Book picks similar to
Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend by John McKinnell
mythology
it-wikipedia
fantasy-basics
nordfisk
All the Windwracked Stars
Elizabeth Bear - 2008
At the end of the long battle, one Valkyrie survived, wounded, and one valraven – the steeds of the valkyrie.Because they lived, Valdyrgard was not wholly destroyed. Because the valraven was transformed in the last miracle offered to a Child of the Light, Valdyrgard was changed to a world where magic and technology worked hand in hand.2500 years later, Muire is in the last city on the dying planet, where the Technomancer rules what’s left of humanity. She's caught sight of someone she has not seen since the Last Battle: Mingan the Wolf is hunting in her city.
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends
Jan Harold Brunvand - 2004
For the first time, Professor Jan Harold Brunvand, "who has achieved almost legendary status" (Choice), has collected the creepiest, most terrifying urban legends, many that have spooked you since your childhood and others that you believe really did occur—even if it was one town over to some poor hapless coed who left a party early only to be followed by a man who just got loose from a mental hospital. From the classic hook-man story told around many a campfire to "Saved by a Cell Phone," these spine-tingling urban legends will give you goose bumps, even when you know they can't be true. Still, you'll continue to check the backseat of your car at gas stations and look under your bed at night before praying for sleep.
A Dark History: Vikings
Martin J. Dougherty - 2013
They traded walruses with Inuits and sold slaves in Constantinople. They discovered America, settled in Newfoundland, and fought battles in Central Asia.•Arranged thematically, Vikings examines Norse life from religion to raiding, from exploration to settlement to their legacy.•Illustrated with more than 150 photographs and artworks, Vikings is an exciting history of a people who have long held a place in popular imagination.
Station Island
Seamus Heaney - 1984
Heaney's pilgrim is on an inner journey and proceeds through a series of dream encounters which lead him back into the world that formed him, and then forward to face the crises of the present. Writing in The Washington Post Book World, Hugh Kenner called this narrative sequence "as fine a long poem as we've had in fifty years." It is preceded by a section of richly meditative lyrics ("Wry, spare, compressed, subtle, strange, they have a furtive intensity and exicitement." - Richard Ellmann, The New York Review of Books), and leads naturally into a third group of poems, in which the poet's voice is at one with the voice of the legendary Sweeney, a king of Ulster whose story Heaney translated from the Irish.
Ahalya
Koral Dasgupta - 2020
enthralling’ BIBEK DEBROY‘A magical and thought-provoking adventure, Ahalya will intrigue and mesmerize readers’ CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI‘An enigmatic tale about purity, chastity, seduction and redemption’ NAMITA GOKHALE‘Brilliant and intriguing’ ANAND NEELAKANTANIt is known that Ahalya was cursed by her husband, Gautam, for indulging in a physical relationship with Indra. But is there another story to Ahalya's truth? Who was Indra anyway? A king? A lover? A philanderer? The first book of the Sati series, Ahalya hinges on these core questions, narrating the course of her life, from innocence to infidelity.In the Sati series, Koral Dasgupta explores the lives of the Pancha Kanyas from Indian mythology, all of whom had partners other than their husbands and yet are revered as the most enlightened women, whose purity of mind precedes over the purity of body. The five books of the Sati series reinvent these women and their men, in the modern context with a feminist consciousness.
Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait
Karen Holliday Tanner - 1998
Holliday, D. D. S., better known as Doc Holliday, has become a legendary figure in the history of the American West. In Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, Karen Holliday Tanner reveals the real man behind the legend. Shedding light on Holliday’s early years, in a prominent Georgia family during the Civil War and Reconstruction, she examines the elements that shaped his destiny: his birth defect, the death of his mother and estrangement from his father, and the diagnosis of tuberculosis, which led to his journey west. The influence of Holliday’s genteel upbringing never disappeared, but it was increasingly overshadowed by his emerging western personality. Holliday himself nurtured his image as a frontier gambler and gunman.Using previously undisclosed family documents and reminiscences as well as other primary sources, Tanner documents the true story of Doc’s friendship with the Earp brothers and his run-ins with the law, including the climactic shootout at the O. K. Corral and its aftermath.This first authoritative biography of Doc Holliday should appeal both to historians of the West and to general readers who are interested in his poignant story.
The Trickster's Lover
Samantha MacLeod - 2016
The next morning, she's convinced it was a dream--until she sees her clothes on the floor, cut in two.When Loki's appearances stop as suddenly as they began, concern for her lover forces Caroline to risk everything in an attempt to reach Val-Hall, the ancient home of Óðinn's army. Once there, she must put all she has learned to the test.
If she fails, there's far more than Loki's life at stake...
Loki: Why I Began the End
Maia Jacomus - 2010
We all know it. I think we knew it the moment Odin and I first met—any indication of camaraderie between a god and a giant was unthinkable. But that was just the first thread of the unraveling world tapestry. Considering my betrayal toward the giants, the gods treating my children like beasts, and my own ignorance regarding the futility of divine power, I’m surprised the world is still standing. I’m surprised the gods can move on unchanged, even after the death of their Prince, the Shining One, the sum of all that’s good and worthwhile in the world.Yggdrasil forbid they should ever admit to a mistake or a flaw, or own up to their share of blame.If you haven’t guessed, I’m Loki, member of the Jotun giant race, sworn blood-brother of the supreme god Odin. If you’ve heard of me, you’ve heard that I’m wicked, that I’m the greatest enemy of the gods, and that I began the chain of events that promise the end of the world. Well, yes, that’s all true—but not for the reasons you think.
Astrology of the Seers
David Frawley - 1990
It possesses a precise predictive value as well as a deep interpretation of the movement of life, unfolding the secrets of karma and destiny. Astrology of the Seers, first published in 1990, is regarded as one of the classic modern books on Vedic astrology, covering all the main aspects of its philosophy, background and practice. The present edition has been thoroughly revised and updated.
Vampires: From Dracula to Twilight: The Complete Guide to Vampire Mythology
Charlotte Montague - 2010
In this book, Charlotte Montague provides a guide to vampire mythology from around the world.
Original Sin: Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm
Jason Aaron - 2014
Thanks to the events of Original Sin, the deepest secret of the Nine Realms has been revealed: namely, the existence of a Tenth Realm! Now, Thor and Loki must embark on a quest to discover this strange new world - and to discover the sister that Thor never knew he had: Angela! But can Loki be trusted? And will brother and sister murder each other before the truth comes out?Collecting: Original Sin 5.1-5.5: Thor & Loki: The Tenth Realm
The Werewolf Handbook: An Essential Guide to Werewolves And, More Importantly, How to Avoid Them
Robert Curran - 2010
Newcomers to werewolf lore will be surprised to learn that there are many different werewolf varieties. Alphas are the leaders, and Betas are unwilling but deadly members of a werewolf pack. But there are also Benandanti, holy men who change into wolves in order to do battle with witches . . . and Loup-garoux, werewolves who can change from man to wolf even during daylight hours. The more ordinary werewolves achieve their terrible transformations from man to beast only by the light of the Moon. Author Robert Curran also notes that Christopher, the mysterious saint venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, has many werewolf characteristics. In addition, this book tells readers where werewolves live, describes their telltale traits, such as hairy palms, advises on how to avoid becoming a werewolf, and gives tips on what werewolf victims should do when they are attacked. More than 100 moody and atmospheric color illustrations accompany this intensely readable text.
Heroes: Saviors, Traitors, and Supermen: A History of Hero Worship
Lucy Hughes-Hallett - 2004
In this riveting and insightful cultural history, Lucy Hughes-Hallett brings to life eight exceptional men from history and myth whose outsized accomplishments made them heroes of their times. Alcibiades was Athens's most dazzling citizen but an incorrigible traitor. El Cid was an invincible but self-interested warlord. Albrecht von Wallenstein terrified both enemies and allies in the Thirty Years' War. Despite their flaws, all three were celebrated as superhuman paragons of virility. We see them in contrast to heroes of a different kind: Cato, the stubborn opponent of dictatorship; Sir Francis Drake, who used wit instead of might to defeat the Spanish; and Giuseppe Garibaldi, the gallant revolutionary and international celebrity. Framing these six men are the two paradigmatic Homeric heroes: Achilles, who sacrificed his life for glory, and Odysseus, who lied and cheated and stole, doing anything to survive. As Hughes-Hallett vividly re-creates these extraordinary lives, she illuminates the attractions and dangers of hero worship. This is a fascinating book about dictatorship and democracy, seduction and mass hysteria, politics and culture, and the eternal tension between the Achillean glorification of death and the Odyssean affirmation of life.
Adi Shankara
Anant Pai - 1974
Amazingly fearless yet dutiful, scholarly yet humble, young Shankara packed several lifetimes into his 32 brilliant years. He travelled and toiled, suffered joys and sorrows, and eventually perfected a philosophical system that, more than a thousand years later, still instructs and guides seekers of the ultimate Truth.