I have a new website!

Hello everyone,

     I am pleased to announce that I have a new website, thanks to Wix.com! The new site is meant to be my new official author's page. I shall still be using this blog (the website does link to this blog), but the new page allows me to showcase my published books and stories for fans. Check out the new website HERE!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

More Stories Available NOW! More Stories On the Way!

Hello everyone,

     First of all, I am pleased to announce that "The Tale of Halfdanur the Black," my summer camp project for Camp NaNoWriMo, was completed several days ago and went through quite a bit of editing so I could make it available for everyone. This forms a sort of prequel to The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper, telling the story of Halfdanur Svarti, the father of Asa's antagonist, Haraldur. It is now available on Kindle - the settings did not allow me to make it free, but it is now available for $0.99! You can find it HERE!

     Anyway, having that done and ready meant that I was able to include that as the final story in the new collection, Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume I, now in paperback for $9.99. This collection gathers the first nine storied published in the Channillo series Tales From Midhgardhur (Runner Up for Best Fantasy Series in the 2016 Channillo Awards) as well as "The Tale of Halfdanur the Black." I plan to publish other collections as the series progresses. The new book is also available on Kindle.

     Of course, I am also working on my next Channillo story for Tales From Midhgardhur - the next installment will be "Knight of the Green Chapel," a story set in Theiphalia, a region of Gaunorria (a region roughly equivalent to Poitou, France in our world). I have not yet set a publication date for that story, but it should be out sometime in early August.

      I hope that you will check out the new publications and I truly hope that you will enjoy them! If you do like what you read (not just my work, but whatever you may happen to read), please consider writing reviews for Amazon and Goodreads. The reviews really mean a lot to authors, and help other people find our work!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 17 - What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Hello everyone!

     I am pleased to say that I am officially over my word count goal of 10,500 words (currently at 10,528 words, in fact!), so I have "won" Camp NaNoWriMo. Now I start editing the heck out of this so I can add it to the next book I have forthcoming, Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume I. I also plan to make the finished version available for free on Kindle, since it forms a sort of prequel to The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper. And don't worry - I am also working on my next story for the Channillo series, Tales From Midhgardhur!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 12 - Back In Black

Hello everyone,

     Well, as AC/DC says, I'm back in black! That's funnier if you know me personally and know that my wardrobe pretty much consists entirely of black clothing . . . but also makes the point that music is a powerful source of mood and inspiration for me. When I am writing Midhgardhur material, I often seek inspiration or even just ambiance in music. Tonight's music is MANOWAR - If there were an official soundtrack to my Midhgardhur stories, it would be the music of MANOWAR! In particular, tonight's soundtrack is Battle Hymns and Sign of the Hammer! If you don't know this band, you should check them out! They are not for everyone, but if you're one of the people for whom they make their music, you'll probably fall in love with their stuff (although the albums to which I am listening right now are their earliest work, and not necessarily their best work). Anyway . . .

     So I took the weekend off from writing to attend a new Arizona gaming convention called Crit Hit. Crit Hit 2016 was a lot of fun! I ran three different Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG zero-level funnels, and it was awesome! When I returned from the convention, I was a little burned out, I did not get right back to summer camp work right away (shame on me!). So today I had to buckle down and get back to it! I am hacking away at my word count goal (I'm currently at 8606 words out of my goal of 10,500 words, so I'm getting close - only 1900-odd words left to go to my minimum goal!). Today I added a bunch of stuff I wasn't sure would make it to the story, including mention of Halfdanur's parents (their story is complicated, and I wasn't sure I wanted to get into it - for the most part I didn't, I just mention them in passing. I just finished reading a novel that deals with the historical Halfdanur's parents - you can check out Song of the Valkyrie by Steven M. Rogers if you are interested!). I also figured out a way of working in an episode that seemed a bit too silly to work in my story in its original version, so that felt good. Anyway, I'm now fully back in the writing groove . . . back in black!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

P.S. The image above is an illustration of the murder of Gudhrodhur the Hunter, father of Halfdanur the Black, by a man with a spear. This episode was mentioned in my writing today, so I thought it would make an interesting illustration for this post!

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 7 - End of (Out)Line

Hello everyone,

     To say that I am exhausted would be such a dramatic understatement as to be actually worthless in conveying how I feel at present. I have a two year old boy who decided not to sleep more than a combined total of about 2.5 hours last night (not continuous!), so I'm going on a couple of days with no real sleep at all and trying to cram everything to meet self-imposed deadlines . . . So yeah. Anyway. Tonight, I caught up with the end of my initial outline for my Camp NaNoWriMo project. I'm at 7873 words or so, but I've reached the end of the outline I was working from. So now I have a lot of editing and fleshing out of this skeleton to do, especially if I am to make my goal of a minimum of 10,500 words. I also have material for my next Channillo story for Tales From Midhgardhur pouring from my skull - I need to get it onto paper or pixels soon, before I lose it! Plus, I may not get much done over the next couple of days - I need to actually sleep at some point, and I'm going to Crit Hit in Phoenix, AZ this weekend . . .

     On a related note, I am very much looking forward to Crit Hit. I'm Judging 3 Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG modules ("The Portal Under the Stars," "Sailors on the Starless Sea," and "Hole In The Sky"), plus I signed up for some games I love - Call of Cthulhu, Hunter:The Vigil . . . and I signed up to try Tunnels & Trolls with Ken St. Andre (the creator of T&T, which was the 2nd RPG ever created), so that's like Geek Bucket List material right there, that's like playing D&D with Gary Gygax . . .

      Anyway, given the circumstances, I may not post again for a few days. Don't take it personally. I'll be back!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 6 and Word Count Wednesday

Hello everyone,

     Today is the 6th day of virtual summer camp at Camp NaNoWriMo, and it is my first Word Count Wednesday of the month! The news from camp is that I am at 5994 words on my Camp NaNoWriMo project, The Tale of Halfdanur the Black, which is awesome - my ultimate goal is a minimum of 10.500 words, so I am more than halfway done already, in theory. But I also figured out today what I want to do for my next Channillo project in Tales From Midhgardhur. At present, I have just the barest outline of that, at 136 words. But I think it's going to be a great story! And it may end up being the kickoff to Volume II of Tales From Midhgardhur . . .

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 5 - Rough Chapters Taking Shape!

Hello everyone,

     Well, the 5th day of my virtual summer camp at Camp NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close, and I have a rough outline of three chapters completed, at a total of about 4511 words! I think it is going to be six chapters total, and the ones I have written are in pretty rough shape, so I have a LOT of work to do - but there are rough chapters taking shape! I've got a two-year-old toddling around my house, which limits the writing I can do during the day, and this weekend will be a wash for me (I'm Judging some Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG games at Crit Hit here in Phoenix this weekend!), but I've got my outline and I'm getting as much of a head start as possible so I'll be ahead if my productivity crashes, which seems like a virtual certainty at some point!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 4 - Independence Forever!

Hello everyone,

     Happy Independence Day! The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. Today it was not just American Independence Day, but also the 4th day of virtual summer camp with Camp NaNoWriMo. My toast for the 4th of July every year is "Independence Forever!" - the final Independence Day toast of John Adams, who died on the 4th of July, 1826, the same day as his friend, Thomas Jefferson.

    I've been working on The Tale of Halfdanur the Black, and I think it is coming along quite well. I finished the first draft of the Dofri episode I mentioned previously. It is much longer than I expected, and needs editing, but it is a good start. Currently, my word count is up to 3646 words.

     Meanwhile, the print version of The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper is off to a good start, and I'm very proud that my Channillo.com series Tales From Midhgardhur was runner up for Best Fantasy Series in the 2016 Channillo Awards. Tales From Midhgardhur will also form the basis of my 2nd book in print, which should be available around the end of August - Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume I. It will contain all the stories published on Channillo.com so far, as well as The Tale of Halfdanur the Black (which will not be on Channillo, but will be available for free from Amazon on Kindle).

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 3 - More Giant Stuff!

Hello everyone,

     Day 3 of Camp NaNoWriMo, and the writing is going smoothly. I credit the fact that I plan a lot in advance so I can flesh out my outline to my heart's content without getting lost in what I'm doing. Anyway, I worked more on introducing the "Dofri the Giant" plot line to my story today; it wasn't in my original outline, so I'm concentrating on that first, in case I run into problems I didn't anticipate because this wasn't in the original specs. Currently, the tale is sitting at 2484 words. According to Camp NaNoWriMo, I'll hit my minimum word count on July 13th if I keep up this pace. Keeping up the pace may prove difficult, given the recent changes to my household routine, but I'm happy to be ahead of the curve for now - at the very least, it means I have a bit of a buffer if I am not able to work on my story some days . . .

Happy Reading! Skál!
~Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 2 - Giants In The Earth

Hello everyone,

     Well, my writing time is very short for the 2nd day of Camp NaNoWriMo (I've got a 2 year old toddling around my home, and I'm running a Pathfinder game in about an hour!), but I did a bit of work on The Tale of Halfdanur the Black. In particular, I've been working on adding an episode that was not in my original outline (it does not appear in the sources I originally used for research, but I found it in another saga, and I want to use it) - an episode in which the young Haraldur frees a giant named Dofri from imprisonment (the illustration above is of that scene in the Flateyjarbók). So I did some work on the giant today. My word count is currently at 1975 words (my goal is at least 10,500) - also, coincidentally, the year in which I was born! Anyway, I'm done with writing for today, and off to prepare for Pathfinder! 

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 1 - The Tale Begins!

Hello everyone,

     So it is July 1st, and summer camp (Camp NaNoWriMo, anyway!) has begun - with The Tale of Halfdanur the Black. I'm working from an outline I prepared in advance, but I'm beginning to put some real flesh on that skeleton! My minimum goal is 10,500 words (child's play, and not even really a novella length), but I shall happily surpass that if I can! My word count for the first day is about 1168 words and counting after a word sprint with some cabin-mates! Off to a great start!

Happy Reading! Skál!
~ Colin Anders Brodd