Book blitz! Choices by Alexander Patterson

Choices
Alexander Patterson
Publication date: December 8th 2015
Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult

Richard Örlendr died over a thousand years ago. He lived in Norway during the Germanic Iron Age and trusted in the judgement of the gods. That is not to say he did not question them when they gave him a dragon, nor did he blindly follow their orders when they told him to go to war. But, when one god told him to kill another, Richard was unable to rely on their wisdom. He had to turn to the Norns. 

The Norns guide fate. They shape it past, present, and future; however, it is not set in stone. A hero can change his fate. A hero can chose his destiny. The Norns can weave a new life, but what happens if the Norns are dead? Do heroes have greater freedom? Or are they locked into their destiny since there is no one left to weave?

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AUTHOR Q&A:

What made you want to write this?
I had been tinkering with the idea of a story revolving around a hatchling for about a year when I had the first of many surreal dreams. I walked out of a subway station, it was dark and the streets were deserted. Within half a dozen steps, I was attacked by a man. He demanded my money and as I fumbled for my wallet, the gun went off. I collapsed to the ground and experienced an Assassin’s Creed-esque conversation. Everything melted away save me and a small, blue dragon. He whimpered and begged me not to die. He told me if I died, then he would die with me. All my doodles, little scratches on math notes, everything that he was would disappear. No one would read about him. It would be as if he never existed. Then, I woke up and immediately went to my computer. It has been three years since that first dream, and I am relieved to say if I die now, at least my blue dragon will have the chance to live in the imagination of others.

What inspired you?
I cannot possibly list all of my inspirations here. Dozens of books, movies, and artists have captured my imagination and allowed me to create this work in turn. My largest inspirations, however, are songs. I followed the swells of John Powell through the crests of chapters, lay in beautiful melancholy with Ólafur Arnalds, and relieved stress with Taylor Swift and Imagine Dragons. And on top of these wonderful artists are dozens more. From Peter Hollens to Aeralie Brighton, each contribute to the world in ways I know I can never do. They create beauty from nothing but their imagination and talent. They are my inspiration.

Why are some of the names modern while the rest are Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse inspired?
Two of the characters, Richard and Aiden, have modern names. Truth be told, Richard and Aiden are not their real names, though I doubt I will ever talk about what those are. Choices is told as if it were Richard telling the story to a modern audience. Because of this, Richard is an unreliable narrator. He wants people to like him, and thinks he will be more relatable with a modern name. Everyone else can have their real name as they do not need to be likeable.

Why does Sweden not exist in your novel?
This is one of those cases where the short answer and the real answer are actually the same: the story works better without it. To be technical, Norge is a microcosm for the world if the Old Gods were real. It is a depiction of how I believe the world would work if monsters stalked the forests, and supreme deities imposed their will upon us. Thus, keeping Norge isolated from everything else helps me to create this setting. To be blunt though, Sweden simply does not have a role to play in the story and in a story where I go into enough frivolous detail it is far better to have a land simply not exist than to shoehorn in reasons for Sweden to not get involved. This decision was one of the many things which inspired me to write the Author in as a character.

Are you the Author?
Yes and no. I am the author in that I wrote Choices and in that I dreamed of the dragon ‘Aiden’ before writing Choices; however, I do not have any doubts about both the character of Richard and the falsity of the story. The Author in Choices is my way of looking into how writers develop stories. I do not mean this in a pretentious, ‘my writing is a philosophical inquiry into the nature of writing,’ sort of way –in fact Choices is far from a philosophical inquiry. What I mean is I thought it would be fun to explain my writing decisions to myself in a canonical format.

Extras

I had a dream several years ago. I left a subway station and got mugged. In the surreal fiasco, I was shot. I fell to the ground. A small, blue dragon crawled from my coat pocket. He nudged me with his nose, tears formed at the corners of his eyes. Don’t die, he choked. You have to live. If I died, he would go with me. No one would ever read about his adventures, or doodle him, or even imagine what he looks like. He would never have existed anywhere in the world outside of my own head.

Thankfully, this event was just a dream. I awoke and began writing. After many hours scribbling in notebooks, transposing the chicken-scratch into the computer, and generally spending far too much time developing an imaginary friend than anyone ought to, I finished. Choices was written. If I died, I would at least leave behind an unedited memoir of my blue dragon.

Fortunately, I did not die and I was able to spend another hundred or so hours editing and refining my work until he was something I was ready to share with the world. Next up on my mission to give my little dragon life outside my mind was to find an agent. I received many rejections, but hidden amongst these were acceptances. Yay! I did it! I found an agent! But, they wanted to change who my little, blue dragon was.

I am not saying their ideas were bad, that I am better than they are, or even that changing him would be inherently worse; however, their image of him was not the little, blue dragon who begged me to be given life. Theirs was Smaug, Drogon, or The Golden Dragon. Their idea for a dragon was that of a vicious killing machine. A monster without remorse, sorrow, and dare I say dimensions I find enjoyable.

But that is not who my dragon is. My dragon is not arrogant, or even overly vengeful. And this should not be read as me bragging. I am not, by far, the first to write a dragon like this. Cressida Cowell, Christopher Paolini, Martin Baynton, and many others have dragons that go against the despised-lizard-monster format.

So, I turned down the agents. I decided to self-publish and kept my character wholly mine. I think he would be happier with this decision, if he were real that is. If all goes to plan his story will be read, and he will live in the imagination of others.

History of Norge

While the veracity of dragons and magic is still up for debate amongst the historical community, many common falsehoods about Scandinavian history have already been disproven. The word Viking, for starters, which has become a catch all name for the Scandinavian and Minnesotan population was once reserved for the event of going on a sea-based raid. Leaving the base definition behind, we come across more misconceptions. The term Viking brings to mind horned helmets and longships, but the simple truth is Scandinavia has so much more to offer than one History Channel show. While myths and tales of raids are exciting, the best facts and most interesting tidbits lay behind the glamour. The role of women in their society, for example, is fascinating. The powerful women were not all shield-maidens, as much as I love that depiction it is simply not completely accurate. Powerful women were traders, wealthy merchants, and yes occasionally fighters, but they could not be leaders. They could not attain the rank of jarl and most likely did not fight in the shield wall.

I tried to make Choices at least historically inclined. It is an alternate history after all. So, I set Choices in the year 672 CE. Why this date in particular? You ask. The answer has nothing to do with Scandinavia actually. I chose 672 CE because that is the year Greek Fire was invented by the Byzantines. I thought it was fitting since one of the main characters is a dragon. And while the time period I have for my alternate history is grounded in real history many of the details in Choices are false. My idea for Choices is that it is set in a world in which the Norse Gods not only existed, but one in which they also behaved as their Greek counterparts did.

This means many things in Choices are less than historically accurate. There are a few large picture things such as the main kingdoms Ager and Threkeld existed, but their interactions were not quite as depicted. There are also a few smaller details. The creation of marble walls did not happen. Instead, many Scandinavian people built ring forts and used wood or dirt as their primary building materials. Even the geography is not entirely accurate. I hope that will be a heads up to anyone who does not read my little **THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION** disclaimer.  

I could go on for about nineteen pages on all of the things I wrote that are falsehoods, but there is not space here for that. Instead, I hope you will read this –or Choices—and decide to look into the rich heritage of Scandinavia for yourself. I promise there is so much more than our network television tells us. I highly recommend Viking Answer Lady, Hurstwic, or “A History of the Vikings” by: Gwyn Jones if you would like to know more. That recommendation is the only thing you should place one-hundred percent faith in as fact. The rest of my writings are only mostly accurate. I did not do nearly enough research to honestly call either myself a historian or this post a credible source.

On pronunciations:

 I recently learned J.K. Rowling does not pronounce the T in Voldemort. I found this to be fascinating as I remember they pronounced it with a T in the movie adaptations, and as far as I have heard most everyone I know says the T as well. This got me thinking about my decision to not include a pronunciation guide anywhere in Choices. The way I see it, there are only two options in regards to a pronunciation guide. You have one or you don’t. There is not really room for a middle ground aside from having all characters talk in perfect IPA format, but this would get tedious quickly. The pro for having a guide are simple. With a guide, everyone has a set, official way of speaking. Whether or not they chose to abide by your ruling is not up to you. Just look at the GIF problem for an example of people not listening to the creator. The con for having a guide is just as simple. If in your head you always pronounce GIF like the peanut butter, then you will be disappointed to find out you are –according to the creator –incorrect.

The pro and con for including a guide are about as simple. Not having a guide offers freedom for the readers’ imagination, but it also leaves the door open for discussion and those who want a specific answer will not be able to find an official one unless the author takes her time to make a statement.

Personally, I believe the pro of not having a pronunciation guide is enough to make a decision. Books are written for the primary purpose of entertainment. There are some books with moralizing messages and some others who have education as their target, but for the most part works of fiction aim to amuse. So, with that in mind –as Choices is a work of entertainment foremost, and a hopefully starting dip into the pool of Scandinavian culture second –I leave it to my readers to pronounce the characters and places however they see fit. It is their own head after all. Please, ignore anyone who insists on a proper way to pronounce a name, and be happy with what you say.

Your reading habits

I read books the same way I watch Futurama reruns. I will go days without picking one up, this dry spell will sometimes extend to a month, then I will decide enough is enough and pull one from my shelf. Then I lay in my bed, and begin reading. This bout will end in about eight hours or whenever the book is completed, whichever comes first.

 Share your favorite recipe

Gourmet College Mac N’ Cheese.

As a new college student, I have come to the startling realization that food costs a lot of money. Roughly all of my budget goes into basic sustenance. To relieve stress on my wallet, I switched from Kraft to store brand mac n’ cheese. This in turn led me to my favorite recipe.

To begin, you will need two things. First, cheap, delectably cheap store-brand mac n’ cheese. The best price I have seen is forty-nine cents. The second, is a university cafeteria where you can take food with you.

Now that you have the base materials required, it is time to start preparation. Wake up early to get breakfast. Eat a healthy meal, then take some bacon on your way out. Bring the bacon to a refrigerator of some fort, and wait for lunch. Once your next meal rolls around, head to the salad line. There, you will want to get parmesan cheese. Shredded is preferable, but any form will suffice. Lastly, find bread with a hard crust. The best would be French baguette slices. Take these materials back with you.

Next, use your gathered materials and store brand mac and cheese. Follow the directions on the box, then cut up the bacon strips into bits and grind the bread crust into a crumble, and finally stir in the bacon bits and sprinkle the bread crumble and cheese on top.

Enjoy your gourmet store brand mac n’ cheese.

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