Michelle Styles: Using raw emotion and GIVEAWAY

At the moment, watching the news about the dreadful humanitarian crisis in Iraq, I keep wondering about what I would do if I faced something like that. Being given a few hours to collect belongings and then travel over difficult country trying to find a safe haven.

Unfortunately situations like this are not unique to our time. It has happened time and again. Around 1000, Christainty was v much in the join or die mode with the Vikings. People who chose to cling to old religions were often cast out if the ruler decided to go for a new one. The Eddas were written in part as a response to this forced Christianisation.  Thankfully today, it would be abhorrent for most main stream religions to behave in this manner and for the most part (outside the Middle East), religious wars are a thing of the past.

 Such times  brings out the best in people and the worst. It is one of the reasons why I like writing historicals — emotions are timeless. People have always lived and loved. They have loyalities and strongly held beliefs. They have always had to confront such evil and loss. In many ways, in by-gone eras it was worse because of the lack of communication and the loss of immediacy.  There again ,perhaps that was not altogether a bad thing.

I find the raw emotion very hard to watch and the way I deal with it a bit is to write. It is one of the lovely parts about being an author when I confront something that is horrible, I can use it to create something, rather than sitting and letting my imagination run wild. For example, the first part of TAKEN BY THE VIKING was written just after my youngest son was nearly snatched off the street of Reykjavik by a drunk. I was so angry that I could really understand how my heorine could kill someone.

I sincerely hope the situation improves for the people whose lives have been turned upside down. I don't know what the answer is. Toleration for others' beliefs might be too much to hope for...but in the longer I have to.

Giveaway

SAVED BY THE VIKING WARRIOR is published on 19 August in print in North America and I September as an ebook. It is available in the UK as an ebook from 1 September and print from 5 September.

"THERE IS NO ONE. I TRAVEL ALONE. I LIVE ALONE. ALWAYS."
Battle-scarred Thrand the Destroyer has only one thing on his mind: settling old scores. But with the beautiful Lady of Lingfold as his prisoner, the unyielding warrior starts to dream of a loving wife and a home to call  his own.
Cwen is also seeking justice, but she knows the fragile alliance she’s built with Thrand will only last as long as they share a common enemy. Unless they can find a way to leave revenge to the gods to forge a new life together

I am giving away one signed copy to Tote Bag readers. To enter please email me (contest@michellestyles.co.uk) with Tote Bags contest in the subject line with the answer to the following question: Where does SAVED BY THE VIKING WARRIOR take place? (hint  read the excerpt)

I will do the draw on 19 August 2014 and will ship all over the world.

Void where prohibited.

Michelle Styles: Stumbling across gold nuggets

At the weekend, while doing some research for my latest work in progress, I stumbled across something that might help answer one of the great historical mysteries — why did the Vikings attack Lindisfarne in 793 AD , in a bolt from the blue?

No one knows for certain. Many theories exist.

One thing for certain is that the Vikings did have trade with Charlemagne, did know about the lands to the West and indeed there are reports dating from before 793 of North men. . What they were not supposed to have was warships that were capable of travelling across the seas.

So why attack Lindisfarne?

When I wrote Taken by the Viking in 2006, the most plausible theory that I read  was that it was a trading mission gone wrong. There is precedent for thinking this. It is what happened in East Anglia a few years later. The Vikings wanted gold and silver. They either traded for it or they took items which cold be traded.

However, recent books, most notably the Hammer and the Cross by Robert Ferguson (2010) speculated about Charlemagne and his muscular Christianity (basically he was fond of invading pagan kingdoms). He thought that maybe the Vikings were reacting against this and this is why they became so violent after years of successful trading. He doesn’t satisfactorily explain why the Vikings would attack Northumbria to get back at Charlemagne though. He did mention that Charlemagne was not very keen on trading with pagans and it was possible that they had gone in search of new markets as traditional markets were being closed to them..

  Max Adams in his 2013 book King of the North  briefly mentions the Viking problem and speculates that perhaps it is to due with the Northumbrian situation. They had turned more towards God than being warriors. But he didn’t have any explanation as why then. But it got me thinking. What did Northumbria have to do with it? Why target their holy sites?

My research from the immediate post Lindisfarne raid threw up a couple of interesting points. There is a brief mention that King Eardwulf (796 -806) married a daughter of Charlemagne.  Alcuin who hailed from Northumbria was also at Charlemagne’s court.

If Northumbria was in alliance with Charlemagne and the Vikings (whoever they were – most likely from Norway around Oslo aka Viken) had grievance against them because of this, it is entirely possible they attacked Lindisfarne with premeditation to send a message to Charlemagne. If Northumbria was an ally, then it might be a way of attacking them by proxy.  The Anglo Saxon chronicles lists all North men as Danes, but recent advances in looking at teeth and where they came from has shown that the Norwegians tended to raid more in the North and over to Ireland. The Danes were definitely at war with Charlemagne though.

Equally it could be that because of the alliance, following Charlemagne’s lead,  Northumbrians refused to trade with pagans. And the North men reacted – either then and there or with pre-meditation, travelling from one of the many trading towns. Or possibly, even as a warship from Scandinavia.

The next year 794, the North men again attacked Northumbria, this time in Jarrow where St Bede’s monastery was. This raid, however did not go as the North men planned, the Viking leader was killed and thanks to a storm (dubbed St Cuthbert’s storm) the boats were shipwrecked  and the surviving North men killed.  Unfortunately as far as I can determine, no tangible trace of this raid has been found  as it is quite probable that they came from same general area as the 793 lot.

Notwithstanding the threat from the North men, Northumbria then dissolves into one of its many civil wars in 796 where Eardwulf emerges as the winner.  He then has to hold the throne against several rival claimants (and various pagan raids)  before he is banished in 806, but returns in 808 with Charlemagne’s help.  Basically Game of Thrones has nothing on English Dark Age politics. It is enough to make your head spin!

But I love doing research and finding out bits that make history more accessible.

In other news:

UK version

US version.

My latest cover arrived in my inbox last month. I was intrigued to see that they had reversed the covers in the UK and the US!  I am not sure which one I like better...Saved will be going out in NA print retail so I am v. excited about this.

 Only last week I was given the exciting news that my latest –TAMING HIS VIKING WOMAN has sold.  I also signed a new contract and am currently writing the second book in that contract -- the reason for doing research on Northumbria!

Michelle Styles writes war, witty and intimate historical romance of Harlequin Historical in a wide range of time periods, including Viking. Saved by the Viking Warrior will be published on 19 August 2014.  www.michellestyles.co.uk has an excerpt.