From now until 11:59 p.m. PST Feb. 28, I’m offering Acceptance as a free e-book to celebrate the end of February and the approach of spring! If you are a fan of sword and sorcery or darker fantasy stories, definitely check out this piece. The Augur’s Rose Series #2 will be out some point this summer.
Don’t mess with the dead. Pure common sense. Necromancy gets messy — yet when pitted against Berit Gyllen . . . something or other . . . Svein is the only one wallowing in the filth when his artifact retrieval mission for the Mothers goes sideways. Perhaps he should have listened when that blasted bird told him to run.
Fun Facts About The Augur’s Rose Series
If you missed out on the Acceptance release party on Facebook, here are a few fun fact in regards to The Augur’s Rose Series.
FACT #1: I originally started Acceptance for a contest but didn’t finish it in time. It was also a more experimental piece that has morphed and expanded into what it is now. I loved the character of Svein so much that I decided I wanted to revisit him, and that is how it became an ongoing serial. It’s serial nature also led me to pursue self-publishing.
FACT #2: The Augur’s Rose Series combines Roman and Scandinavian lore and history. Svein’s name is Norwegian and comes from the old Norse for “boy.” Ironically, Vidar’s (Svein’s hooded crow companion) name means “warrior.”
FACT #3: Vidar is a hooded crow, which resides all over Europe and parts of the Middle East. They are different than carrion crows in that they are gray and black rather than straight black. Vidar shares his name with one of Odin’s sons in Norse mythology. Odin, of course, was known for his connection to ravens. Funny enough in Faroese folklore, a maiden would go out on Candlemas morn and throw a stone, then a bone, then a clump of turf at a hooded crow – if it flew over the sea, her husband would be a foreigner; if it landed on a farm or house, she would marry a man from there, but if it stayed put, she would remain unmarried.
FACT #4: I love reading a variety of magazines and online articles. When doing so, sometimes inspiration strikes — such was the case when I stumbled across this article from the Smithsonian magazine about Catholicism’s martyred saints, which are kept on eternal display. Paul Koudounaris, who is a member of The Order of the Good Death alongside Caitlin Doughty (Ask a Mortician), authored a book on these saints. This inspiration can be seen early on in Acceptance. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/…/meet-the-fantastically-be…/
Fact #5: If you don’t know what an augur is, please visit my original post on the subject at https://smwright.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/what-is-an-augur/. It involves forecasting the future and sacred chickens! And yes, there will be sacred chickens in The Augur’s Rose Series future.
Blood & Ink 