The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2000, Page 37

Vol. 56 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
35
English/Irish/Scottish background, he proba-
bly possesses several strands of Viking DNA.
Authentic genes or not, Slade is
unabashedly obsessed with Icelandic history,
mythology and folklore, in particular with
Icelandic creatures of the dark side..
"I always wanted to be a Viking!" he
insists. Slade's strongest passion in literature
has been fantasy and ghost stories, first fos-
tered in Tompkins, where an understanding
librarian nurtured young Arthur's obsession
with Norse, Greek and Celtic mythology and
related topics including siege engines and
plate armour. At eight or nine, he was devour-
ing a heady mixture of ancient myths and very
modern science fiction.
"The more I read," says Slade, "the more
I understood that it was the Icelandic sagas
and Norse myths that inspired such works as
The Lord of the Rings. So I wanted to read
everything in its original source. What could
be more interesting than a group of people
who spend their time raiding other countries
and spouting poetry? At least that's the stereo-
type.”
"My specific connection with Icelanders
came at the University of Saskatchewan dur-
ing my Old Icelandic Literature class. In my
third and fourth years of university I studied
both Old Norse Myths and Old Icelandic
Literature as part of my English Honours
degree. My professor described his experi-
ences in Iceland and talked about this mysti-
cal place called Gimli. That was the spark
that got me interested in Icelandic culture, and
more specifically in Canadian Icelanders.
“The more I read, the more I realized I
could use this mythological/folklore"stuff" in
my writing, possibly updating it for modern
teens. It was only natural to set my first novel
in Gimli.”
"It was great to rediscover the myths and
it was only natural to use them as the founda-
tion for my series. The sagas and folklore
were a perfect fit because they had sword, sor-
cery and "horror" elements. So I could go in
a number of directions."
Draugr, the first in the series, begins
when Sarah, Michael and Angie arrive from
the United States to spend a summer holiday
with their Grandpa Thursten in Gimli. They
know that Grandpa likes to tell scary stories
based on Icelandic mythology. But before
summer properly comes to Gimli, the young
people are living their own terrifying story
when a draugr, a man who comes back from
the dead, makes his presence known.
The Haunting of Drang Island involves
Michael, who joins father on a camping trip
that is supposed to give Dad time to finish the
book of Norse stories he is writing.
Michael meets a local Canadian girl who
seems to attract terrifying adventures as easi-
ly as Michael does, and they quickly discover
that Drang Island is awash in spirits, sacri-
fices, serpents - and possibly the set of
sequences that will result in the end of the
world as we know it.
"Drang Island," says Slade, "is a ways
past the north end of Vancouver Island. Keep
your eyes peeled for thick fog, mist, tall cliff
walls, and lightning. It can sometimes be very
hard to find. Don't believe anyone who tells
you it doesn't exist."
There's no way to overstate the effect of
the opening line of Loki Wolf.
"One week before my trip to Iceland, I
died in my sleep."
Angie struggles with realistic night-
mares, including death by being devoured by
a giant wolf. Her parents brush the dreams off
as the product of an over-active imagination.
However, Grandpa Thursten, who takes
the young people to visit an uncle in Iceland,
is much more alarmed. He has every reason to
worry.
Slade wraps his plots around pieces of
Icelandic mythology so that many characters
draw something from Icelandic gods and
Rev. Stefan Jonasson
ARBORG UNITARIAN CHURCH
GIMLI UNITARIAN CHURCH
9 Rowand Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 2N4
Telephone (204) 889-4746
E-mail sjonasson@uua.org