From Asgard, With Love (Plus Cover Art!)

I had one goal for myself in November--because I knew I didn't have 50K in me after the hyperproductivity of the summer, and going into the holidays is always kind of a mess for getting anything done on this end, in addition--I wanted to finish FROM ASGARD, WITH LOVE before the end of the month.

Now, you should know that when I added this project into my calendar for the year, I thought it had maybe 10,000 words left in it. It was supposed to be a novella. A companion to POSTCARDS FROM ASGARD, but not a true sequel. Nothing too heavy or intensive. (And before THAT it was supposed to be a short story--but I digress.) Just an easy thing to finish and release. (lol lol lol!)

When all was said and done and I typed The End this month, this not-so-light, super-intensive, definitely-not-a-novella had cost me an additional 56,000 words. So yeah. As usual, I'm delivering a much longer than anticipated installment in a series that wasn't supposed to be a whole lot of work for me.

(I should really stop pretending I have any idea of what my stories are going to become, length-wise.)

I have been poking at FROM ASGARD, WITH LOVE for going on six years now. Six. Years. This isn't something I'd normally pay that much attention to, but this particular project's beginning sticks in my mind a little bit more, um, hauntingly. You see, just after I'd started writing it, after moving into my grandfather's house, he had a stroke. And after the very intensive months of his recovery from that stroke, he had another. That one, he didn't ever recover from, and a matter of weeks later, he'd passed away.

As you can imagine, and you'll understand more completely why when you read FROM ASGARD, WITH LOVE, I had to put it on hold for a while after that. I'd come back to it every year, write a couple thousand more words before I needed to set it aside again. Sometimes because I was under contract and on deadline for another project, and sometimes because I just couldn't face it or the memories it brought.

But this year? This year, for the first time, I felt like it was time. Like I was ready to face it and finish it and get it out into the world. I needed to write it, and the writing of it had to be completed HERE, in the house where it had all begun.

And Grandpa--this one is for you.

Amazon | Goodreads

FROM ASGARD, WITH LOVE is coming to you in 2019!

This is a companion to POSTCARDS FROM ASGARD, taking place some time after it, and with a peek at Thjalfi and Gwen living their happily ever after, but it's not really a true sequel. Thematically--Well. Let's just say it's not quite so light and fluffy. I hope you'll love it anyway!

If you're subscribed to The Amaliad, you got to see this cover first. You even got to read about how this book made me metaphorically bleed all over the pages! (Yes, this is me suggesting that if you haven't subscribed already, you should do so! again!)

Don't worry, I see you out there, you dedicated Orc Saga readers desperately awaiting news on Orc3. Wondering why/how I could write this without writing that first. There's a real and legitimate reason--but that's a whole other blogpost for another day. Just know I haven't forgotten you and I'm still working on Orc3, too. And in the meantime, grab THE QUEEN AND HER BROOK HORSE. I know not all of you have read it yet :)

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Postcards from Asgard, Available November 27th!

You've heard me talk about Postcards from Asgard off and on, and you've probably seen the cover below amongst my other books, for your goodreads additions (or subtractions I suppose!) -- well, I'm officially here to say that this paranormal romance novella will be live in paperback and ebook on November 27th! But you can pre-order it now for kindle and have it auto-delivered to your device for some delightful post-turkey pre-turkey-coma reading on Thanksgiving Day.

Want to know more? Here's some back of the book blurbage for your reading pleasure:

Ordinarily, Gwen likes goats, even makes her living by milking them, but these two are some kind of devil-spawn, and one of them is pawing the ground, horns aimed at her gut. The fact that they were followed by a blonde farmhand with a much too charming smile isn't all that much of an improvement, either.

But Thjalfi makes himself useful. He's lean and smart, with a warmth in his pale blue eyes that makes her shiver, and she can't deny that he has a way with her horses. He seems to have a way with her, too.

There's just one problem: Thjalfi's a slave, a bondservant to the god of thunder, Thor, and no matter how far they fall in love, he can't stay.

But this so-called god who owns him? He's about to learn just how far a Midwestern girl will go to free the boy she loves.

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So basically, if you need a #ThorLove fix for your post-Fate of the Gods hangover, grab Postcards from Asgard for some lighter fare to ease the transition to Thor-free fiction, and I hope that Thjalfi becomes your favorite Icelandic teacher, in the meantime, too! (He's definitely mine!) But you don't have to take my word for it:

"In Postcards, Ms. Dillin takes an old myth and turns it into a beautiful contemporary love story. Gwen was strong and stubborn -- her reaction [...] was authentic, believable, and all together hysterical."
-- S.T. Bende, Author of the Elsker Saga

And with this post, I officially declare the blog on HOLIDAY HIATUS! With the possible exception of Santa Theseus's arrival, with some news after Thanksgiving. Don't want to jump on the Santa bandwagon too soon, after all!

See you in January blogfriends! And a Happy Holiday of every shape and style to you and yours in the meanwhile!

(You can get it in paperback now!)
(And Kindle is live!)

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Buy Now:
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The Thor in Norse Mythology Masterpost!

Continuing the trend from last week, to get you all ready for BEYOND FATE's release on the 16th (ONLY ONE WEEK AWAY AHHH!!!), here's a master post of all my MYTHOLOGY* Thor posts!

The Essential Thor

In which I discuss what I believe is the heart of Thor's character! Hint: it is not his muscles or related to the thunder and lightning elements, either.

Thor vs Odin in the Hárbarðsljóð

In which I discuss this most epic of poems and the relationship between Thor and Odin which it implies. Hint: I don't think it was very healthy. Poor Thor! But the poem is seriously amazing generally, and the exchanges between Odin and Thor are fascinating!

Thor in Drag

Because everyone needs to hear the story of Thor dressed up as a bride at least once. It's important.

Thor and Loki

This is maybe one of the most important relationships to understand when it comes to Norse Mythology -- second only, perhaps, to Odin and Loki. But their relationship in the myths is definitely different from the common (Marvel) interpretation, and I think it's even more interesting and fascinating in its original form.

The Goats of Thor

Seriously, this is an instance of the animal companions being fundamental to the understanding of the God in question.

Snorri's Agenda in the Prose Edda

Because for some reason Snorri thought it was necessary to claim that Thor is actually Hector, and it makes me so irate, I had to rant somewhere. But also because it's important to know that these sources are totally post-Christianization and biased, so don't believe everything Snorri writes.

The Story of Thjalfi

As Thor's bondservant, Thjalfi's story is completely and totally intertwined with Thor, start to finish. And it's also a really fun story, generally, about one of Thor's more memorable adventures with Loki, when he bit off a little bit more than he could chew... or um, drink, anyway.

For the Love of Thor

My guest post over at Kevin Hearne's blog gives a pretty great overview of Thor in the myths if you want a quicker version, with a line or two about where my FATE OF THE GODS interpretation differs!

Pantsless Thor

This is maybe more focused on the artistic representation of Thor, than the mythology, exactly, but you should probably know that Thor wore a belt which doubled his strength, and um... what kind of art that resulted in.

And to wrap it all up --

Thor in Comics, Myth, and Film, and the Christianization of Myth

I think this is something worth a lot of consideration and thought -- as I discuss above, most of our sources regarding Norse Myth and Thor are drawn from a post-Christian world, and even written BY Christians. But myth is a living thing, and those stories are still evolving, and so are our interpretations of the characters. These new interpretations and retellings have value!

*look if I linked to all the posts, we'd be here until next year. There are so many, guys. So. Many.

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Buy Now:
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Postcards from Asgard, A Paranormal Romance Novella Coming in December!

In case you hadn't heard -- Postcards from Asgard is coming your way this December in time for Christmas! (After BEYOND FATE, Fate of the Gods #3 hits shelves in September which AHHHH SO EXCITED!)

So here's a little bit more information about this fun paranormal romance novella (totally UNrelated to Fate of the Gods, p.s.) featuring Thor's bondservant, Thjalfi, who you will soon know, and hopefully, love:

In the meantime, mark it to-read on Goodreads!

and did I mention it'll be available in paperback, as well as ebook?

Well. I just did!

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Buy Now:
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Today's post will post Tomorrow! But here's a Postcard!

Tune back in on the 21st for a Cover reveal woo!

and in the meantime, here's a peek at what I've been doing when I haven't been writing (sometimes photoshop soothes my writerly nerves.)

Call it a mystery. or a Teaser. Or you know, both.

And come back tomorrow for the cover reveal for the Fae Anthology!

Liebster Award!

Cait nominated me for the Liebster Award and I am taking advantage of the filler content while I write up a gazillion blog posts for my upcoming blogTOUR for Forged by Fate! You should also know that Cait is supremely talented and awesome, so do, please, go check out her blog if you are not already following her!

Liebster works like this:

1. 11 random facts about me.

2. 11 questions answered for the person who nominated me.

3. I nominate 11 picks for the award, and make up another 11 questions for them to answer.

4. Nominated peoples will be listed below with their 11 questions of DOOM.

5. Nominated people do the same; paste the award badge to your blog, give us 11 random facts about yourself, answer my 11 questions, and choose your nominees…but you cannot nominate the blog who nominated you.

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okay, Random Facts:
1) I wish I could skip the random facts and jump straight into the questions. (this fact might be a cheat)

2) Sometimes, making choices when given too many options really overwhelms me. I have a hard time choosing books in the bookstore for this reason, but also I have a terrible time picking what movie we should watch from the DVDs we own, or the Netflix queue.

3) Usually this results in my going for an old favorite. It's just the easier choice. I know I'll love it already, so there's no room for disappointment.

4) I hate glitter and I run a glitter free household. When cards come in the mail with glitter on them, I make el husband open them and then dispose of them. I do not handle anything that has glitter on it if I can help it, because inevitably, said glitter ends up on my face. I saw a GLITTER PUZZLE at the store yesterday and shuddered. (Why would anyone want that?! Why?!)

5) I love the scent of Geranium. It just smells so CLEAN in this really natural way.

6) I cannot stand the scent of Vanilla handsoap if it is in a bathroom. I prefer lemon or pretty much anything that isn't vanilla. Outside of the bathroom, vanilla handsoap is fine.

7) I have always dreamed of living in the house I am living in today, and being a writer. Now, I am.

8) I nearly had a chunk of my thigh bitten off by someone's pet tiger. The only reason it didn't was because I was too stupid to flinch.

9) After it licked my hand and almost bit me, I realized I was REALLY allergic to tigers -- my eyes would NOT stop itching.

10) And so died my ambitions to be a tiger keeper in a zoo. well. Okay, that didn't actually kill my ambitions. It was just another nail in the coffin when the time came. The thing that really killed it was the idea that I would have to take ALL science classes for three years to get my degree in wildlife biology, and I realized, you know, I just do not love science that much. Also, some of those classes involved doing animal skins, and I *really* did not love science enough for that.

11) When I moved to North Dakota, I hated how friendly people were. Like a good New Yorker, I avoided eye-contact and kept my head down. I hated that I could not go anywhere without people I knew saying hi and asking how I was and stopping me to chat. Like the random guy in Target whose name I didn't even know, for whom I made copies once a week or so for his club, and was all "I was wondering what had happened! I hadn't seen you at the desk in weeks! What's going on with you? Where have you been?!" To whom I answered "um, I graduated and got married?" I believe he hugged me in congratulations and enthusiasm with some extra nice things said and I walked away a little bit confused and shell-shocked, but feeling really, really, special. Now that I am back on the east coast, I kind of miss it sometimes. Strangers do not make you feel special on the east coast, normally.

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1) What category/genre do you write, and why?

      Adult Fantasy/Historical Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Romance. Why? Because I love mythology. And mythology involves three things: Love -- even if it is crazy obsessed love with no consideration for the other person; History -- it wouldn't be mythology if it happened today, it would just be religion; and Gods -- which sadly means, sometimes, that your work gets put in the fantasy folder, whether it really should be there or not. Forged by Fate belongs on the fantasy shelf. But. In my humble opinion, my manuscript, Helen of Sparta (which has yet to find a home) does not. Both have gods and myths.

2) What category/genre do you wish you wrote, but just doesn't speak to you?

     Science Fiction, I guess. And sometimes I think that my writer-life would be easier if I wrote YA. But I don't really feel like I wish I wrote it. I'm totally satisfied with being a writer of adult works! And I like that I don't have to really worry about "is this okay for teens?" when I'm writing. 

3) Tattoos/piercings/hair dye?

     I used to have my ears pierced but they closed up a while ago. I just can't be bothered with keeping earrings in them. I dyed my hair a couple of times in college, but only because it was part of the social grooming of living in an all girls residence hall, and someone else was willing to do the work for me. I would LIKE to do a couple of streaks of blue in my hair one day. Maybe to celebrate my book release in March :)

4) Big 5, Indie, or Self? And why?

     I am currently going Indie/Small Press, because Forged by Fate and the rest of the Fate of the Gods trilogy definitely belongs at one. But I hope and dream that Orc Romance and Helen and maybe even Pirithous will go Big 5 -- Why? Because it will mean that more people will be able to read the books. It will mean that they might one day be on a shelf in those holy grails of TARGET and WAL-MART, where EVERYONE has the opportunity to impulse buy them. And of course if one of those books gets to that point, it will mean more sales of Forged by Fate as people look up my other work! But I am very happy with World Weaver Press as a publisher, and the personal attention they give my books! And I am very happy with the distribution WWP can provide. Frankly, the whole experience has been painless, and I'm absolutely positive it would not have been so, for these books, at a larger press.

5) What's your weirdest/most interesting talent?

     Um.

     ...

     I make bathmats from those potholder kits with the loops? I don't know. I've got nothing. I don't have interesting talents outside of writing, really. I guess I am pretty good at making photocopies? That was my job in college. I am NOT good at selling appliances. Yeah. I've got nothing.

6) Dog or Cat?

     Both! I have a cat now (who is easily the most ungraceful and silliest cat ever), and had one growing up (she was much more poised), but I *love* dogs too, and I'm looking forward to getting one in the spring! Yesterday I was sorely tempted to impulse buy a ball python, though, also. For the record. And I still really want goats.

7) What inspires you to write?

     Um. I don't know. A particular song that speaks to me, a really good movie, a really fascinating story. A really interesting relationship between two historical or semi-historical characters. A phrase. There's this one thing I saw someone tweet a while back, a Latin saying, and I opened the tweet in it's own tab and have been keeping it open since, because man, there is a book in those five words.

8) What is your favorite character you've written?

     That's a really hard question. I love Thor and I love Theseus and I love Pirithous and Thjalfi and Ullr. I love my heroes the most, I guess. So that narrows it down. But choosing between those three... I guess I will have to go with Thor. I do love Thor a lot, and he's stuck with me since I wrote him. Since before I wrote him. He never goes away, and I like that too.

9) What is your favorite character you didn't write?

     From someone else's books, you mean? The answer to this might still be Thor, but let me think for a minute. Oh! Han Solo. Yes. I am going with Han Solo. And then maybe Aral Vorkosigan. And then maybe Lars Dahl.

10) If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

     I would like to try Iceland! 

11) What is your favorite book of all time?

     Gah. Of all time?! Uhhh. I reread Shards of Honor at least once a year, but I also love, love, love Giants of the Frost, by Kim Wilkins. It might be my *new* favorite book. Only time will tell, I suppose! Dudes, I do not know the answer to this question. Maybe it is the Crystal Singer Trilogy, for that matter! or Moreta! STOP MAKING ME CHOOSE THINGS.

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okay, I am so glad that is over. Let's see. Now I have to come up with 11 questions. Hmmmm.

1) What do you LOVE? (Not a person, but a thing)

2) What do you HATE? (again, not a person -- this could be a pet peeve of grammar or glitter or whatever)

3) Favorite Author?

4) What's your favorite period in history? why?

5) What's your favorite Myth (or fairy tale)? why? 

6) Or, if you have not read enough of mythology/fairy tales to have a favorite, what's your favorite god/goddess in mythology?

7) Which character of your own would you most like to have show up on your doorstep? 

8) For Friendship or Romance? Why?

9) Which character of someone else's would you most like to have show up on your doorstep?

10) For Friendship or Romance? Why?

11) What book have you read the most? Or if you don't reread books, what book do you most remember the experience of reading?

My Nominees:

Frankie Diane Mallis (because you are blogging every day in January and you are bound to need some filler!)

Stephanie Thornton Author of The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora (I um. I'm sorry. I won't feel bad if you ignore this! But, I'm sure your answers would be interesting!)

Diana Paz Author of Timespell! (heart!)

Zachary Tringali (build that platform!)

L.T. Host (because I want to read your answers too!)

Mr. Radon (you blog a lot!)

Valerie Valdes (because you all should read her work, and again, interesting answers!)
Kristina Wojtaszek Author of Opal! (because interesting answers, a third time!)
Trisha Leigh Author of The Last Year series! (tell me EVERYTHING!)

Yeah, okay, I am done now. I am definitely not picking 11 people. that is a LOT of people. But. You all who are not these people should be looking these people up and checking out their work and following their blogs so go! go now!

(guys. guys! we are AUTHORS now!)

The Story of Thjalfi (part II)

When last we left our hero sidekick, Thjalfi had just been taken into Thor's service with his sister, Roskva. But that was not the last of Thjalfi's adventures. Thor, being Thor, struck out again on his journey, continuing on his way to Jotunheim with his two new bondservants in tow. Thjalfi was put right to work carrying Thor's bag during the journey, and Snorri even tells us:

"Thjálfi was swiftest-footed of all men;"

Thor vs. the sleeping Skrymir

Along the way they ran into a pretty terrifyingly huge giant named Skrymir. So immense was Skrymir that his glove, hanging out on the ground, appeared to Thor and his companions to be a shelter, where Thor, Loki, Roskva, and Thjalfi spent the night.

Inside the thumb.

Thor and his companions traveled with this Giant through Jotunheim, during which time Skrymir prodded and provoked Thor (under the guise of amiability), and Thor tried and failed to kill him while the rest of his party pretty much shook in their boots. Lucky for everyone, Skrymir didn't seem interested in more than testing them, and left them all in Utgard, where Thor and his companions (Thjalfi included) prevailed upon the hospitality of Utgarda-Loki (not to be confused with Loki the Trickster, though Utgarda-Loki is very much deserving of the same title, as you will soon see!).

Utgarda-Loki scorned Thor and his companions pretty openly. And why shouldn't he when the god had shown up on his doorstep, in enemy territory, dependent upon his goodwill for food, drink, and a bed? Utgarda-Loki demanded that Thor and his companions prove their worthiness and their skill before he allowed them to stay in his hall, and of course Thor and his companions rose to the challenge (all except Roskva, who appears to have been given a free pass, either because she was a woman, or because she was just a girl, it isn't all that clear).

First, Loki claimed he could eat faster than any man in Utgarda-Loki's hall. He was beaten by a man named Logi who ate not only the meat, but also the bones along with it, and the trough in which the food was laid out.

Second, Thjalfi claimed he could outrun anyone that Utgarda-Loki chose for him to race against. Thjalfi ran three heats against a boy named Hugi, but though Utgarda-Loki said he had never seen anyone as swift as Thjalfi against Hugi, the poor Thjalfi still lost all three attempts, and by a wide margin.

Finally, it was Thor's turn. He claimed he could outdrink anyone in the hall (sheer quantity of liquid, not liquor-holding, though I suspect he would have been a champion in that department as well). Utgarda-Loki handed him a large drinking horn, filled to the brim. According to Snorri:

Then said Útgarda-Loki: 'It is held that this horn is well drained if it is drunk off in one drink, but some drink it off in two; but no one is so poor a man at drinking that it fails to drain off in three.'

Thor tried. Really hard. But he couldn't down the contents of the horn in one, two, or three drinks. In fact, he had barely lowered the level of the liquid. At this point, someone had to have realized that SOMETHING fishy was going on in this hall, but Thor was too busy getting worked up about his own failure, and I'm sure Loki was busy being sick from speed-eating while Thjalfi was walking off his failed races.

Utgarda-Loki gave him a second chance. Kind of. Framing the challenge as insultingly as possible, Utgarda-Loki challenged Thor to pick up his cat off the ground. Thor, puffed and no doubt furious at this point, immediately took up the challenge. But try as he might, he could only lift the cat enough to move ONE of its paws from the floor. Now. I imagine by now even Thor was starting to figure out that the game was rigged, but he wasn't going to give up of course, because Thor can always, always be counted upon to take up a challenge and gosh darnit, he was going to prove himself to Utgarda-Loki if it KILLED him to do it!

So. Utgard Loki offered him one last insult chance, and said he could wrestle with an old woman who had been his nurse, named Elli. You can imagine how much this provoked Thor, to be considered so unfit an opponent that only an old woman was brought forth to challenge him. Thor struggled and fought and wrestled with all his heart, but the old woman stood fast and firm, and Thor ended up falling to one knee, defeated.

Utgarda-Loki, having thoroughly shamed and humiliated Thor and his companions, then saw fit to give them a place to sleep and a good breakfast, all friendliness and hospitality. He even came out to see them on their way the next morning, and it was only then that he told Thor that NOT ONLY had it been Utgarda-Loki himself who was the giant Skrymir, but also this:

'Now I will tell thee the truth, now that thou art come out of the castle; and if I live and am able to prevail, then thou shalt never again come into it. [...]So it was also with the games, in which ye did contend against my henchmen: that was the first, which Loki did; he was very hungry and ate zealously, but he who was called Logi was "wild-fire," and he burned the trough no less swiftly than the meat. But when Thjálfi ran the race with him called Hugi, that was my "thought," and it was not to be expected of Thjálfi that he should match swiftness with it.

And that drinking horn? Thor was drinking the SEA itself. The cat was none other than the Midgard Serpent in disguise. And the old lady he wrestled. Oh, she wasn't any old lady. She was Old Age, personified.

As far as Thjalfi's story goes, I would say it is no small thing to be so fast that the only thing that can outrun you is thought. Not bad for a peasant's son!

And that is the Story of Thjalfi, Bondservant to Thor, according to the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson.

The Story of Thjalfi (part I)

One day, Thor and Loki decided to go for a journey. This is not at all abnormal for Thor. He does a lot of journeying. Mostly to pick fights with giants, or to pal around with Loki. They get into a lot of trouble that way. This particular journey, Thor stopped at a peasant's house to spend the night. Because Thor is aware of his own appetite, and generally just a generous guy, he offered one of his goats for dinner-- because they're magic, as you will recall-- and the peasants were thrilled. I'm sure a whole goat, even with Thor eating a good portion of it, was more meat than they had seen on their table, well, ever.

Not Thjalfi's proudest moment

Now, the peasant and his wife had two children, a boy named Thjalfi, and a daughter named Roskva. Thjalfi was a little bit precocious, and apparently he really liked the taste of bone marrow. Now, for myself, I don't really understand the appeal, but I guess it's nice and rich, and the kid was probably in heaven over the sheer quantity of food one his plate, so I can give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest that maybe he just got a little bit carried away. But for whatever reason, at some point during this incredible feast, Thjalfi broke one of the goat's leg bones and sucked the marrow out in an excess of enthusiasm.

Nobody seemed to really notice him doing this. Probably because Thor was making a racket belly-laughing, back-slapping, and mead-guzzling. He was good at those things, and peasants were HIS PEEPS, so I'm sure he was perfectly at ease. In any event, they enjoyed their dinner, and everyone went off to bed in his or her corner of the cottage.

The next morning as he was getting ready to continue on, Thor gathered the bones of his goat and laid them on top of its hide, then swung his hammer over the mess of it. Through the magic of Mjolnir and the goats themselves, the bones and the hide reformed into his goat, whole and uneaten. But there was a hitch. The bone Thjalfi had cracked for the marrow didn't heal. Thor's goat was lame in one leg.

Now, Thor, being Thor, was most decidedly and most obviously displeased about this turn of events. He doesn't hide much, and he is KNOWN for having something of a temper. Plus, I mean, c'mon. He had shown these people a great deal of generosity, favoring them with his presence and sharing his meal of magic goat with them! So when they saw his brows crashing down over his eyes in anger, they fell to their knees before the god of thunder and begged for his forgiveness, terrified of his anger.

Thor, being Thor, was willing to forgive them, and frankly, he hadn't meant to frighten them quite so much, but when it came down to it, their son had cost him a valuable STEED. With the goat lame, he would have to leave his cart-chariot behind and travel on by foot. The peasants, recognizing this, offered Thor their son Thjalfi, and their daughter, Roskva, as bondservants to repay the god for the trouble their son had caused him, and probably also to keep themselves in his good graces. He was the god of an incredible elemental force, after all. Thor agreed, and leaving his goats and the chariot with the peasants, he struck out again on his journey with Loki, Thjalfi, and Roskva in tow.

And that, my friends, is how Thjalfi, a peasant's son, came to be in Thor's service. But stay tuned! Thjalfi's story is not quite over yet.

(PART TWO!)

The Nature of Magic Blogfest-tacular!

Thanks to Tessa and Laura for hosting this most excellent blogfest on what magic means for us or our characters! Please do head over to Tessa's blog to read the other contributions!

This little gem came from a new, um, what-seems-to-be-a-novella-in-progress, about a woman, Gwen, who finds herself saddled with two MEAN and NASTY goats (named Masher and Blender) out of nowhere, followed shortly thereafter by their supposed keeper, Thjalfi, and some very strange postcards in her mailbox. It's a little rough, but I think it illustrates the nature of magic for Gwen perfectly.

I popped the lid of the garbage can and began digging through the mess. The postcard should have been on top. It had been the last thing I’d thrown away that morning before going out to the barn.

“What exactly are you looking for?” Thjalfi asked.

“That postcard from yesterday.” 

Eggshells and wrappers from my frozen dinner last night. No trace of the postcard. I sat back on my heels, scowling.

“What’s so important about it that you’re digging through your trash?”

I waved vaguely in the direction of the table as I climbed to my feet. “It came in the mail again.” 

“Another one?”

I stared into the garbage can. “I can’t find the old one. But I only threw it out this morning. Ripped it into pieces first. Now it’s just gone, completely. And that new one is…” I shook my head and went to the sink.

Thjalfi sifted through the mail until he found the postcard. I washed my hands up to my elbows and turned to watch him, drying my hands. 

“I see,” he said.

“It’s like someone dug it out of the trash and put it back together again.” I stepped forward to point at a corner. “It even has stains from the eggshells.”

He read the back and tossed it to the table. “I wonder what he means by this.”

“Well it’s clear what he means, but it isn’t what it said before. The other one said I should invoke his name and the goats would obey me. This one says he sent you. But it looks like it came out of my trash!”

“Yes,” Thjalfi said, still staring at the mail. “I see that, too.”

“How can that be, though?” I stiffened, spinning to look behind me to the living room. “He’s not here in the house, waiting? What is the matter with all of you that you don’t know how to wait until you’re invited in!”

“If he were here, I’d know,” Thjalfi said, catching me by the arm. “And he wouldn’t have bothered sending a note.”

“Then what the hell happened to the card I tore up earlier, and why does this say something different on the back of it?”

Thjalfi pressed his lips together, creases forming around his eyes. He pulled a chair out and pressed me toward it. “Maybe you should sit down.”

“I don’t want to sit down,” I said, jerking my arm free and glaring. “I want to throw whoever invaded my home into the pen with those damn goats and let them tear him to pieces!”

Thjalfi smiled. “No one invaded your home, Gwen. But if they had, throwing them in with the goats wouldn’t do you any good. That postcard is from Asgard. Tear it up a thousand times and it will still put itself back together on command.”

“But it can’t be the same. The message is different.”

He shook his head. “You think if it can put itself back together again, it can’t also be rewritten with some new note?”

“Paper does not glue itself back together, whether it’s from Canada or not.”

He laughed then. “Is that where you think Asgard is? In Canada?”

My face flushed, though I didn’t know why. I grabbed the postcard and stuck it in his face. “It says so on the postmark. Mount Asgard, Canada.”

“That is what the postcard says, yes.” He lowered my hand, working the card free from my fingers. “But Mount Asgard isn’t where this is from. It’s just a place it passed through, in Midgard. Asgard is someplace else entirely.”

“Are you some Fantasy nerd?” If he was, it made a lot more sense. The Gandalf on the stamp, the talk of Midgard. Wasn’t there a country in Lord of the Rings named Midgard? I couldn’t remember. I’d only seen it once. “The leather pants, the tunic-like shirt. Do you – what do they call it…? Larp? Like those people who dress up for renaissance festivals?”

He gave me a very strange look, his eyebrows rising. “What?”

“Never mind.” I cleared my throat and looked away. “Evidently not.”

“If you’d just listen, suspending your disbelief for a moment, I can explain everything.”

“With magic paper, Thjalfi?”

“Magic paper, magic goats, magic lands. Yes. And after Masher and Blender arrived unannounced, you ought to have at least begun suspecting that something strange was going on. You’re an intelligent woman.”

“Yes! And that’s precisely why all this hocus-pocus makes absolutely no sense!”

“All right,” he said. “Then how exactly do you explain it?”

I grabbed the postcard back from him and tore it in half, then in half again, and again. Then I crossed to the window, pulled it open, and threw the pieces outside. The wind picked them up, lifting them up like snowflakes, and I watched them scatter.

“I should go check on the chickens,” I said.

Thankfully, Thjalfi didn’t try to stop me.