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Showing posts with the label Sci-Fi

Jarnsaxa rises up in your podcast queue.

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Jarnsaxa Rising 's a NorsePlay'd sci-fi/fantasy 18-episode audiodrama cut from the format of classic 1920s radio shows, mixed with much of the higher-consciousness imbued binaural panache of ZBS' productions from the 1970s/80s where galactic cyborg gumshoe Ruby would have to unexpectedly deal with ancient Mesopotamian death goddess Ereshkigal, or spiritual traveler Jack Flanders had to brave a metaphysical landscape that was both within & without himself, except here the tropes & structure are from an expanded re-characterization of Norse Mythology. For Jarnsaxa the jötunness, her axe to grind is with Thor, her ex-lover, and her opportunity for vengeance happens in the corpocratic dystopian future of 2094 CE via possession. In noir backstory style, we're introduced to a pair of company employees sent to investigate why a wind turbine on a Baltic island is generating power when it shouldn't be on at all, and that's the hook the story unfolds on, crossing...

Norse Wars: Luke Skywalker cuts off Grendel's arm.

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Luke cutting off the wampa's arm after reclaiming his lightsaber in the ice cave is much like a combination of Beowulf tearing off Grendel's arm in Heorot and killing Grendel's mother with the ancient magic  sword he retrieves in the monsters' cavernous grotto lair. We could also point out that Anakin & Luke both lose hands whilst fighting a Dark Side figure, sort of like Tyr's sacrifice of his hand to Fenrir , and that the name of ice planet Hoth appears to be linguistically derivative of Norse God Höðr as Høtherus, this latter name being Saxo Grammaticus' more heroic version of that figure in his Gesta Danorum: The History of the Danes . Does all this make the technologically scavenging Jawas & Ugnauts species of dwarves ? Is the blaster-wielding aggro Princess Leia in essence a  space-shieldmaiden ? Are nigh-invulnerable Krayt dragons really children of Níðhöggr? Would the Emperor's Crimson Guard be derived from Viking Varangians? Is Snoke'...

Vikings from spaaaaaaace!

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This pulp cover art is from an old 1977 CE Ace edition of  Space Viking , a re-print of the 1963 CE first edition by H. Beam Piper.  I haven't had the pleasure of reading  Space Viking , so here's a pretty insightfully & unexpectedly Norse Lore referential review from user "DenimLord666": [Space Viking] shares many similarities with Völsungasaga and Brennu-Njáls saga with obvious literary motifs and homages to the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson. Essentially Lord Trask of the planet Trask is a mirror image of the vargr Grettir Ásmundarson and Egill Skallagrímsson. Whoa. Get your  Ulfberht Mk III plasma rifles locked 'n' loaded, NorsePlayers! Let's planetfall raid, and slay some skræliens for their powerfusion caskets! #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seven. Since t hen he's been fascinated by the...

Odin's on time patrol.

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Kevin Eugene Johnson's cover art for Poul Anderson's Time Patrolman (1983) features Odin walking away from a timecycle tucked away in the forest! Done specifically for the second novella in the book The Sorrow of Odin the Goth . Inquiry: If Odin actually rides a time machine, then does Sleipnir's eight legs really represent a blurring temporal quantum super-position field? #    #    # Guillermo Maytorena IV knew there was something special in  the Norse Lore when he picked up a copy of the d'Aulaires'  Norse Gods and Giants  at age seven. Since t hen he's been fascinated by the truthful potency of Norse Mythology, passionately read & studied, embraced Ásatrú, launched the  Map of Midgard  project, and spearheaded the neologism/brand NorsePlay.   If you have e mployment/ opportunities in  investigative mythology,  field research, or product development to offer,  do contact him .