, with giants and trolls who have never felt the light of Miðgarðr’s moon, and with his own rapacious kin as he journeys beyond the shores of Nástrond to find answers. And with every death he suffers, in this world and the next, Grimnir unravels another thread of a monstrous secret woven at the dawn of time — one that will turn him from the pawn of unknown gods into the most powerful being in the Nine Worlds. And the most hunted.
For he, alone, holds the key to Ragnarök and the Doom of Odin . . .
Pre-order Today!
New to the Grimnir Saga? Care for a preview? Then perhaps you might like to dip your toes into that irascible skraelingr’s world with BEASTS OF WASTE AND DESOLATION! It’s a short story from Grimnir’s wandering days. And while it’s a bit under 5K words, it’s also paired with a sneak-peek at the forthcoming Grimnir novel, THE DOOM OF ODIN! A bargain for only $5.00.
Click one of the links below to order your file format of choice, direct from the author. It will then arrive via email.
Scott Oden 