The Viking Hasting Has Landed: My Saga Joins Vinci Books

The indie era is ending—the adventure is only beginning.

When I was twelve years old, I wrote a story about a knight templar storming a castle to rescue a damsel in distress. I recognize the problematics now—but I was twelve! What mattered was that I had discovered storytelling and the thrill of creating worlds that felt alive.

In college, I dabbled in creative writing, but history stole my heart. I earned my degree in it, and later, when the PhD program I had been accepted into was shut down during the Great Recession, I became a schoolteacher instead. Standing in front of a classroom, I realized that storytelling was the key to bringing history to life. So, I began writing again, but this time with purpose.

My first novel, The Line of His People, was a humble effort. I queried 150 agents and was rejected by all of them. I wasn’t good enough yet. But Amazon had just launched its Kindle Direct Publishing platform, and I decided to take a chance. To my surprise, the book sold. I learned to design covers, build websites, run ads, and market my …