Showing results by narrator "Ulf Bjorklund" in All Categories

Ketil had not intended to return to Orkney, but when you work for Thorfinn Sigurdarson, you obey orders. Thorfinn wants him back to help with a visiting Abbot from Saxony, escorted by an old colleague of Ketil’s. Then people who know the Abbot start dying, and Ketil must once again work with his friend Sigrid to find out why - and to face dark memories from his own past.

Alternate history, 1119 AD. The bright banner of the Crusade flies over the ruins of Uppsala. The Norse army is shattered, the survivors scattered to the winds, and the sword that was fated to save them is lost to the enemy. A small band of refugees flees before the relentless foe, searching for a new place to call home. Gjaldir goes with them, choosing to fight for his erstwhile captors and the woman and child he loves, rather than seek shelter with his Christian kin, the men who have brought death and destruction to the lands he once hated.

A lesser-known event during World War II, the sinking of the Blücher is key part of naval history that marked the beginning of the Norwegian Campaign. The Sinking of the Blücher is a comprehensive investigation into why the German cruiser, named for Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (Prussian victor of the Battle of Waterloo), was approaching Oslo on the night of 9th April 1940, why and how she was sunk, and the ramifications and significance of the event.

Idunn’s apples made Odin a god-king. Now, she calls upon him to overthrow her people - the very gods he has long worshipped. In his way stand mist-worshipping sorcerers, draugar, trolls, and all the horrors of Hel. Can Odin guide his people past such threats? And even if he can reach the gods, can he defeat them?

There are some men in the pages of history, whose greatness no person of common sense thinks of disputing. They tower above the herd of mankind, like the Pyramids, the Parthenon, and the Colosseum, among buildings. Such men were Luther and Augustine, Gustavus Adolphus and George Washington, Columbus and Sir Isaac Newton. He who questions greatness must be content to be thought very ignorant, very prejudiced, or very eccentric. Public opinion has come to a conclusion about them - they were great men.

A member of the parliament is stabbed to death in Reykjavik, the small and usually peaceful capital of Iceland. Police officer Grímsson thinks he saw the perpetrator earlier that night, in a pub in the city's east end. The young man turns himself in. He has no previous record and does not remember anything about the night of the murder, but his fingerprints are on the murder weapon. Grímsson feels that the young man is somehow innocent, a victim rather than a wrongdoer.

Alrion doesn't know the power inside him. He's more surprised than anyone when he discovers he's a wizard. Why is his power unique? Learning the ways of a wizard is not enough. Alrion is charged with a quest to cleanse the Blight. He's the world's last chance to be free of that malevolent force, and the twisted creatures that it creates. Three trials await the young wizard. He must conquer each of the pillars of magic: knowledge, will, and spark. Only then will he be ready to face his destiny.

The Hunter's Gambit is the first novel in the Archanium Codex, an epic fantasy series in which two protagonists, Aleksei Drago and Jonas Belgi, struggle to keep their home nation of Ilyar from being plunged into a bloody civil war even as a 1,000-year-old evil called the Demonic Presence threatens to break free of its prison and consume the entire world.

Reeling from the loss of three kings and a kingdom, the Norse gather in the home of their gods to choose a new ruler and prepare to meet the coming storm. The great host of the crusade will march again, and the people of the North will meet them with steel and shields and the death cries of their heroes.

Only a fool would venture into the freezing mists that steal the souls of men. And that’s exactly where Odin is going. When a frost giant murders his father, Odin swears blood vengeance. Guided by his blood-brother Loki, Odin battles rival tribes and perilous ghosts. His quest leads him to a chance at immortality...but the price will be more than he can imagine.

On the walls of Jönköping, the men of the north made their stand and held the Crusade at bay, paying the price in blood and the death of kinsmen. The Norse jarls, shaken and bloodied, must rally around their wounded and weakened king or choose an alternative path to cling to power. As the icy grip of winter falls and the snow, mud, and blood bind the oath-sworn enemies together in a lethal contest, hopes of glory are cast aside in the desperate fight for survival. Two armies marched into the deep woods in winter. Only the Norns know who will emerge from the cruel embrace of the Frostforge.

Ageing without Ageism? contributes to the essential and timely discussion of age, ageism, population ageing, and public policy. It demonstrates the breadth of the challenges posed by these issues by covering a wide range of policy areas: from health care to old-age support, from democratic participation to education, and from family to fiscal policy. With contributions from twenty-one authors, the discussion bridges the gap between academia and public life by putting in dialogue fresh philosophical analysis and specific new policy proposals.

The dragon lunged and burned. Ketil felt its hot breath, but he knew it was only a dream. When Sigrid goes to stay on Shapinsay, Ketil is unconcerned – nothing ever happens on Shapinsay. But then the fires start, and it seems that Ketil’s dream has come to life. Will he and Sigrid find the arsonist, before a whole settlement is wiped out forever?

After centuries bound in Alfheim, Odin escapes, only to find himself trapped in the fathomless darkness of Svartalfheim. What will he do when his only ally is a woman who no longer trusts him? Svartalfheim is home to the strange and corrupt dark elf courts. Eager for Odin’s oracular sight, they pull him into their unending power struggles. And while the king is missing, the world hurtles toward Ragnarok. If Hermod cannot find and retrieve Odin, Midgard faces annihilation on all sides.

The final steps are the longest. Odin arrives in Vanaheim. A timeless paradise of the gods greets him. There he meets Freyja, a woman with whom he’d gladly pass eternity. But the Fates are fickle. Freyja is the daughter of the king Odin has come to overthrow. Will he choose destiny or his heart? Either way, he will lose something dear. You’ll love this grim fantasy because it retells classic Norse myths in a whole new way.

The Children of Odin: Booktrack Edition is enhanced with a musical soundtrack from Booktrack for an immersive listening experience! Before time as we know it began, gods and goddesses lived in the city of Asgard. Odin All Father crossed the Rainbow Bridge to walk among men in Midgard. Thor defended Asgard with his mighty hammer. Mischievous Loki was constantly getting into trouble with the other gods, and dragons and giants walked free.

Life innovates constantly, producing perfectly adapted species—but there's a catch. Many animals and plants eke out seemingly unremarkable lives. Passive, constrained, modest, threatened. Then, in a blink of evolutionary time, they flourish spectacularly. Once we start to look, these 'sleeping beauties' crop up everywhere. But why? Looking at the book of life, from apex predators to keystone crops, and informed by his own cutting-edge experiments, renowned scientist Andreas Wagner demonstrates that innovations can come frequently and cheaply to nature, well before they are needed.

In Healing Lyme Disease Naturally, anthropologist Wolf D. Storl shares his own success in overcoming a difficult, sometimes deadly disease that is reaching epidemic proportions. When he was diagnosed, Dr. Storl refused standard treatments because of antibiotic intolerance. Instead, he researched healing systems of various cultures including traditional Chinese medicine, American Indian healing practices, homeopathy, and traditional Western herbal lore and discovered the teasel root.

A mystic warrior monk of Ordu flees a doomed mountaintop monastery with his wounded master in a desperate attempt to escape wicked creatures of nightmare. A chance encounter with a wood witch possessing untapped Elemenati magic, and the forbidden attraction that follows, propel two unlikely loners into events that will change the face of the Three Kingdoms of Hanna forever. Meanwhile, a sorcerer's war is brewing in the North, and a mad duke plans his vengeance against the king's throne of Baroqia.

Amira’s seer talent has always been unpredictable but accurate. So when it shows her the wizard responsible for slaughtering her friends and family is the key to saving the world, she has no choice but to rescue him. But Radcliff is no longer who he was and certainly not what she expected. It isn’t long before she regrets her part in his sentencing. Radcliff doesn’t know he’s the most reviled person in history. In fact, he doesn’t know anything because when he wakes up each morning, he forgets his past.