Hi. It's been a while, hasn't it? How ya been? I hope you and yours are doing well, thriving even, and that getting ready for the holidays however you do or don't celebrate them, is treating you kindly. You probably forgot you even signed up for this little newsletter.

So, what's up?

I'm reaching out now, today, because I've put a new book out and I'm genuinely proud of having my name on it. It's called "All Is Hell Bent" and it's my take on the story of Loki from the viewpoint of his wife Sigyn. She rarely gets much attention in the Norse myths, so I've chosen to give her a voice here, to see this old tale through her eyes.

Okay, what's the book about?

What would make the goddess of Constancy hitch her wagon to the mercurial Trickster as he spiraled toward Ragnarok? That was the question in my head when I did a deep dive into these myths over a decade ago now. Why would she put up with his shit? Could it maybe, possibly, have been love? I thought so, but how did it all play out? How did they end up in the dark cave together at the end of all things?

It was a powerful enough idea that I sat down and wrote a novella about their story, their love, and the tragedy of their family. I was utterly swept away in writing it, one of those special times a writer sits back and wonders where the work came from because surely it can't be mine. (and no, I don't mean in the AI way) But I did write it and I'm immensely proud of it.

As I was putting the book together, I also gathered a few poems, a short story, and some meditations (patterned after Rilke's Book of Hours) all Loki-related from that time I spent in deep exploration, hence the book's subtitle "And Other Dispatches From Asgard".

What's the book like?

To give you a sense of it, if you loved "The Witch's Heart" by Genevieve Gornichec or "Circe" by Madeline Miller, you will probably enjoy this, too. If you'd like to learn a bit more about it, I'll be posting a few things on my author site this week.

If you're interested...

Did I mention I'm proud of it and think it's really good and you might like it? If you're interested, you can find All Is Hell Bent and all purchase links (print and ebook) on my author website.

And if you read it and enjoy it, considering telling a friend about it, I'd be grateful if you did. If you know someone who would be interested in reviewing it, they can fill out my reviewer copy request form.

Wrap up

So, that's the newest of the new from me. Thank you for being on this list. If you choose to stick around, thank you. If you'd like to see me pick this newsletter back up again in some form, I'd love to know!

Thank you and best wishes, my friends. Be well.