Valhalla Conversations

Joining me in Valhalla is returning guest, Joshua Gillingham from Little Hammer Games, as we discuss and officially launch his latest @kickstarter card game, Halls of Asgard! Join the Kickstarter by the link below: "HALLS OF ASGARD is a semi-cooperative social strategy game for 3-6 players (25-45 min) with absolutely stunning hand-painted art by celebrated Norse mythology artist Helena Rosova. Clocking in on the lighter side, it’s a great starter for those new to board games with easy set up, a simple mechanic that can generate surprisingly intricate cooperative strategies, and guaranteed memorable times. The semi-cooperative aspect lends itself to a delightful tension between defeating Hela, goddess of the Norse underworld, and out-doing your fellow Asgardian gods. Each player takes on the role of a god (Odin, Thor, Freya, Heimdal, Idun, or Loki) with two unique powers and one unique curse. Gazing down at the mortals passing through the life stages (Child/Warrior/Elder) on the Midgard board, they use their powers to claim heroes that join them in their hall in preparation for Ragnarok. Along the way, Hela claims mortals off the Midgard board and gains all those who die without honour or glory of old age. A unique clan mechanic and differing mortal values (0/1/2) adds an extra element of strategy as gods collect their heroes. If one of the gods can defeat Hela through the strength of their gathered warriors, the gods win; however, if Hela ends up with the highest strength score, all players lose as Ragnarok sets the nine realms aflame."

Joining me in this episode is Dr Roderick Dale, we will discuss his role in the former World Tree Project looking at observations of Viking representation in the modern world, and then dive deep into our misconceptions about Viking Berserkers. You can buy his book 'The Myths and Raelities of the Viking Berserkr' from Routledge - https://www.routledge.com/The-Myths-a...

Joining me as our first guests into Valhalla for 2026, is historical fiction author and historian, ⁨@cjadrien⁩ - he also co-hosts the ⁨@vikingologypodcast⁩ too! Alongside his talented artist wife, Crystal Whithaus as we discuss and explore how they teamed up to create a very charming, entertaining and also engaging childrens book about Vikings as a people from a time long ago. It is available to buy on demand from Amazon. Book Blurb: “I’m a Viking!” is a history book about the Viking Age for kids. Join Leif, a chieftain’s son who wants nothing more than to grow up to be a Viking just like his dad. Follow Leif as he gives you a tour of his life—the things he must learn, the things he likes to do for fun, and much more. Conceived and written by author and historian C.J. Adrien and illustrated by the talented Crystal Whithaus, “I’m a Viking!” is an excellent primer for young minds interested in the past. Don’t be fooled—grown-ups may learn a thing or two, too."

For our final podcast episode for 2025 I'm beyond thrilled to have invited not one but three of my favourite Viking Age historical fiction authors into Valhalla. Justin Hill, Giles Kristian and Theo Brun. So we can take a deep dive into their own connection and interest with viking history, what inspired them to write and so much more.

Joining me in the great mead hall of the gods is Terry, otherwise known as Bjarni the Cabbage Killer. Why? Because part of his day job is slaying cabbages with sword, axe and spear. Why? Because for many decades he was a science teacher BEFORE becoming a viking-age re-enactor. And then when he retired from formal education he discovered a way of combining his love of science and alchemy with the historical side of his life. And thus Bjarni the Science Viking was created to visit schools, participte in historical festivals, science shows and more!Take a seat and listen and learn from the many stories and anecdotes and history lessons Terry has to share from his remarkable and unique career. From medieval medicine, alchemy of making ink for writing on parchment and making paints to illuminate manuscripts, through to the evidence of physics in weapon use. We discuss the only Viking Age longhouse in Cumbria, the Moorforge Settlement, and the very recent discovery of a longhouse 5x it's size from the 10th century in Cumbria itself! The largest ever to be identified in the UK!https://www.scienceviking.com/https://www.facebook.com/TheScienceViking

Returning to the great mead hall of the gods with "glorious purpose" is ⁨@SamFlegalart⁩ of Fateful Signs, as his latest artistic translation of Old Norse poetics is now LIVE on Kickstarter and in this third edition, the focus is all on Loki and this most popular to many, but unknown to many more, manuscript, the Lokasenna. "Fateful Signs presents "The Illustrated Lokasenna,” a collection of art by Sam Flegal. This 138-page book explores ancient Norse poetry by engaging the sub-conscious’s recognition of shape and form, in an effort to tap into a greater visual and spiritual understanding of the ancient Norse text. With your support we created "The Illustrated Hávamál," and "The Illustrated Völuspá." The third book in this series - "The Illustrated Lokasenna" - will be another beautiful, high-quality art book worthy of a place of honor in your book horde! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/samflegal/fateful-signs-the-illustrated-lokasenna?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=lokasenna&total_hits=1 You can find the Fateful Signs project at www.fatefulsigns.com or follow on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.Join PATREON to see behind the scenes and get early access to art.

In this episode, special guest Chris Tuckley (who is leading a million-pound project at Selby Abbey) joins me in Valhalla to share his experience and encounters of a piece of vikings in popular culture that is both overlooked and otherwise forgotten - Erik the Viking. And viewers/listeners may be surprised to learn that the late Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) actually wrote a children's book BEFORE leading on the spoof comedy that was the film. We discuss what makes the children's book so good for all ages, universally regardless of it now being a 30+ year old, how Mosaic Games then developed an interactive narrative game based upon it, and finish off with an honest review of the film and how and why it unfortunately didn't do well when it releaed in 1989, and why it is an artefact of it's time now.

This episode of Valhalla Conversations is dedicated to comic artist, Tim Odland who sadly passed away this summer of 2025. Tim's life long dream was to illustrate comics for ⁨@imagecomics⁩ and 'Beware The Eye Of Odin' is that comic, that dream. I will treasure my copy as an example of Tim's extraordinary talent. Thank you for your dream, Tim. Rest in Peace.After a hiatus over September and October due to my academic pursuit in valkyries taking priority for a while, I'm delighted to declare Valhalla is once again open and our next new guest is comic writer Doug Wagner. I have invited him to the great mead hall to discuss one of his under-appreciated comics, Beware the Eye of Odin, featuring lots of trolls, curses, huldrafolk and valkyries and so much more. We discuss and explore how he and Tim came up with this wonderfully human story set in a very mythological world of norse myth and folklore. Doug Wagner is an American comic book writer whose Image Comics include PLASTIC (co-created with Daniel Hillyard), THE HARD PLACE (with Nic Rummel), GUN CANDY (with Brian Stelfreeze), and THE RIDE (with too many to list). He’s also written titles such as I.C.E., World of Warcraft: Bloodsworn, Legends of the Dark Knight, and Witchblade/Red Sonja. Doug can be found hiding out in Park City, Utah where he spends his days creating madness, frolicking down the slopes with his lovely wife, and reveling cuddle time with the sweetest kitty in the world. You can follow his exploits at @Doug_Wagner on that social media thingy.

gcjshxi5Regular followers/listeners may be wondering where Episode 19 is of our usual monthly Valhalla Conversations podcast series? Well - the answer is that due to a very important debut article which is consuming all my available time and energy I am pausing content creation, including podcast recording with several exciting new guests until November. Consider Valhalla closed for cleaning if you like. We will return, we will reopen, and I am biting on my metaphorical shield with eagerness to hit the ground running in November with 5 new episodes planned, 4 of which will be released between November and Christmas to see us into 2026. I have a very active and thrilling guest list to send invites too and host recordings with. Hopefully you will be patient, understanding and wish me luck as I tackle this very challenging piece of academic work.gcjshxi5

Behind every great man, is a great woman - and in the 11th century, there were many men claiming, taking or inheriting the throne of England, and thus there were also many great women. Following the debut of BBC's King & Conqueror historical drama - I invite historian Sharon Bennett Connolly onto the podcast to discuss the very real lives of these remarkable female figures, who all had their own role and influence to play in the most turbulent century which resulted in the fateful events of 1066. Join us and learn the truth about Queen Emma, Gytha, Edith Swan-neck, Edith of Merica, Matilda and many more. You can learn more about these women in the following books: Silk and the sword: the women of the Norman conquest by Sharon Bennett Connolly. Queen Emma and the Vikings by Harriet O'Brien. Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I by Tracy Borman. Queen Emma & Queen Edith: Queenship and women's power in eleventh century England by Pauline Stafford.#historicalfigures #historicalevents #1066 #BritishHistory #EnglishHistory #HaroldGodwinson #WilliamOfNormandy #EmmaOfNormandy #QueenEmma #Matilda #Flanders #Normandy #HaraldHardrada #EdwardTheConfessor #AethelreadTheUnready #EnglishThrone #EnglishKings #EnglishQueens #RoyalHistory #EleventhCentury #England #Norway #Witan #Earls #Mercia #Wessex #Northumbria #BBC #HistoricalDrama #HistoricalTVSeries #TVSeries

Joining me in this month's episode is comic writer ⁨@Zackkaps⁩ , we will be discussing Kill All Immortals ( ⁨@darkhorsecomics⁩ ) with spoilers and exploring his creative and cleverly inspired choice to use a family of Vikings, and a particular famous family for those in the US, to grant them immortality and billionaire level wealth. We discuss greed, freedom, independence at what cost, the perception of Vikings as brutal warriors and reveal exciting news for the future of this comic story arc. Zack Kaplan is a break out science fiction comic writer and creator of such comics and graphic novels as KILL ALL IMMORTALS, BEYOND REAL, MINDSET, BREAK OUT, METAL SOCIETY, FOREVER FORWARD, JOIN THE FUTURE, THE LOST CITY EXPLORERS, PORT OF EARTH and ECLIPSE. After just a few short years, he has worked with publishers such as Image/Top Cow, Dark Horse, Aftershock, Vault, Scout Comics and DC Comics. His first three series were all optioned for TV adaptation, with PORT OF EARTH currently being developed by Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Ent. Zack has taught screenwriting and storytelling at the International Academy of Film and TV, located in the Philippines. He currently lives in Los Angeles. https://zackkaplan.com/ - Kill All Immortals - Succession meets John Wick…with immortal Vikings. A thousand years ago, Viking explorer Erik the Red and his four adult children discovered a mysterious source of immortality. Now, in our modern world, they are an enigmatic billionaire family with a powerful banking empire. But when Erik’s only daughter, Frey Asvald, seeks to finally be free from her family’s influence, she must be prepared to reveal their supernatural secrets and confront her well-trained siblings in a deadly and epic struggle for power. Get ready for a bloodthirsty immortal fight like no other! https://youtu.be/nAgOg-zFIrM?si=Dvnt0EUgIv2KubuH Writer: Zack Kaplan Artists: Fico Ossio, Thiago Rocha and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou ⁨@ThoughtBubbleComics⁩ Comic Festival & Comic Con, Harrogate, November 2025. https://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/

Joining me this month as my special guest, is author Kaitlin Felix as we discuss and explore her stereotype smashing historical fiction novel, Ran's Daughters, who feature a remarkable cast of Norse women and one heck of a historical adventure! If you like authors Bernard Cornwell, Giles Kristian, Justin Hill, then you will LOVE Kaitlin's book. I was an ARC reader for it before release and I read it in 3 evenings with great enjoyment and her writing is sensational. I love it so much that I indulge myself by reading aloud the Prologue to grant you a taste of how good it is. Kaitlin Felix writes Norse historical fiction and fantasy. Her work has featured in anthologies and international publications. You can find her full list of works here. Her upcoming novel, Rán’s Daughters, is published with Outland Entertainment as part of their Althingi Universe. https://katifelix.com/

Join me in discovering a stunning set of special photographs and their talented photographer. We meet a very unique and talented photographer, Jenn Robinson, who is also a near decade long member of Regia Anglorum, and her amazing photographs that have captured moments from the legends of the Norse pantheon. See them in full glory at her website: https://jenniferpetersphoto.com/reenactment And find out more about Regia Anglorum, UK's biggest historical re-enactment society: https://regia.org/home.php

Joining me for this month's episode is a good friend of mine, Genevieve Gornichec, due to our shared passion for all things Norse and I'm delighted to finally after years of talking online about her wonderful Norse Fantasy and Norse History books, 'The Witch's Heart' and 'The Weaver and the Witch Queen'. Learn what inspired both stories about remarkable female figures of mythology and history, her experience writing and publishing, her second life in viking age living history and so much more. Please discover more about Genevieve and her books at her website: https://genevievegornichec.com/

Clear the mead benches, lay out fresh straw, roll out the mead barrels and prepare to welcome the most "hapless" group of Norse heroes and heroines to the Hall of the Worthy as we welcome: Game Master, ‪@ianstuartsharpe‬ aka Mr Vikingverse, who has recently completed an actual play podcast, Vikings & Valkyries, of his uniquely norse Thought & Memory Saga adventure set in the When The Wolf Comes universe. You can listen on YouTube and Spotify. https://vikingverse.com/podcast-episodes Along with Characters/Players: Bill Hopkins, a GM-for-hire on StartPlaying (using the stage name MagicLudi). He also has channels on Facebook, Twitch, and Youtube so you can get a taste of his GM style before signing up. https://startplaying.games/gm/magicludi Steve Madill, a prolific author of science fiction and fantasy, with over a dozen books across three series. http://www.sjmadill.com/ ‪C J Adrien‬ an award-winning author of Viking historical fiction novels and co-host of the ‪@vikingologypodcast‬ podcast. https//www.cjadrien.com/ Annina Kaski, actress, writer, producer and star of ‪@BardicQuest‬ and Find more of her work at the ‪@theawkwardactress‬. Taylor Moe, filmmaker, blacksmith and Dungeon Master at Silver Fire Films.

My next special guest in this mini series meeting the many talented and skilled and knowledgable folk who are part of this years ⁨@JORVIK-Viking-Centre⁩ Jorvik Viking Festival - is a truly talented storyteller by the name of Jason Buck. I chat to him about how he first encountered the Norse myths, how he creates the stories he enchants audiences with, we discuss the nature of stories and their enduring power, the blessing and curse of not knowing all the norse stories ever told, how various folklore share similiarities and many other topics I hope you find interesting. If you are at all interested in attending one of his live or online story events please visit his website here: https://www.jasonbuckstoryteller.co.uk/ You can begin to experience and listen to his wonderful and skilled story of The Shield Maiden thanks to this video recording he made of it, in two parts, 4 years ago on YouTube - https://youtu.be/LkQv0ZmJbLE?si=WV8hZFwyVSi8hOx0 And if you are interested in the Viking Folklore and Fairytales collection I am currently reading - you can find out more about it here - https://www.flametreepublishing.com/viking-folk-&-fairy-tales-isbn-9781804172308.html

Return and join us in Valhalla as we conclude Episode 15, Norse Games & Vikings in Games, with special guest academics, Luca Panaro (University of Iceland) and Emma Thompson (University of Leicester) - Part 2! - If you haven't watched/listened to Part 1 please do so, otherwise you will miss out on the many games and topics of representation discussed - Games mentioned in Part 2 are as follows: Roki @PolygonTreehouse Final Voyage of Draengr Thar (table top role play game for 5e Dungeons & Dragons) by @1ShotJC Tribes of Midgard @TribesofMidgard @norsfell Odin's Ravens (table top card-based game for 2 players) Althingi (table top card-based game for 4 players) @JoshuaMGillingham @outlandentertainment1295 Viking Raders (table top card-based game for up to 4 players) @vikingraiders When The Wolf Comes (table top role play game, powered by Shadow of the Demon Lord rules) @ianstuartsharpe Svilland (table top role play game for 5e Dungeons & Dragons) @DRSPublishing Journey to Ragnarok (table top role play game for 5e Dungeons & Dragons) by Mana Project Studio Choice of the Viking by Declan Taggart @ChoiceOfGames Niffelheim @NiffelheimGame Expedition Viking @LogicArtists Northgard @Shiro_Games Bad North @Rawfury