NorsePlay.

Not to let the  hokey Twain-ist title fool you, Edmond Hamilton's  A Yank at Valhalla  delivers  a Norse-inspired genre mash-up in fine pulp style. [Original pulp from January 1941.] Part lost civilization fantasy, part science fiction,  Hamilton plays with the idea that behind mythology lies a greater truth. Physicist Keith Masters, during an exploratory survey flight, gets blown into a hidden area of the arctic  where he discovers the secret lands of  the Norse Gods . [An Ace double version from 1973.] Stylewise, the many typos (a pulp given) are  unexpectedly balanced out by some lovely .50-cent word selections, and it's neat shifting gears as a  reader between scientific terms and medieval descriptors. This integrated juxtaposition aside, a lot of  the presentation is stirring with cries of "Our swords for Asgard!", impressive feasting hall settings, and  saga worthy melees & martial battles. [UK re-tit...

Neil Gaiman faced the daunting task to adapt the narrative holy of the holies, the ur-book stories, the most ancient tales known to man from which all other tales have since flowed from: Norse Mythology . As we told a childhood friend of Neil's last month, Neil is a fearless writer, that before Neil there wasn't a great movement in the fantasy genre to use the Gods as actual intimate first & close third-person protagonists. [Neil Gaiman being fearless!] We look back at his record for this daring talent with reading pleasure:  The Sandman  (his breakout World Fantasy Award-winning graphic novel series expanding the being of Greek deity Morpheus),  American Gods  (heavily featuring Gods from various pantheons), and  Odd & the Frost Giants  (a  NorsePlay  story for children of all ages). And now, in a tribute to pay back what originally inspired him, Gaiman offers us his version of  Norse Mythology . In his introduction, ...