Worthy of Note: Hæstingas

I've always loved, and been inspired by various aspects of Tolkien's mythology: not only the in-universe lore itself, but how he came to create the tales. Even in the sense of 'prose' and 'verse.' I do not know much about epic poetry (beats? chanting?) I just enjoying reading them. I've always sort of been inspired to do my own Tolkien-esque poem...a 'lay' if you will.

Somebody else, did just that. They didn't steal my idea, but this is what I would have liked to have done, or something very similar.

The author is James Moffett. Many may know him best for his blog, "A Tolkienist's Perspective". This blog, my own, isn't a Tolkien specific one; however it's a key interest of mine so it gets lots of coverage. What follows is his blog post about the book, and the official description:

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Independently published (Nov. 2 2019) [as far as I'm aware, only available through Amazon]
Language: English
ISBN: 9781072916208

"Well folks, this is it.

The Lay of Leofwin project I briefly posted about over the last few months, has taken a life of its own and been transformed into a book. An actual, published book!

That is the primary reason behind my long absence from this blog.

Without going into too much “behind-the-scenes” detail, the writing process for what would eventually become known as “Hæstingas: A retelling of the valiant fall of England in verse” started almost 3 years ago, with a very rough idea of where I wanted the story to lead to.

Fast-track to today, that story combines three subjects dear to me: fantasy stories, poetry, and the Anglo-Saxon period. Plus, I won’t deny the huge influence Tolkien’s works have had on this too 😀

The synopsis of the book is as follows:

Dragons, mythical beasts, mighty warriors and perilous forests. This is England in 1066. The Anglo-Saxon king, Harold, is bound north to repel a strong force of Norsemen — unaware of the approaching threat upon the southern shores of his kingdom. Among his army of thousands, from noble thegns to battle-hardened housecarls and staunch fyrdmen, is the ambitious, loyal and proud Leofwin. Eager to defend his brother’s kingdom and carve his name in the annals of history, he battles in earnest against famed warriors, ravenous wolves and wicked sorcerers. However, his ambitions soon come to naught when his beloved wife’s life is in danger. His whole world and home are approaching an inevitable downfall.

I’m extremely proud of this work and really hope you get the chance of reading it."

I look forward to reading it. My reading pile is currently quite extensive: I'm working my way through Penguin's Legends from the Ancient North series, after which I'll take The Sagas of Icelanders, and then other sagas that aren't included in Penguin's Sagas. Following that, I will read The History of Middle-earth. My other Tolkien reading afterwards consists of The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin, Tales From the Perilous Realm, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, The Fall of Arthur, Beowulf, The Story of Kullervo and others afterwards.