'The Sword and the Ring' - Book One

The culmination of over 20 years of scribbling, sketching and writing, the first volume in 'The Sword and the Ring' series has just been released in its first print edition. Some of the finished artwork was first conceived while I was still at high school, and the idea of a full-length illustrated fantasy inspired by old Norse myths has been around for longer.

The first volume, 'Of Gods and Gold', is roughly equivalent to the 'Rheingold' prelude to Wagner's Ring Cycle - a short-ish overture to the epic drama which will follow. Characters of my own creation rub shoulders with gods and heroes of legend, while the familiar core plotline remains recognisable and intact. Darkly humorous, and maintaining the usual FWB sense of quirkiness, a Kindle edition may follow if I can figure out how to keep the rather intricate formatting.

"Since the dawn of the Nine Worlds, the gods of Asgard, led by all-wise Wotan, have enjoyed prosperity and power. Wotan's noble house of Aesir rules the heavens and all Middengaard, the realm of men and monsters; yet on this peaceful stage will be wrought curses, war, treachery and ultimately, disaster. The two-faced trickster Loki, once a blood-brother of Wotan, seeks to spawn an unholy dynasty to rival the Aesir, while gold stolen from the River Rhein sets in motion a tide of torment that will drown all who come into contact with it. Sensing doom, one-eyed Wotan broods and begins to gather warriors of Middengaard to serve as his private army, while struggling to repair the growing cracks in his marriage to Fricke, and his relationship with his thirteen unruly daughters, the Valkyren..."