For those of you who don’t know Josh Gillingham, that’s a crying shame. He’s a Canadian fantasy author and one of the best author interviewers around, aside from being a swell guy in general (and a hell of a beta reader, too). His debut novel, The Gatewatch, is set to release on Sunday, May 17, and he’s here in my little corner of the internet today to talk all about it.
The Gatewatch come out this Sunday, May 17. As your debut, how are you feeling? Nervous? Excited? Like a medieval king bathing in the spoils of (literary) war?
Ah, this is a good question. What am I feeling right now? I would say it is an erratic pendulum of emotions which undulate between elation and nausea. Of course, I am excited to finally launch Torin Ten-Trees on his adventure across the realm of Noros and invite others to take part in his journey. I also feel like I am baring my soul to the world and bracing for either bullets or roses. Maybe both. Anyways, it is the end of a long journey and I am feeling quite blessed to have seen my story survive the trip from initial conception to final publication. Sprinkle a bit of relief mixed with a touch of swelled ego and that’s pretty much the whole of it.
How long did you work on this novel, from the tiniest idea until your final edit?
Technically this was a seven year project. However, I don’t know if I should count the first three years because it was a lot of start and stop. I would begin a chapter then throw it away. I would write a scene then forget about the book for months on end. However, about four years ago I read a book called ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield; that, coupled with a few things that were going on for me personally, kicked my ass into gear.
Even so, it was a four year slog and I can tell you that much of it was not pretty. When I got my ‘polished’ manuscript back from my editor it was so full of red crossed-out edits that it looked like Leonidas, King of Sparta, had cut a swathe through the whole thing. But every set of critical eyes helped the story become what it is today and I am really proud to be putting this troll-hunting fantasy adventure out into the world.
The story clearly draws inspiration from Norse mythology, but what inspired the initial idea for this novel?
The Gatewatch actually began as a re-telling of one of my favorite Norse Myths: Thor & Loki Travel to Utgard. In this myth the two gods are bored in Asgard and decide to go traipsing across the nine realms to Utgard, the land of the giants, to stir up some trouble. There they meet a cunning sorcerer giant who baffles them with a series of humorous encounters including a drinking contest, a race, and a wrestling match with an old lady. However, as I really started to dig into the narrative it quickly grew beyond a simple retelling and emerged in its final form as an epic Norse fantasy adventure set in a realm under threat by monstrous trolls.
Torin Ten-Trees- what a name. I love it. Can I ask the in-universe reason for the character’s name, or is that too spoilery?
Of course! Torin Ten-Trees is the son of Jarl Einar Ten-Trees who resides in Ten-Tree Hall. This well-weathered hall sits in a grove of ancient trees, thus the name. True to the experience of Vikings in history, the realm of Noros has a ‘king’ named Araldof Greyraven, to whom Torin is distantly related; however, King Araldof Greyraven isn’t really a king in the monarchical sense. He is more of a political savante who is able to navigate the conflicting desires and complicated relationships of the powerful Jarls across the realm, such as Torin’s father. Trees also have a major part to play later in the series and Torin’s connection to them will be of no small consequence. Finally, Vikings were famed for having memorable names, such as Ketil Flatnose, Sven Forkbeard, and Aud the Deep-Minded, so I had to honor that tradition with a name for the protagonist that would catch reader’s attention.
What was the most difficult part about writing this book?
I actually started writing this story at the point in the narrative that would kick off book two. It took me about three years of false starts to realize that I need to start at the beginning. Initially, The Gatewatch was intended to be only a prologue for the book I was trying to write but it soon billowed into a troll-hunting misadventure of its own. This let me really discover and develop the characters, as well as the world and the lore surrounding the trolls, dwarves, and giants. That particular revelation was a big breakthrough for me and sticking with the story long enough to get to that point definitely took a lot of bull-headed stubbornness (which I apparently have an excess of). If I could go back and fast-forward through any part of the process it would have to be those first three years of trying to figure out where the story really began.
Do you plan to make this a series, or is The Gatewatch a standalone novel?
The Gatewatch is the first of three books that will make up The Saga of Torin Ten-Trees. I am already in the final stages of editing Book 2: The Everspring and I am a few chapters into Book 3: The Elder Trees. I wrote the second book while waiting for publishers and agents to get back to me after I queried for The Gatewatch and the third while my first book was being beaten to a pulp in my editor’s dungeon. Perhaps I deal with stress by writing compulsively? I think I prefer to frame it as keeping my mind on something productive rather than worrying about things that are out of my control.
“Epic battles with trolls, new realms full of magic and danger both above and below the surface of the earth, and sharp-edged banter between long-time friends”
You had to have done a ton of research for this novel. Care to share any neat tidbits with us? Maybe something you didn’t end up putting into your work, but that you find fascinating?
I have a bit of an obsession with Norse Mythology and Viking History and so, while I would love to say that I studiously labored over historical texts for hours on end in order to fine-tune the research for my book, it felt a lot more like an eruption of ideas out of my head because my tiny skull couldn’t hold them all in any more. In that sense, it was a kind of an overflowing of ideas following a few years of devouring translations of the myths and soaking in the semi-mythic accounts of historical Vikings as presented in the Icelandic sagas.
One thing that I love about the Norse Myths that I didn’t get to in The Gatewatch is the Norse conception of the underworld. Most people know about Valhalla, Odin’s hall where fallen warriors go. (Actually, only half of fallen warriors go there. One time the gods pissed off Freya and she made Odin dedicate half the fallen warriors to her so they could train and feast in her hall, Sessrumnir, instead. She also made him promise to start lots of wars so more people would die and join her retinue of warriors. The lesson here? Don’t piss off Norse goddesses.)
The Norse underworld of Nilfhel is just so delightfully grim. Anyone who dies a coward or of sickness or of old age is said to be sent there. It is ruled by Hela, a goddess whose face is half that of a beautiful young woman and half that of a long-dead corpse. She sits in a hall whose roof tiles are made of venomous snakes which have been tied to the rafters so that their venom drips down on those inside. Her kitchen implements are named things like ‘hunger’ and ‘starvation’ and her bed is named ‘sickness’. She has a pet dragon called Nidhogg which she feeds with the lifeless corpses of the wretched souls in her hall. And when she finally leads her legions of undead in the battle of Ragnarok, that final assault on the realm of the gods, she will sail there in a ship called Nalfalgar which is made entirely out of dead mens’ toenails. Yes, you heard me correctly, a Viking ship made out of nothing but dead men’s toenails.
Tolkien based his fantasy races like trolls and dwarves off various mythologies, including Norse mythology. Since then, hundreds of authors have used the same archetypes to varying degrees of success. How do you set your fantasy races apart, especially given that they’re drawn from the same original mythology as Tolkien’s were?
Yes! Tolkien was deeply interested in the Norse Myths and the Icelandic Sagas. At one point he was going to Iceland and when a friend inquired about his plans for the trip and Tolkien scoffed, remarking that it was a pilgrimage and not a mere ‘trip’. He was also a professor of languages and contributed important translations to the academic world of stories like Beowulf and The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun which were major influences on my story.
I love Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth and am obviously a fan of fantasy as a genre, but in reading a lot of Tolkien’s source material I realized how far the genre as a whole had strayed from the Norse conceptions of dwarves and giants. (For example, the ridiculous-sounding names of the dwarves in The Hobbit are literally ripped straight out of the beginning of the Poetic Edda, a collection of Norse Myths composed by Icelander Snorri Strulurson around 1200 A.D.) Part of my aim in writing The Gatewatch was to return to a conception of dwarves, giants, and trolls that was more in line with the original myths and Scandanavian folklore; I hope that my presentation of these beings challenges a few of the tropes that have become commonplace in fantasy today.
Fill in the blank: Fans of ______________ or _______________ would like The Gatewatch.
Fans of Beowulf, The Hobbit, and History Channel’s Viking series will enjoy The Gatewatch. Also fans of mead and axes, especially both at the same time.
“Bjorn, let me tell you about this new book…”
What can readers expect from The Gatewatch? Bloody battles? Whimsy and wonder? Biting humor? All of the above?
All of the above, yes. Epic battles with trolls, new realms full of magic and danger both above and below the surface of the earth, and sharp-edged banter between long-time friends. Two unique elements of the book that readers can expect to encounter are riddles and Viking-style poetry. Torin Ten-Trees, the main character, is obsessed with riddles and this obsession gets them into and out of trouble on several occasions.
The history of Noros, such as the Lay of Beoric which tells the tale of the realm’s founder, is structured in a manner similar to the forms of skaldic poets of the Viking Age. Rather than our modern focus on end-rhyme, Viking poets revelled in internal rhyme and alliteration within the confines of brutally strict verse structures. And if you haven’t brushed up on your poetry terms recently, fear not! I have a brief guide to Viking verse forms at the beginning of the book.
Time runs short, Commander Gillingham. Morale is low. The enemy is at our doorstep, but they’ll surrender if enough people click the link below to order The Gatewatch. Now is our final chance- you must rally the troops with words of wisdom and courage. Give us your best pre-battle order speech!
Well, what a perfect opportunity to throw in a quote from the book! Hear it from Captain Calder, commander of the troll-hunters in the mountain outpost of Gatewatch, as he rallies the new recruits in this slightly appended and revised version of his speech:
“So consider now whether you have the heart of a hero with the strength and courage to face the dreaded trolls. If, in your consideration, you find fear where there should be boldness, then take your leave of this place. You’ve all heard the stories, fireside tales of troll-hunters and heroes. Gatewatch is where those legends were forged. Now it is time for the smith of fate to strike with his hammer. Will you be broken into pieces or will you be molded into warriors worthy of taking up Beoric’s flaming torch? Will you hide under your beds while trolls threaten to devour your families and burn your homes, or will you take up the axe and stand beside your brothers and sisters to vanquish the horde? Will you flee into the depths of despair when doom hangs in the air, or will you follow the blazing flame of your ancestors’ call out of that darkness to win glory and victory?
So what are you waiting for? Charge forth with all haste and order your copy of The Gatewatch!”