A Sword Song

Just thought I'd post a poem that I just wrote because I have not written poetry in a long time, nor have I posted one on this blog yet. I've been reading lots of Viking novels lately and was inspired to write a sword song. One of my favorite poems ever is "The Sword-Chant of Thorstein Raudi" by William Motherwell. I was unfortunately unable to find it on the internet, though I didn't look overly hard either so if you really want to read it you might be able to find it somewhere. But anyway, that was the poem that really inspired me to write this one. I loved how it was written like a love song from a man to his sword. For some reason that was just really sweet to me ;-) Anyway, here's the poem and a weird picture of a Celt a drew to go along with it. I don't really know what's wrong with him, but it was just a quick sketch anyway. ;-P Hope you enjoy!

Sword Song

Oh, glorious and bright,

Thrumming through the air;

Our souls are one, there’s none can cut

This bond that we do share.

You’re forged, sweet Brand, like a thousand stars,

Sharp and blinding as the sickle moon.

Gore slips from your sleek flanks

As we together send men to their doom.

Oh, how it felt when I first held you

My sweet Carver, it was like Valhalla's Hall

To know you were mine, my heart did sing;

Together we could make the foe fall.

Ah, Sweetsinger, in my palm I love you best

As we dance together in battle sound;

The crimson flow you cause to fall

That drenches the new spring ground.

I kiss you in victory, we both rejoice,

There’s none to part us twain;

The steelsman who forged you stole a bit of my soul

For our blood is one and the same.

And when I do go to meet my kin of old,

My comrades, lovely Brand, shall not part us still,

For you shall lie only upon my breast

To the place we shall fight and drink our fill.

So sing I this Sword Chant the eve of fight

As you shall sing me yours next morn in frey;

We shall dance, we shall scream, and let blood together

To be honored together on the victory day.

~~~~~~~~~

Also, I'm excited to show you my first blog button! (Now, in all truth, I don't really know what the deal is with the buttons, but I kind of like them, and I wanted to practice my graphics skills anyway, so I'll be making more of them!) This one is a brothers in arms button, kind of tying in with my up-coming novel "By Blood and By Bond" as you can see they're Celts, because I have just wanted to draw wode on everyone right now. And they could be two characters named Caolan and Faelan who are my brother pairing in my novel (and who you will hear more about later!) But my brothers in arms button is for my wee cause to bring real brotherly love back (see here and here for an explanation; I hate to beat a dead horse--not that I would beat a horse or anything else except bad guys anyway). But if you like the button, feel free to adopt it (is that the right terminology?) and link it back to my blog!

I'll be posting more stuff soon hopefully! I have a fun guest post coming that is looong overdue and another blog stop hosting as well as (hopefully soon) an announcement for another short story release! 

Also (here I go beating a dead horse) remember to take a look at my tour for "On a Foreign Field" if you have the time! It will be ending soon, and October 4th is the last day you can enter for my $25 Amazon gift card giveaway and also the last day you can purchase "On a Foreign Field" for $2.99 on e-book.

Slainte, Hazel

Trends: Redheaded Heroes, Anyone?

So I wrote in my post "The Female/Male Swap" that I would be wirting about trends in books and movies or things relating to them. Today I'm writing about something I was thinking about the other day when I was trying to find a blasted picture for a book cover I'm working on and that is: Why are there no redheaded heroes?

You know, the handsome knight rides up to save the lady, he leaps off his horse, rips his helmet off and flips back his BLOND hair.

Or then you have the dark brooding heroes with angst who have the piercing eyes and the BLACK hair.

But you never see redheads. Who are they? The sidekicks, the funny guy, the best friend, but never the hero. Sure, there's always redheaded heroines. Why are redheaded women always considered beautiful but redheaded guys can never be handsome enough to be cast as heroes?

Occasionally you might get a redheaded hero in a book but I can't name a movie where you see one. There is no reason redheads should be less hero material than anyone else. In fact, though I have nothing against blonds in general, I just don't think they can be quite as epic as dark haired characters or, redheads! (Sorry Arthur Pendragon)

Anyway, so the reason I thought about this is that my next novel "By Blood and By Bond" features a redheaded hero, a young Celt named Caolan. Yes, he is a Celt so that might be what you would call 'stereotypical' but it's not actually, it's the truth. Actually I have two redheaded characters because I have a gingery Frank as well (No, his name isn't frank, it's Theodard, he's a Frank as in the old Germanic people). Caolan is in no way a funny character, he's pretty angsty, and redheads CAN be angsty. I'll prove it to you when you read my book ;)

So that gets us to another point I want to make... I'm in need of a little help. Because apperently redheads are not quite so popular, I've had a REALLY hard time finding a picture of someone who looks like my character who is not an actor *coughJamieBellcough* (Not that he has red hair, but I couldn't shake him as Esca) I'm trying something different with my book covers and not doing my own art (as you can see with "To Save a Life"). I've not yet decided that's a good idea or not yet, obviously. I've searched literally everywhere I could think of, but if anyone might be able to find a picture of a redheaded young man who looks Celtic and is dressed in Celtic to Medieval period clothing, please let me know! But MAKE SURE it's either purchasable or public domain, because if you get me in trouble, I'm bringing you down with me! If you find or know of anything that might work, please email me at sirwilliamssquire@gmail.com

So, anyway, support redheaded heroes! (And I really hope you can help me find a picture ;-)

Slainte, Hazel