Why are book clubs crucial?
Who else can writers turn to when publishers lay off staff and slash already skeletal publicity budgets? I’ve watched my lovely publisher, a long-time reputable university press, go from multiple staff down to two people, one of whom is in an interim position. Is my book going out for review? I can only hope and do my best and ask you, my readers, to assist in getting Sigrene’s Bargain with Odin into the hands of libraries, booksellers, and of course your delightful book clubs!
I wrote this book because I love it. It was a complete and utter obsession. Part of me said I was a fool to spend so much time writing a book of poetry set in Norse mythology: who would read it? And then when it morphed into an actual novel, I almost despaired. But I kept on writing because I was having so much fun.
Who knew that novels in verse would become popular?
Award-winning poet and memoir writer Kate Braid says of Sigrene’s Bargain with Odin:
“This book shimmers in content, style and power. Zoë Landale, who did her research in Iceland, explores the fascinating world of Valkyries and skyhorses, the world of Odin, Freyja and the Norse gods. Here, shapes and genders shift, horses protect us and trees speak wisdom as Landale tells the heart-stopping story of one young woman’s efforts—against the will of two of the most powerful gods—to avenge the rape and murder of her sister-friend.”
It’s the “avenge” part that might stick in a guy’s craw. One male publisher who’d asked me to send him this book, sent the manuscript back with comments expressing horror at something the protagonist Sigrene did.
Not a single other reader, publisher or editor even commented on that part. Possibly the first publisher’s issue was not gender-related at all, it was just a question of taste.
Would your book club would like to grapple with this? In case you would enjoy them, I prepared questions included in the book.
Who is that keener in the back row?
If you’re on Pender, please join me, Joy Llewellyn and Evan Llewellyn at the library on April 3rd at 1 p.m. Joy and Evan are dear friends, good writers and we are all happy and comfortable in front of an audience. Our aim is to make sure listeners have a great time! We’re supported in this reading by our lovely local bookseller, Carrie from Talisman Books who will be selling our books. Special thanks to Jenny at the library for the poster.
My name is Esja. In memory’s dark mirror, I stand
before Freyja’s hall. Yellow birch boards shine;
spring sun forces my eyes to narrow. Underfoot, stone.
Everyone calls me Sparrow, then laughs when I say, No
I’m not. Who wants to be a little brown bird? That’s not
fair. Maybe the ship of night will help me win back my name.
The hall rises, a whale to my herring, defining
who I am, Freyja’s daughter but only half god. My hair dangles,
tangled, across my eyes. It itches. I dress
myself in the Valkyries’ castoff tunics, hacked, fraying.
This one’s loose threads tickle my wrists. The linen feels
softer than the scritch of wool, good as a skyhorse’s face,
grey Sleipnir who lowers his ear for me to clutch.
Patient as a mother cat with a kitten, he touches
my shoulder with such gentleness Valkyries laugh: so much
scarred warhorse devotion. For them, it’s a sign
of something fresh in the world, the sight
of a child and the stallion pausing in sun,
the mismatched pair we are. Our devotion blazes
like a bright shiver of the sky-candle on a blade;
shield-maids are partial to that blink
of light though too wolf-hearted themselves to mother
any. Now the skyhorse tosses his head and mutters;
I lay a brown star-hand on the muzzle known as Crusher.