NorsePlay.

While in Norway's Bergen, during my recent cross-Atlantic trip, I went to investigate the Map Of Midgard sites of The Giants Grim & Godmund's Golden Horns: Above's the current day Alrekstad Skole, the site where Álreksstaðir, King Olaf Tryggvason's residence, once stood. Odds are this long building probably sits squarely where the royal hall used to be, so it's easy to imagine it being there. The story of the Giants' Grim & Godmund's Golden Horns from Helga þáttr  þ órissonar tells of two giants both named Grim entering Olaf's hall bearing the gift of a pair of golden drinking horns from their Jötunn King Godmund. Olaf has the giants served, and being the hardcore convert that he is, blesses their drinks. The giants, being Heathen supernatural creatures, find they now cannot drink them, and are angered at this seeming turn of backhanded hospitality. They cast darkness in the hall, kill three of his men, and leave via a mountain pass, which beca...

During the current ongoing backup & editing process for The Map Of Midgard , I took a four-month departure to produce a proof-of-concept Odin-specific map, the  Óðinnsvegr : The Path Of Odin map , which is now for sale at Nexus Books in Tucson! Prints are $25 USD each, and a glass & wood framed version is $75 USD. Note that in under 24-hours, the first batch of map prints have sold, and I've had to go restock them already! You may also contact me directly for purchase, and I also have plans to have them retailed at a few other venues in Tucson, and will announce that here as it happens. Note that  map purchase includes Gmail account access to the digital map with rollover story/source data and GPS coordinates!  For example: About the  Óðinnsvegr : Using the 54-Odinic mappoints from the larger Map Of Midgard , I commissioned Medieval Mapmaker Jesse Kennedy, an artist who has extensive experience in hand drawing hundreds of map designs. I'd met him y...

This grave find from Aska, Hagebyhöga, Östergötland, Sweden, was mentioned in a recent video by Dr. Irina-Maria Manea as being thought by some to be the head of Mímir! If so, the specific design of this silver head pendant measuring about 2x2x3 centimeters provokes further thought. To NorsePlay: Knotted Mouth: The pretzel of Mímir's mouth might indicate difficulty in getting the dead jötunn to talk. Clawed Head: The bird crowning  Mímir and literally digging claws into his temples might be the device that compels him to speak. Huginn & Muninn: If the bird is literally the either/both the ravens of Thought & Memory, then it would be functionally appropriate that they are extracting their namesake mental information from  Mímir. While all the methods of this necromancy may seem cruel, you should remember that  Mímir could easily just given his own nephew a drink from his Well Of Wisdom but instead stingily demanded Odin sacrifice an eye,...

After starting the Map Of Midgard Project, I took note when Viking Metal band Týr's lead singer Heri Joensen mentioned an Álfar rock in his Faroe Islands' childhood home during an interview, and I personally made an investigative foray to go see it during my recent Scandinavian cross-Atlantic trip. According to Joensen, at fishing village Lamba's harborside on Eysturoy,  sits a rock inhabited by hulderfolk which no one dares move for fear of fierce retribution. The cabbie had never heard of the rock, and stopped a senior Lamba resident out on his afternoon walk to ask and check my story. The sock beanied man in the insulated track suit nodded & pointed down the road, confirming that we were headed in the right direction. At road's end a private property sign on chainlink fence blocked off the dock where the stone was, but the cabbie asked a forklift operator moving a huge tub of fish if we could go in to have a look, and he said yes while laughing a little, which ...

Discovering that celebrated Argentinian author, librarian, & intellectual Jorge Luis Borges wrote a survey called  Ancient Germanic Literatures was like finding a hoard of gold in my backyard, and I finally got to open & read this brief book during my recent Scandinavian cross-Atlantic vacation. As an investigative researcher, avid reader, Hispanic writer, and appreciator of Borges, I was totally enthusiastic to explore his insights into the sources from a Latin perspective I could personally identify with. Borges' masterful surrealism & erudition is pretty much second to none, so to turn that brilliant spotlight of his mind upon the deep dark wells of Norse source texts was such an exciting prospect. Yet, not to criticize the Master, my essay & short fiction-bred high expectations of Borges were actually far beyond what his intention was , and the fault in doing that is solely mine.  When writing  Ancient Germanic Literatures  back i...