The Viking
A fantasy adventure series for ages 8 and up.
Zach Gilman finds himself transported way back in time, to a strange world filled with terrifying beasts, equally terrifying foods, and yes, plenty of Vikings. He soon finds himself at the center of a mythological quest that will take him from one end of the Norse mythological universe to the other.
Saga One: Viking Pride – read more…
Saga One: Viking Pride Zack Gilman is frustrated with his life in Minneapolis—his football-crazed father, Jock, constantly embarrasses him, the love of his life doesn’t know he exists, and former friend-turned-bully Eric Spangler won’t stop tormenting. It’s enough to make Zach wish he were anywhere but home. But when Zack is suddenly transported to a strange world filled with terrifying beasts, equally terrifying food, and a really big Viking named Jok, Minneapolis doesn’t seem quite so bad anymore And the worst part about Zack’s new situation is that Jok thinks that Zack has come to fulfill an ancient prophecy and lead Jok’s tribe to victory against a bloodthirsty chieftain, Erik the Horrible. Still, as weird as this place is…there’s something awfully familiar about it.
Saga Two: Quest for Faith – read more…
Saga Two: Quest for Faith The mild-mannered son of a football-obsessed father, Zack has always been happier staying home and playing with his inventions than sitting in a crowded stadium watching a Minnesota Vikings game. But recently Zack’s world was turned upside down when he was unexpectedly thrown back in time to ninth-century Scandinavia where he met some real Vikings. Now Zack is back in this wild and dangerous ancient world an on his way to the mysterious Jotunheim, the Norse land of the giants, in search of the object that will fulfill the first of his duties as the legendary “Lost Boy.” Only this time, he arrives to find that his Viking friends have all mysteriously disappered…and he’s on his own.
Saga Three: Land of the Dead – read more…
Saga Three: Land of the Dead Back in the ninth century once again, Zack joins the rest of his Viking crew as they set off for the mysterious Norse world of Niflheim, where they must recover the next treasure of Yggdrasil’s chest. They know it won’t be easy, but they find a lot more trouble they’d bargained for. Hel, the ruler of the Viking land of the dead, is determined to keep her new guests imprisoned in her freaky palace forever. She has many tricks up her sleeve—from a hideous flesh-eating dragon to a maze of moving walls to an army of undead warriors—and she’ll use everything she’s got to make sure Zack never makes it out alive….
Saga Four: Hammer of the Gods – read more…
Saga Four: Hammer of the Gods Mild-mannered Zack Gilman is not your ordinary high school freshman. Once content to hang around his house in Minneapolis inventing cool gadgets and making mix CDs for his crush, Ashley, he now spends half his time in the ninth century with Viking warriors in search of three treasures that will fulfill his destiny as the legendary Lost Boy. Now there is only one more treasure left—and the journey to find it will be Zack’s most harrowing yet. It lies in Asgard: the home of the Viking gods. And once Zack has it in his hands, only Thor himself knows what will happen.
ABOUT WRITING THE VIKING – read more…
About writing The Viking Working from an idea that originated at the publisher, I spent the first several weeks of this project on research. I read everything I could find about Vikings, Ninth century Scandinavia, and Norse mythology, all of which figure prominently into the story. I was fascinated by the idea of Yggdrasil, the far-reaching tree that connects all the different worlds of the Norse mythological universe. Once I’d read about that, I knew that Zach would follow Yggdrasil from world to world on his quest — just one of the ways that my research informed the story itself. After the research was well underway, and before I started writing Saga One, I worked up a full synopsis for the four-book series. One of the challenges of writing a series is the kind of multi-level structure it needs. Each book had to have its own beginning, middle, and (hopefully satisfying) ending, but the four books also had to work together to tell a larger story, also with its own beginning, middle, and end. What were the questions asked in Book 1 that could only be answered in Book 4? And what were the questions that can be answered—the situations that could be resolved—by the end of Books 1, 2, and 3? It’s a little like solving a giant puzzle, which isn’t always easy, but it can be a lot of fun. Putting together the puzzle of any story, and watching it start to form a whole picture, is one of the most satisfying parts of writing for me.
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