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 own work. My self-taught crash course in book marketing landed me a job in the private sector, where I spent the next twelve years helping companies grow.

And through all those years, I kept writing.

I wrote a second book and signed with a small indie publisher in Finland, which turned out to be an experience that taught me more about what not to do than what to do. I eventually got my rights back and decided to start fresh. I called my next project The Saga of Hasting the Avenger.

When I finished The Lords of the Wind, I remember saying to a friend, “This is the book I was meant to write.”

At first, it sold nothing. Then, slowly, the numbers climbed. 10 copies a day, 20, 30, 40—until it exploded. For more than a year, it held the #1 spot in Norse & Icelandic Historical Fiction on Amazon. My boss at the time asked how much I was making from my books; when I told him it was about the same as my salary, he just smiled and said, “Good for you.” He and his business partner remained exceptionally supportive of my author career and rooted for me the whole time.

Then came In the Shadow of the Beast with five thousand pre-orders. I thought I’d arrived. But algorithms change, the world changes, and the momentum slipped away for reasons I cannot quite explain. By the time The Kings of the Sea was released, I was selling fewer books than ever. Between COVID, a divorce, my dog dying, my car having engine trouble (yes, my life at one point was a bad country song), and rising production and marketing costs, I nearly quit.

But then, life surprised me again.

I met my wife, Crystal, a fellow Star Trek nerd who believed in my writing when I barely did. She encouraged me to keep going. She’d ask questions about what was going to happen to my characters in future books, and it got my creative juices flowing. I suppose I could call her my muse, but that would be awfully cheesy, indeed. To my delight, I discovered that she has an amazing talent for art, and in support of her, we published a children’s book together, I’m a Viking!

Around the same time, I met Professor Terri Barnes—now my co-host on the Vikingology Podcast—and together we rediscovered what I loved most: talking about Viking history with passion and joy.

Through it all, my success to date would have been possible without my readers. The Saga of Hasting the Avenger garnered nearly 6,000 ratings on Amazon, averaging 4.5/5 stars, which I’ve been saying for some time is proof that “I did something right.” Some of you are downright raving lunatic fans of Hasting, and I couldn’t be more honored.

The fan mail over the years has been incredible: heartfelt thank-you letters, speaking engagement invitations, marriage proposals (no joke), and, my favorite, Viking shields. Without you, my loyal readers, I would not have kept this dream going as long as I have. Seeing the positive outpouring for my characters kept my spirit alive.

Reinvigorated, I released The Fell Deeds of Fate in late 2024 and started writing the next installment. I told myself that if I kept at it long enough, someone would notice. Twelve years into this journey, however, I struggled believing that would ever happen. This past July, I released the fifth novel in the series, The Empress and Her Wolf, with that hope in mind, as well as the idea that, over time, more titles would sell more (which is algorithmically true).

And then, this past week, it happened.

U.K.-based publisher Vinci Books reached out. Naturally, I did my homework. When I learned that their CEO is Mark Smith—the very same Mark Smith who helped propel Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to international fame—I had to read the email twice. This is a team who have built numerous global success stories. And now, they’re betting on mine.

So here it is: after twelve years of writing, publishing, failing, learning, and starting again, I’ve officially signed with Vinci Books. My Viking saga will be rebranded, relaunched in ten languages and dozens of countries, and—god willing—introduced to an audience far beyond what I could have reached alone.

It feels surreal to say it: I’m no longer an indie author. I write. They sell.

This moment is an ending but also a beginning. It’s the end of a long march through self-publishing, late nights, marketing spreadsheets, and self-doubt. And it’s the beginning of a new era, one in which I can focus on the work I love most: telling historically authentic stories.

Before the rebranding begins, though, I have one last thing to share with those who’ve been here since the start:

The original, independently published editions of The Saga of Hasting the Avenger—The Lords of the Wind, In the Shadow of the Beast, The Kings of the Sea, The Fell Deeds of Fate, and The Empress and Her Wolf—will soon disappear from circulation. Once Vinci takes over, these versions will be gone for good.

If you’ve ever wanted to own the originals, now’s the time. Consider them collector’s editions—the first printing of a saga that’s about to set sail for a much wider world. « BUY THEM HERE »

Thank you, sincerely, for being part of this long voyage as the next chapter begins. In the words of a famous Scottish movie star playing a soldier, “I’ll see you on the beach.”