Still No Word on the Cover

I still haven't seen the cover for Personal Demons, and Ophir's Single Shot won't be out until the middle of August. Ah well. In the meantime, I'm amusing myself by researching Vikings. If I write a Viking story, it'll be a historical, which I've never attempted before. I have a lot of respect for writers of historicals who do it well. I belong to a list for authors of historicals, but I mostly hang these as a fan girl and uber geek as I love to read these intense conversations they have. One of the things I love about the group is how they decry being PC. No revisionist history for them. They want accuracy. So I know who to turn to if I take the leap. Having read some TDS - truly dreadful stuff - historicals, I know what I DON'T want to do. I used to read folktales and myths from around the world before I discovered true crime novels (True crime remains my guilty pleasure. I blame Truman Capote as In Cold Blood was the first one I read. Hooked me for life.) But with all the reading I did of folktales, northern European mythology and folklore seems to have escaped me. I kind of know who Thor, Loki, and the Valkyre are, but not really. I've read Beowulf (on my own, not for a class, which was probably a mistake) but barely remember it. So even if I don't end up writing Vikings, at least I'll fill in that gaping hole (one of many) in my knowledge base. Besides, I need to brush up on my Russian folklore before Helen Madden and I jump into our project. I have to find out if there are Russian fae. I know they have witches. (Hut of the Baba Yaga is my favorite movement from Pictures on Exhibition by Mussorgsky, although the Gates of Kiev is wonderful too.) Other than folklore and the heroic sagas which I'll no doubt have to read, I'm also turning to TV. Oh dear, I know. No accuracy there. But the Historical Channel had a great show on the Vikings about six months ago. Until I saw it, I never understood the reach of the Viking navies. These were no mere looters. Despite their image, they enforced peace when the disintegration of the Roman Empire created a power vacuum, which made it possible for trade to continue from Russian to the holy lands. That's what made me sit up and think "these people are interesting."