Day Of The Dead

by Petteri Hannila

As gods gamble and dance with destiny, mortal fates are trampled without a second thought.
Ambjorn and his wife Jofrid must face theirs, when the peace of their home village is suddenly shattered. They have to throw themselves into a game in which every move carries high consequence. Is it possible to win when playing against forces beyond your own comprehension?

Day of the dead is an action-packed short story that touches the story depicted in the novel Fargoer. This time, the focus is turned towards Vikings and their gloom-filled world.

ebook

First published July 9, 2013

About the author

Petteri's interest towards speculative fiction started at the ripe age of eight, when he found out about Tarzan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and thus entered a lifetime of reading dashing adventures in far away, even impossible locations.

In his teens he started to play tabletop role-playing games, a hobby that has strongly influenced his writing. He dabbles with both playing and designing games.

His fiction mainly consists of short stories, some of which have been published in Finnish genre magazines. He published his first novel, "Kaukamoinen" in 2013 and translated it as an indie translation project on the same year. Resulting "The Fargoer" is his only internationally published novel so far.

Petteri's writing is heavily influenced by pulp fantasy writers such as Robert E. Howard, as well as Finnish myths and legends of old, but he doesn't shun away from science fiction either.

He continues to write in various projects, which consist of a role-playing game called "Tales of Entropy" to be published in 2017 and a project "Writing with Games", a venture in combining story-gaming with fiction writing.

Petteri is a software designer by trade. He lives in Central Finland with his family and enjoys martial arts when he has time in his super-busy schedule.

Reviews

[Al Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting short story (maybe an hour or so). Set in Finland a thousand or so years ago, and rooted in their version of Norse mythology, a village chief goes hunting for a troublesome bear, and finds more than he bargained for. While he's away, a stranger visits his wife and challenges her to a game akin to chess. Who is this stranger, and why does he ask questions that defy the rules of courtesy?

[A.J. Griffiths-Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Viking tale is as true to life as they come, with vibrant characters & an ethereal mysticism flowing through the text. The main character is exactly how I would imagine a Norse provider & leader, strong-willed and faithful to his beliefs. A short story, I was left wanting more & will definitely be reading the ‘Fargoer’ series.

[Jerimy Stoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched and creative short story. This is a historical fiction that is filled with Norse mythology, and intrigue. There are two parallel stories that are connected that are well developed in such a short piece of fiction. I would recommend this piece to people who enjoy Norse mythology, vikings, short stories, fantasy, fables, flash fiction, action, and adventure.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story that, at first glance, seems to be just a tale of a Viking village. The men out for a hunt, the women back at the village preparing for tomorrow's festivities. An old traveler who wanders in.
There's more than meets the eye here. It all wraps up nicely at the end. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

[Ellana Thornton-Wheybrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty metaphors and scenery, but not a great attempt at a plot. Definitely feels like an opening chapter to a novel, rather than a standalone story.

[GetBooked101 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars
A decent read overall could of been better felt like it lacked in majority of departments.
Pros
Decent character build
Cons
Needed more work on the story.

[Velvetink]

smashwords

[Tiina Susanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice viking tale.