Mats Vederhus's Blog: Creative words
June 21, 2017
Lord of the Dragons: The Golden Horn
My fantasy book is now available on Amazon! :)
"Tiara Harrods has never even heard of dragons or vikings when she starts seeing strange creatures on her way from Svalbard to London. Then, a strange man arrives at her family's doorstep with a big suitcase, and suddenly her mother starts talking about going to see the vikings in Norway. An incredible adventure is about to begin!"
You can preview and buy it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Dragons-G...
"Tiara Harrods has never even heard of dragons or vikings when she starts seeing strange creatures on her way from Svalbard to London. Then, a strange man arrives at her family's doorstep with a big suitcase, and suddenly her mother starts talking about going to see the vikings in Norway. An incredible adventure is about to begin!"
You can preview and buy it here:
https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Dragons-G...
June 1, 2013
iBookStore & NOOK
My book Freedom is now available at the iBookStore and the Barnes and Noble NOOK Store (though I haven't been able to find it there yet) at the insanely low price of $8.99!
You can preview it here!
You can preview it here!
May 21, 2013
My new book!
So, for the first time in my life, I'm attempting to write a fullblown novel.
I was inspired by reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman after falling in love with the movie over and over.
I decided I really wanted to write a steampunk novel, and so I went to the task with fiery passion.
After finishing the first chapter, I realized that I was going to need a plan to be able to finish this beast, so right now I have planned out four chapters, with a fifth one being worked out.
Since I only just joined the author program here, I figured I'd post the first chapter to get some feedback.
The Zeppelin
- Can't you tell me the story of how the world began?
Tiara lay in her bed and looked up at her mother, Olivia, with pleading eyes.
- Yes, but only if you promise to sleep as soon as I finish, she replied overbearingly.
She sat on the edge of the big bed made of solid oak and stared deeply into Tiara's eyes.
Tiara had certainly heard this story almost every night since she was big enough to understand it, but oh, how she loved it.
- The world came into being, Olivia began, in the first hour when everything was still dark. Two giants, Goluboym and Golubam clashed with anger, which caused sparks. This was the very first light, and from then on, the world was no longer dark. The day had come to stay.
When Goluboym and Golubam had calmed down, they saw that day was good, so they filled it with trees. As they grew up into the sky, and Goluboym saw this, he broke off a branch and gave it to Golubam, who filled it with life. It became the first dragon, Olympos, and so it was that the trees were no longer alone in the sky.
As the only living being Olympos rapidly felt lonely, and complained to Golubam. Golubam so that Olympos was strong, and doubted whether it was wise to give him a mate, but Goluboym felt pity for Olympos, and blew clouds onto the heavens. Finally, Golubam was persuaded to revive a cloud, which was became Hera, the second dragon.
Since Olympus was made of wood, and Hera of the air, their offspring, Onyx, became the first fire breathing dragon. But when Onyx discovered that he could create fire, he set fire to the trees. This made Goluboym and Golubam offended, so they spit stone from the sky, which became mountains.
From the mountains Golubam created the first dwarves. Dwarves dug the iron from the mountain, and melted a link that they used to imprison Onyx.
Olympos and Hera saw that Onyx was greedy and obsessed with power, so they decided to try to create a daughter. Hera laid an egg of gold, from whence hatched Aphrodite. She was born with the ability to transform. She turned himself into a dwarf and seduced the dwarf king Olav. Together they had Adam and Eve, the first human children.
But Aphrodite was cunning. She persuaded Olaf to set Onyx free, and when the links were broken, Onyx destroyed Jerngard, the first dwarf city, in retaliation. The few who escaped fled to Svalbard, where the dwarves have lived since.
Adam and Eve eventually grew up and realized that life on Svalbard was not for them. Adam learned to tame the sea, and sailed to Norway, where he became the first Viking king.
Eva was inquisitive, and was trained in the art of forging. She created the first telescope and discovered that Goluboym and Golubam had filled the night sky with stars.
'They say,' smiled Olivia, that the last thing Goluboym and Golubam did before they died, was to breathe northern lights over Svalbard.
- Oh, Northern Lights, sighed Tiara. Do you think we can see it tonight? I've never seen it before!
- Maybe, Olivia smiled, but you should sleep now. When you wake up in the morning we will be back in London.
- Mother, do you think dragons are for real?
Olivia clapped Tiara on her head.
- It is said that Goluboym and Golubam blackened the world for seven days and seven nights during the dwarven flight to Svalbard, and Olympos and Hera let dwarves ride them so that they would reach Svalbard more quickly. Onyx and Aphrodite haunted the world looking for survivors, but when they could not find them, they went into a deep sleep. Olympos and Hera remained in Svalbard, and also they went into a deep sleep. Someday Onyx and Aphrodite will wake up to exact revenge, but it's just a legend, my dear.
Tiara smiled. Dragons were fascinating creatures, she thought, and she hoped that at least some of the story was true.
- But now you have to sleep, honey.
Olivia kissed her on the cheek and stood up.
- By the way, is it true that King Magnus drew this ship itself?
- Oh, not only that, he helped build it! He's on board now, you will probably see him tomorrow. He will hand over the ship to King Edward with your father.
Tiara's father was a zeppelin captain. That would also be Tiara's fate, this she knew in her heart. But in actuality, only men could become captains. She didn't, at least, know any female captains. Moreover, it only humans were captains. The dwarves were the only ones who had the knowledge to build airships, but they were happiest as machinists. Although some of them were skilled navigators, her father had told her.
Olivia turned off the light in the room and closed the door behind her. Tiara came to rest a while and listen to the monotonous hum of Maximus Is mighty steam engines which gradually worked their way across Svalbard to London, before she finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Suddenly she opened her eyes again, wide awake. It could happen occasionally, especially when she was traveling. She glanced at her watch in silver which she had got for her birthday that year. The time was a little over twelve, she had not slept for more than a few hours. She might as well get up, her experience indicated that she would not get to sleep for at least another hour now.
She did not take off her nightgown, but put on her calfskin slippers and went to the door and listened intently. Not a sound. Olivia had to have either settled or went out. Come to think of it, she was supposed to have dinner with father, wasn't she?
Out in the living room, she had to stop and grasp how big it all really was. She had been in several airships, probably more than most ten year olds from London, but never one that was as big as this. The living room and its connected sleeping rooms, which even had their own bathrooms, constituted what in practice was like a small apartment, with kitchen, sofa, bookshelves and a music system.
The living room and the kitchen was lit by a huge chandelier in gold, which rattled faintly from vibration of the huge steam engines that snorted and panted while a team of dwarfs fed them with huge amounts of coal. Tiara had been there and seen with her father, not long after they took off.
Down there, in the heating room, it was dark, dirty and unbearably hot. Dwarves with sooty faces and tousled beards went back and forth between the coal depot and the huge ovens while they sang the old songs that sounded like they could come from King Olaf's time.
We shovel and we shovel
We shovel all day long
We shovel and we shovel
We shovel with a song
We shovel for our king, who is so kind and wise
We shovel for our house and home,
And dig out our stone
We have done so forever, and are still doing it today
So we drink our mead, and sleep
Before a new morning dawns, and the night becomes day
Tiara thought for a moment. In the living room, she couldn't stay, for if she was spotted outside of the bedroom after bedtime, she would be in trouble. She decided to dress in her coat and sneak out on deck, hoping to spot the Northern Lights.
When she closed the door behind her, she took note of the room number. This ship was so big that she almost was not sure if she was going to be able to get back, but right now, her thirst for discovery was in charge. The hallways were covered with linoleum carpets, woven by the Vikings in Norway. They were the brightest textile makers in the known world, her father had told her.
Down some stairs, here a corner, there a dead end. Everywhere there were apparently identical doors with different room numbers but no windows.
There! Suddenly there appeared a door with a window in one of the endless rows of room numbers. Outside, the wind blew violently, and when she came to the gold gilded railing, she discovered that she was on the top deck.
When she turned her eyes towards the horizon she lost her breath at the sight that met her. The otherwise dark firmament revealed a spectrum of light in color from purple, through yellow to green. The colors spread much like a blanket on the heavens and were reflected in the ice under the ship - this had to be the Northern Lights!
She stood and admired this miraculous sight for several minutes, and just as she had turned to go back to where she came from she heard a sound that resembled heavy wing strokes behind her. She turned abruptly and discovered a long, lizard-like creature that paved its way majestically through the air next to the ship. It did not seem to heed it, and soon it disappeared in the dark winter night. Back in the corridor she wondered what it could have been. One thing was certain, it was not like any kind of creature she had seen before.
On the Maximus Is maiden voyage from Steintind in Svalbard to London in England, there were many different people, most of them diplomats who traveled in the company of dwarven king Magnus. Some of them were not listed on any passenger list and their purpose onboard the ship was hidden from most people.
One of these people was heading to the cabin to Captain Cloud Walker at the same time as Tiara, and chance would have it that Tiara, without looking, collided with him in one of the countless corridors with cabins on her way from the deck.
- Please excuse me, I did not know where I was going!
Tiara noticed that she blushed as she said it, and looked up at the long, suit-clad figure in front of her. He had wild, bright blue eyes and a dense beard and Tiara assumed he had to be at least two and a half feet.
- It's all right, dear, but what makes a child your age go out at this time of night?
The desperation that had built up over the last quarter of frantic searching, had expired. She could not hold back the tears.
- I ... I'm looking for my cabin, I am the daughter of the captain!
The long man glimpsed her up and down for a moment before he smiled.
- Then we're probably going the same way, dear. Follow me!
Tiara did not have a habit of following unknown men through unfamiliar corridors, but right now she felt that she had no choice. A few minutes later she was standing next to the bearded man in front of cabin number 478.
I was inspired by reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman after falling in love with the movie over and over.
I decided I really wanted to write a steampunk novel, and so I went to the task with fiery passion.
After finishing the first chapter, I realized that I was going to need a plan to be able to finish this beast, so right now I have planned out four chapters, with a fifth one being worked out.
Since I only just joined the author program here, I figured I'd post the first chapter to get some feedback.
The Zeppelin
- Can't you tell me the story of how the world began?
Tiara lay in her bed and looked up at her mother, Olivia, with pleading eyes.
- Yes, but only if you promise to sleep as soon as I finish, she replied overbearingly.
She sat on the edge of the big bed made of solid oak and stared deeply into Tiara's eyes.
Tiara had certainly heard this story almost every night since she was big enough to understand it, but oh, how she loved it.
- The world came into being, Olivia began, in the first hour when everything was still dark. Two giants, Goluboym and Golubam clashed with anger, which caused sparks. This was the very first light, and from then on, the world was no longer dark. The day had come to stay.
When Goluboym and Golubam had calmed down, they saw that day was good, so they filled it with trees. As they grew up into the sky, and Goluboym saw this, he broke off a branch and gave it to Golubam, who filled it with life. It became the first dragon, Olympos, and so it was that the trees were no longer alone in the sky.
As the only living being Olympos rapidly felt lonely, and complained to Golubam. Golubam so that Olympos was strong, and doubted whether it was wise to give him a mate, but Goluboym felt pity for Olympos, and blew clouds onto the heavens. Finally, Golubam was persuaded to revive a cloud, which was became Hera, the second dragon.
Since Olympus was made of wood, and Hera of the air, their offspring, Onyx, became the first fire breathing dragon. But when Onyx discovered that he could create fire, he set fire to the trees. This made Goluboym and Golubam offended, so they spit stone from the sky, which became mountains.
From the mountains Golubam created the first dwarves. Dwarves dug the iron from the mountain, and melted a link that they used to imprison Onyx.
Olympos and Hera saw that Onyx was greedy and obsessed with power, so they decided to try to create a daughter. Hera laid an egg of gold, from whence hatched Aphrodite. She was born with the ability to transform. She turned himself into a dwarf and seduced the dwarf king Olav. Together they had Adam and Eve, the first human children.
But Aphrodite was cunning. She persuaded Olaf to set Onyx free, and when the links were broken, Onyx destroyed Jerngard, the first dwarf city, in retaliation. The few who escaped fled to Svalbard, where the dwarves have lived since.
Adam and Eve eventually grew up and realized that life on Svalbard was not for them. Adam learned to tame the sea, and sailed to Norway, where he became the first Viking king.
Eva was inquisitive, and was trained in the art of forging. She created the first telescope and discovered that Goluboym and Golubam had filled the night sky with stars.
'They say,' smiled Olivia, that the last thing Goluboym and Golubam did before they died, was to breathe northern lights over Svalbard.
- Oh, Northern Lights, sighed Tiara. Do you think we can see it tonight? I've never seen it before!
- Maybe, Olivia smiled, but you should sleep now. When you wake up in the morning we will be back in London.
- Mother, do you think dragons are for real?
Olivia clapped Tiara on her head.
- It is said that Goluboym and Golubam blackened the world for seven days and seven nights during the dwarven flight to Svalbard, and Olympos and Hera let dwarves ride them so that they would reach Svalbard more quickly. Onyx and Aphrodite haunted the world looking for survivors, but when they could not find them, they went into a deep sleep. Olympos and Hera remained in Svalbard, and also they went into a deep sleep. Someday Onyx and Aphrodite will wake up to exact revenge, but it's just a legend, my dear.
Tiara smiled. Dragons were fascinating creatures, she thought, and she hoped that at least some of the story was true.
- But now you have to sleep, honey.
Olivia kissed her on the cheek and stood up.
- By the way, is it true that King Magnus drew this ship itself?
- Oh, not only that, he helped build it! He's on board now, you will probably see him tomorrow. He will hand over the ship to King Edward with your father.
Tiara's father was a zeppelin captain. That would also be Tiara's fate, this she knew in her heart. But in actuality, only men could become captains. She didn't, at least, know any female captains. Moreover, it only humans were captains. The dwarves were the only ones who had the knowledge to build airships, but they were happiest as machinists. Although some of them were skilled navigators, her father had told her.
Olivia turned off the light in the room and closed the door behind her. Tiara came to rest a while and listen to the monotonous hum of Maximus Is mighty steam engines which gradually worked their way across Svalbard to London, before she finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Suddenly she opened her eyes again, wide awake. It could happen occasionally, especially when she was traveling. She glanced at her watch in silver which she had got for her birthday that year. The time was a little over twelve, she had not slept for more than a few hours. She might as well get up, her experience indicated that she would not get to sleep for at least another hour now.
She did not take off her nightgown, but put on her calfskin slippers and went to the door and listened intently. Not a sound. Olivia had to have either settled or went out. Come to think of it, she was supposed to have dinner with father, wasn't she?
Out in the living room, she had to stop and grasp how big it all really was. She had been in several airships, probably more than most ten year olds from London, but never one that was as big as this. The living room and its connected sleeping rooms, which even had their own bathrooms, constituted what in practice was like a small apartment, with kitchen, sofa, bookshelves and a music system.
The living room and the kitchen was lit by a huge chandelier in gold, which rattled faintly from vibration of the huge steam engines that snorted and panted while a team of dwarfs fed them with huge amounts of coal. Tiara had been there and seen with her father, not long after they took off.
Down there, in the heating room, it was dark, dirty and unbearably hot. Dwarves with sooty faces and tousled beards went back and forth between the coal depot and the huge ovens while they sang the old songs that sounded like they could come from King Olaf's time.
We shovel and we shovel
We shovel all day long
We shovel and we shovel
We shovel with a song
We shovel for our king, who is so kind and wise
We shovel for our house and home,
And dig out our stone
We have done so forever, and are still doing it today
So we drink our mead, and sleep
Before a new morning dawns, and the night becomes day
Tiara thought for a moment. In the living room, she couldn't stay, for if she was spotted outside of the bedroom after bedtime, she would be in trouble. She decided to dress in her coat and sneak out on deck, hoping to spot the Northern Lights.
When she closed the door behind her, she took note of the room number. This ship was so big that she almost was not sure if she was going to be able to get back, but right now, her thirst for discovery was in charge. The hallways were covered with linoleum carpets, woven by the Vikings in Norway. They were the brightest textile makers in the known world, her father had told her.
Down some stairs, here a corner, there a dead end. Everywhere there were apparently identical doors with different room numbers but no windows.
There! Suddenly there appeared a door with a window in one of the endless rows of room numbers. Outside, the wind blew violently, and when she came to the gold gilded railing, she discovered that she was on the top deck.
When she turned her eyes towards the horizon she lost her breath at the sight that met her. The otherwise dark firmament revealed a spectrum of light in color from purple, through yellow to green. The colors spread much like a blanket on the heavens and were reflected in the ice under the ship - this had to be the Northern Lights!
She stood and admired this miraculous sight for several minutes, and just as she had turned to go back to where she came from she heard a sound that resembled heavy wing strokes behind her. She turned abruptly and discovered a long, lizard-like creature that paved its way majestically through the air next to the ship. It did not seem to heed it, and soon it disappeared in the dark winter night. Back in the corridor she wondered what it could have been. One thing was certain, it was not like any kind of creature she had seen before.
On the Maximus Is maiden voyage from Steintind in Svalbard to London in England, there were many different people, most of them diplomats who traveled in the company of dwarven king Magnus. Some of them were not listed on any passenger list and their purpose onboard the ship was hidden from most people.
One of these people was heading to the cabin to Captain Cloud Walker at the same time as Tiara, and chance would have it that Tiara, without looking, collided with him in one of the countless corridors with cabins on her way from the deck.
- Please excuse me, I did not know where I was going!
Tiara noticed that she blushed as she said it, and looked up at the long, suit-clad figure in front of her. He had wild, bright blue eyes and a dense beard and Tiara assumed he had to be at least two and a half feet.
- It's all right, dear, but what makes a child your age go out at this time of night?
The desperation that had built up over the last quarter of frantic searching, had expired. She could not hold back the tears.
- I ... I'm looking for my cabin, I am the daughter of the captain!
The long man glimpsed her up and down for a moment before he smiled.
- Then we're probably going the same way, dear. Follow me!
Tiara did not have a habit of following unknown men through unfamiliar corridors, but right now she felt that she had no choice. A few minutes later she was standing next to the bearded man in front of cabin number 478.
Creative words
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