by Steve Curry
Ia Drang is a valley, by a mountain, in Vietnam, where a bunch of Americans rounded up way more vietcong than their daily limit. One of my uncles was there. He suffered from some pretty severe social effects but towards the end I got him to talk about his time in the service. Troyce Ray Stacker was the seed for much of Magnus’ backstory. The battle was made into a movie “We Were Soldiers”.
Runes The runic alphabet of the Norse has several variations. Magnus uses the elder futhark of twenty-four runes. It can be used to write a message, carve a marker stone, or depending on who you talk to they are tools to divine information, or cast magical effects.
Valkyrie There are a number of “choosers of the slain” named in various stories. Kara, Brunhild, Gondul and more. Alternately called Swan Maidens or Wolf Maidens, they are under the direction of Freja rather than Odin. Odin does have control of them when attending to his warriors in Valhalla though.
Skaldic Poetry, Hugin and Munin Not for the first time, Magnus enjoyed a visit from one of Odin’s ravens. Hugin or thought, and Munin or memory, are the eyes ears and solid state storage drive of Odin in our world. In AWOL they speak in dreams and always in Skaldic Poetic verse. The main skaldic verse is alliterative rather than rhyming. It is an imabic meter with stress on every other syllable. The alliteration occurs in the first syllable of every couplet and the next to the last syllable in the first line of every couplet. I know, it’s confusing, and challenging, and I can’t help myself.
The Dream world, Yaqui, The Bone-Lady etc. A large chunk of this book takes places in a dream sequence initiated by the Yaqui shaman. The yaqui are related to both Aztecs and Apaches. The stories of their conflict with Mexican officials are epic. Tio Bill uses a version of Ayahuasca to achieve the mental state for the dreamwalk.The bone lady Magnus ends up with is a staple of many shamanic beliefs. She welcomes new shaman to the dreamworld and usually ritualistically kills them and then imparts the knowledge of other worlds before sending the initiate back as a shaman in his own right.
The Angel of Mons During World War One a story appeared in newspapers. It told of an isolated group of British soldiers trapped by a much larger force of Germans. Just as things looked hopeless, an Angel appeared in the heavens and opened a gateway through which ancient warriors with obsolete arms appeared and drove the enemy away. The respite allowed British troops to escape the impossible situation. The good christian lads attributed their survival to divine intervention. I just theorised that maybe they got the divine agent wrong. Later the story was declared a hoax. But who really knows?
Draugr Norse vikings were known as fierce foes. So their terrors had to be just as fierce. A draugr was the norse equivalent of a zombie, ghoul, rampaging undead and vengeful spirit all rolled into a super powered threat. You can read about them in several sources or fight them in the game Skyrim by Bethesda.
Ogham Just like the norse had their mystical and magical alphabet and divination tools, the Celts had a version of their own. It was most often associated with various plants and trees but was supposed to have been comprehensible as a written code to certain nobles and warriors of Celtic legend.
Appendix
Wounded Knee It was hard finding a suitable place to illustrate that Magnus was not always the “nice guy” that he seems to be some of the time. Wounded Knee was one of the most brutal and well documented atrocities to occur in the old west. I apologise for any offense or discomfort the scene might cause. Most of the “facts” are true down to weapon and equipment descriptions as well as certain names. I can’t testify to the presence of Einherjar, Valkyrie or holy Mandan warriors though.
Weapons speaking of weapons above, everything from the field artillery pieces to the high-tech scopes and weapons later are real and researched equipment. In some instances I’ve even managed to fire a few of them.
Chilaquiles, Tres Leche and more Robert B Parker was well known for putting food and cooking front and center in many of his books. It rubbed off. Of course a decade of Culinary and Hospitality service probably had it’s impact too. All of the food is real and you can find recipes. Or wait for me to get the cookbook together and some of the recipes out on MyWyrdMuse.com
Tenochtitlan was what we now call Mexico City. At the time of the Spanish conquest this city of Aztecs was larger than anyplace in Europe with the possible exception of Constantinople. Even London or Paris would have suffered from a comparison.
Yaocihuatl The daughter of an important Toltec chief was given in marriage to the chief of the Aztecs as they moved into central America. They managed this by telling the Toltecs that they would make her a goddess. It was never mentioned that they meant they would sacrifice her to Yaocihuatl, their goddess of weather and beauty, for fertility and abundance. Nor did they bring up the part where she would be skinned and worn as a talisman for rituals.
About the Author
Steve Curry is a fledgling author just beginning to use a spread of experiences and careers. His current forays into writing are Urban Fantasy infused with Culinary tidbits from a decade as a Le Cordon Bleu chef. Military weapons and protocols plus realistic medical and physical descriptions abound from his work with Uncle Sam’s Army NBC branch and time as a Licensed Respiratory Therapist in ICUs across the nation. Toss in lots of mythology, new age religion, supernatural goodness and real world history along with a soupcon of Jim Butcher’s humor, and a few pinches of Robert Parker’s character building traits to see how he’ll entertain you.
He currently resides in West Texas under the management of a yellow hound dog with claims on most of a large bed. Others in the hierarchy are an imperial princess and rainbow unicorn riding granddaughter, his wife, the imperial queen and mistress of eyerolls, and an uncountable horde of invading mongrel cats.
The author enthusiastically accepts reviews and for such a favor will praise you to your ancestors or whatever higher power suits you.
You can join others interested in his work at Steve Curry’s author page linked below.
www.MyWyrdMuse.com
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