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2 hours ago, SurgicalBrute said:

Okay, I recognize that author...that's the Percy Jackson guy.

Have you ever looked into books like this before?

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Nlde7AiPL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

Out of pure dumb luck, I found a book like this at the library when I was a kid...this was before Norse mythology and vikings were everywhere...so it was the first time I'd ever heard a bunch of these stories. If you ever get the chance to read a good one that translates the stories into an easier to read format than the poetic or prose edda (where we get most of the stories we know about Norse myths), I'd definitely recommend it.

thank you so much. i will try to find it. I love Norse mythology and Norse stories. There is a series about Vikings. I highly recommend it. 

 

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2306299/

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4 minutes ago, helvete said:

thank you so much. i will try to find it. I love Norse mythology and Norse stories. There is a series about Vikings. I highly recommend it. 

 

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2306299/

 

Yeah Vikings the series was very good. I just started watching Vikings Valhalla last night which is set about 100 years after Vikings ends. It's not as good as the original Vikings series with Ragnar Lothbrook I don't think, but I found it enjoyable enough, I watched the first 4 episodes.

There is another series The Last Kingdom which is set in old England in the first century and features a lot of Norse/Viking characters that I thought was as good or maybe even better than Vikings. 

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4179452/

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3 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

There is another series The Last Kingdom which is set in old England in the first century and features a lot of Norse/Viking characters that I thought was as good or maybe even better than Vikings

I kinda fell off with that one because it was too intense and bingey for winding down at night with the lady. I don't usually watch much tv at other times, but that one I can maybe pick back up on my own later. It starts off in the late 9th century.

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14 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I kinda fell off with that one because it was too intense and bingey for winding down at night with the lady. I don't usually watch much tv at other times, but that one I can maybe pick back up on my own later. It starts off in the late 9th century.

Yeah that's right, don't know what I was thinking, I meant the tenth century not the first. I don't watch a ton of tv I go in spurts I guess, but I really enjoy anything about Vikings or other period historical stuff that's got a lot of action.

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38 minutes ago, helvete said:

thank you so much. i will try to find it. I love Norse mythology and Norse stories. There is a series about Vikings. I highly recommend it. 

 

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2306299/

Agreed...I was a big fan of that show myself. Like you, I've always been a huge fan of Norse myths and stories. In fact, that was part of what got me into metal...I was (and still am to a slightly lesser extent) a really big viking/pagan/folk metal fan.

 

42 minutes ago, GoatmasterGeneral said:

I just started watching Vikings Valhalla last night which is set about 100 years after Vikings ends. It's not as good as the original Vikings series with Ragnar Lothbrook I don't think, but I found it enjoyable enough, I watched the first 4 episodes.

Awesome...didn't realize this had even started, but I don't pay attention to TV like I used to, either. Honestly though, the original series started kind of slow as well. I don't think it really hit it's stride til about season 2

 

37 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I kinda fell off with that one because it was too intense and bingey for winding down at night with the lady. I don't usually watch much tv at other times, but that one I can maybe pick back up on my own later. It starts off in the late 9th century.

Good book series too, if you're a reader, though it gets a little "wash-rinse-repeat" in the later volumes. That reminds me though, I need to check in and see if there have been any new volumes. He wasn't even close to being done by the time I'd caught up with the most recent book.

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1 minute ago, SurgicalBrute said:

 

Good book series too, if you're a reader, though it gets a little "wash-rinse-repeat" in the later volumes. That reminds me though, I need to check in and see if there have been any new volumes. He wasn't even close to being done by the time I'd caught up with the most recent book.

I love reading. Especially sci-fi/fantasy and historical fiction. Hard for me to put a book down if I'm even halfway enjoying it. I'll have a look for these on my next library trip.

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10 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I love reading. Especially sci-fi/fantasy and historical fiction. Hard for me to put a book down if I'm even halfway enjoying it. I'll have a look for these on my next library trip.

Nice...I'm right there with you! Authors name is Bernard Cornwell...think the book series is called The Saxon Tales, but you can probably find it easily under The Last Kingdom series

Have you checked out any of DMR publishing's books? If you like the old pulp sword and sorcery stories, these guys do some fun releases. They've even got a line of call Swords and Steel where the various books and stories are written by heavy metal band members

https://dmrbooks.com/

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8 hours ago, SurgicalBrute said:

Agreed...I was a big fan of that show myself. Like you, I've always been a huge fan of Norse myths and stories. In fact, that was part of what got me into metal...I was (and still am to a slightly lesser extent) a really big viking/pagan/folk metal fan.

 

Awesome...didn't realize this had even started, but I don't pay attention to TV like I used to, either. Honestly though, the original series started kind of slow as well. I don't think it really hit it's stride til about season 2

 

Good book series too, if you're a reader, though it gets a little "wash-rinse-repeat" in the later volumes. That reminds me though, I need to check in and see if there have been any new volumes. He wasn't even close to being done by the time I'd caught up with the most recent book.

No, I didn't check. Thanks for the recommendation, I'm addicted to books, stories and music like this. If you have pagan/folk/viking metal suggestions, I'm open to listening.

3 minutes ago, helvete said:

No, I didn't check. Thanks for the recommendation, I'm addicted to books, stories and music like this. If you have pagan/folk/viking metal suggestions, I'm open to listening.

my fav viking metal band is Moonsorrow. It's their tunes are really nice. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend it.  

https://youtu.be/YTpeFx2HvV8

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12 hours ago, helvete said:

No, I didn't check. Thanks for the recommendation, I'm addicted to books, stories and music like this. If you have pagan/folk/viking metal suggestions, I'm open to listening.

my fav viking metal band is Moonsorrow. It's their tunes are really nice. If you haven't heard of it, I recommend it.  

https://youtu.be/YTpeFx2HvV8

Honestly, it's surprisingly hard to find good Viking fiction...believe me I've tried. The Saxon Tales books I mentioned are enjoyable and another I've enjoyed is the Blood Eye series by Giles Kristian.

For metal....I listed a whole bunch of them for you in this thread:

https://www.metalforum.com/topic/24745-what-is-your-fav-pagan-metal-band/?tab=comments#comment-368055

 

My personal favorite is Manegarm...this album in particular

Manegarm - Vargstenen

Unfortunately, they haven't maintained the quality in their more recent albums, though they've bounced back a bit with the newest one they released this year.

 

Some of the others I'd recommend are Primordial, Havukruunu, Saor, Thyfing, Kroda, Menhir, and Kampfar

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There's always Beowulf. 

Neal Stephenson had a fun collaborative novel kind of recently called "The Rise And Fall Of D.O.D.O.", with an author named Nicole Galland. It's got a bunch of time travel, and one of the more hilarious and bloody sections is about some Vikings who come forward in time to ransack a Walmart - told in Anglo-Saxon verse through the eyes of their bard. Maybe a bit abstruse but I laughed out loud for a while. Viking fiction cameo?

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1 hour ago, SurgicalBrute said:

Honestly, it's surprisingly hard to find good Viking fiction...believe me I've tried. The Saxon Tales books I mentioned are enjoyable and another I've enjoyed is the Blood Eye series by Giles Kristian.

For metal....I listed a whole bunch of them for you in this thread:

https://www.metalforum.com/topic/24745-what-is-your-fav-pagan-metal-band/?tab=comments#comment-368055

 

My personal favorite is Manegarm...this album in particular

Manegarm - Vargstenen

Unfortunately, they haven't maintained the quality in their more recent albums, though they've bounced back a bit with the newest one they released this year.

 

Some of the others I'd recommend are Primordial, Havukruunu, Saor, Thyfing, Kroda, Menhir, and Kampfar

thank you so much i already know primodrial they are so great. Im going to look the others and tell my thoughts about it. 

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1 hour ago, SurgicalBrute said:

In theory, Beowulf should totally rock...dragons, magic swords, arm ripping, and cannibalism...but goddamn if it isn't a total slog to read. Anyone know a good version that just translates the story into easier to read English, without butchering the story?

Did you ever read Seamus Heaney's translation? I like it - it's a lot more accessible than the other one I have, a cramped 1960s prose version in Norton. 

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On 9/8/2022 at 5:19 AM, GoatmasterGeneral said:

Yeah Vikings the series was very good

Until it wasn't. Jumped the shark in the second last series and the last series was rubbish. A shame. 

3 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Neal Stephenson had a fun collaborative novel kind of recently called "The Rise And Fall Of D.O.D.O."

That sequence with the Vikings was fun. I enjoyed reading this book, but like many of his books it was too long and there was too much trivial detail slowing down the narrative.

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11 minutes ago, Thatguy said:

Until it wasn't. Jumped the shark in the second last series and the last series was rubbish. A shame. 

That sequence with the Vikings was fun. I enjoyed reading this book, but like many of his books it was too long and there was too much trivial detail slowing down the narrative.

Gotta admit I love that about his stuff... I often get to the end feeling like the book was too short (but not with the Baroque Cycle). D.O.D.O. was a lot of fun but also a little fluffy. Not that there's anything wrong with fluffy, I just have to be in the right mood. My favorite standalone novel of his is Anathem, and I feel like that one uses all the details and asides to great effect.

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1 hour ago, Thatguy said:

Until it wasn't. Jumped the shark in the second last series and the last series was rubbish. A shame. 

Mostly disagree about season 5. I felt like there was actually a lot of potential in following the sons of Ragnar...particularly because part of the legend of Ragnar was that a seer prophesied that his sons would be greater and even more famous than he was, which is what pushed him to do all the things he did.

That being said, season 6 definitely fell on its face.

In all honesty it was that goddamn Iceland storyline that bogged the last couple of seasons down. Floki was never that interesting on his own, and watching a bunch of stunt-cast randos we knew nothing about play Lord of the Flies with each other as they starved to death wasn't exactly pulse-pounding television. Thing was an absolute momentum killer. Ubba's discovering North America plot had the same issue.

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2 hours ago, Thatguy said:

Until it wasn't. Jumped the shark in the second last series and the last series was rubbish. A shame. 

Well I do admit I only made it about halfway through the penultimate season 5 and never saw any of the final season 6. I originally watched the show in 2017 down in NZ. My father in law just had the first 4 seasons on dvd, the 5th and 6th weren't out yet. My son was 3 at the time so I'd put him to bed pretty early and then my F-i-L would go to bed around 10pm after we'd finished off a bottle or two of Shiraz, and then I'd have nothing to do for the rest of the night being the night owl that I am. He only had like 3 channels over there and he didn't even have wi-fi, he just used the old geezer next door's wi-fi through the wall (with his permission, he gave him the password) until that old bastard went to bed around 10 or 11pm and turned it off. (who turns their wi-fi off at night??) So I found the dvd's and binge watched the first 4 seasons over the course of 2 weeks late at night. It was a few years later back home in the states when I started season 5 and then never finished it. Thanks for confirming that I don't need to worry about finishing it.

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Was never able to study with metal on in the background. When I was doing homework it seemed to make things harder for me to process through a problem, and when I was studying for a test, I couldn't stay focused on whatever I was trying to memorize. Closest I ever managed was being able to listen to some dungeon synth..but even then i'd have to turn it down pretty low

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