Gate of the Shrine

Welcome to Tyrblod Island…

Local guide and hunter Tor Eiríksdóttir reluctantly agrees to help his cousin Jasmine set up a new age commune on remote Tyrblod Island, in the Norwegian Archipelago. There’s a forest and a mountain, and a farmstead filled with dark and bloody secrets where a Viking curse awaits. A perfect location for rebirth. The ideal place for murder in this chilling Viking horror story.

Warm and enthusiastic Jasmine brings together five old university friends who feel as she does, that life hasn’t turned out how they expected. The commune will be a new way of life as they combine on-line business with traditional crafts and eco-tourism, getting closer to nature through ancient Viking beliefs and rituals.

• Driven sales executive Conrad Brodie questions his life. Younger sister Jude, a paramedic, has been invalided from the military with PTSD.

• Middle-aged academic Josh’s new young partner Claire wants to rediscover the man she fell in love with.

• Psychologist Kerry wants to make things work with temperamental chef Oliver, her latest partner.

• And there’s a stranger on the island no one knows about, who is not what he seems…

Viking Spirits

Tyrblod Island is steeped in Viking beliefs about the relationship between people and nature. When Vikings approached land, they would take down the carved dragon heads from the bows of their longships so the landvættir –spirits guarding wild places – would not attack. The seven newcomers are modern age invaders from across the sea, and they have awakened something ancient and dangerous. What at first feels like a harmless adventure becomes a nightmare as the friends relive ancient lives, and discover that nature isn’t benign at all. In fact, it wants to kill them.

Excerpt

Jasmine blessed each of her friends in the Asatro way, following the Old Norse tradition her grandmother Hilda used to teach, as they were standing in the wallowing fishing boat with closed eyes and clasped hands. Asatro, the modern version of ancient Nordic beliefs, was the unbreakable bond between them. She knew all about the rumours – tourists cutting short their stay, stories of nature spirits and mysterious deaths. Nature spirits she could fully accept – after all, didn’t the Zen practice of Shoshin urge everyone, even those thinking they were experts, to adopt a beginner’s mind, to see the world as a child?

Tor and Jude joined her, the eyes behind his long, dark lashes unnervingly candid. “Let’s hope those prayers work.”

It sounded like a warning, she thought. “Why would you say that?”

“Because you want to live in the old ways. You want to get close to nature.”

“That’s right. Isn’t that what we should all be doing?”

Tor said, “I’ll tell you something about nature, Jasmine. It doesn’t give a fuck about us. Nature is a stone-hearted killer, and the sooner you all get that, the better.”

This Viking Horror Story isn’t for sale online yet and is with publishers.