And the Heavens Burn, A Norse Mythology-based fantasy series

Welcome to CHAPTER 73 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week we’re back with Vafthrudnir, the high shaman of the Jotunn. We last saw Vaft in Ch 66 when he reported to his friend, the Skrymir — who is the High Chief of the Jotunn — that Thor had destroyed the town of Akrton in retaliation for the Jotunn destroying the town of Hals.

In that chapter, the Skrymir told Vaft that Vidar the son of Odin, was on his way to one of the frozen lakes in Utgard. As readers we last saw those frozen lakes referenced in two of Loki’s chapters: 42 and 47. 

Vaft revealed that the “work” undertaken at those lakes represented a second major secret held by the Jotunn — if you recall, the Jotunn were hauling comatose bodies out of the frozen lake and then in the bowels of the secret cavern that Loki entered there were many campfires. And the Skrymir said there were many such caverns scattered across Utgard. The Skrymir also alluded to needing supplies.

Chapter 66 ended with Vaft agreeing to spin the black ships of smoke and ash that Jotunn use to travel quickly across the snowy wastes of Utgard.

In this chapter Vaft is woken by an unexpected death.

I used Google Gemini to generate this week's episode art.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 72 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week we’re back with Frigg. Here's a quick summary of the key events in Frigg's last few chapters. Frigg was called to adjudicate a murder. Harald had apparently murdered his ex-wife Bera. We met Harald and Bera, along with Bera's sister, Yelena, way back in chapter 23. Turns out that Yelena's husband, Klakki, believes that Yelena was a witch. Based on what Klakki said, Frigg also believes that Yelena was involved in cutting out the heart of Baldr's mistletoe...which is why Baldr is having the deathly dreams. Frigg's last chapter ended with her issuing a few orders designed, we think, to keep Yelena in the dark and confront her.

I used Google Gemini to create some art for this week's episode. It is a representation of Yelena based on descriptions of her in the text and some additional customization based on this week's chapter

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online..

Welcome to CHAPTER 71 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week we’re back with Odin. Last time, Odin stopped beside the river of death…the Gjoll…to harvest and refine witchthread. That’s the power source for one of the types of magic he knows…seidr.

Much like we found his son, Hodr, on the road…we now find Odin on the road…but a very different one.

I used Google Gemini to create this week's episode art.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 70 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

There are 23 chapters left in the book. We’re nearly there.

Just as blind Hodr, the son of Odin and Frigg, is nearly back in Gladsheim. When we last were with him, he left his fiancee Alara in Ifington. He had been given a magic spear by the smith Lopt. When Hodr holds that spear, he can see again.

Hodr told Alara about the spear and offered to share the fruit of Yggdrasil with her. It would keep them both young for as long as they ate it. Alara refused the offer.

So, Hodr has to choose between continued life…and eventual death…with Alara or a long life without her.

He decided to return to Gladsheim and patch things up with his family and maybe ask his father to give the fruits to everyone in Alara’s family.

That’s where we find him now…on the road again.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 69 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week, we’re back with Frigg. In her last chapter, Frigg presided over a murder inquiry. A young man, Harald, was accused of raping and murdering his ex-wife, Bera. Frigg had presided over their divorce.

Harald’s brother-in-law, Klakki, had intervened too late in the grisly event. Klakki’s wife Yelena — who we met during the divorce — was present in the immediate aftermath of the Harald’s ugly deed and she also testified against him.

Klakki had been wounded by Harald and was taken to be healed by Frigg’s son Baldr. Frigg halted the trial proceedings and went to speak privately with Klakki to get his side of the story.

That’s where we find her now.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 68 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week, we’re back with Odin. Several chapter ago, Odin left Gladsheim…and his wife, Frigg, to get answers from the dead witch Angrboda…who was Loki’s first wife.

Why Angrboda? Because Odin found his uncle, Mimir, trapped inside Angrboda’s house. And in that house he discovered the remnants of an old ritual that appeared to involve her children — Fenrir the wolf, Jorm the serpent, and Hel. Upon returning to his body, Odin unearthed a memory of Loki threatening him, his family and everything he’d built. So, Odin decided he’d been blind and, naturally, cut out his own eye and, using the rune magic he seized when he’d hung upon Yggdrasil, bound his eye to the pool in Mimir’s glade.

So in this chapter we find Odin making a pit stop on his journey to raise Angrboda from the dead.

Let’s stop in with him at the Circle K now.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 67 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week, we’re back with Frigg. Frigg discovered that the heart of the mistletoe into which they had placed her son Baldr’s spirit had been cut out. That was why he was dying as he slept and only waking when the sun … or when he drank his own elixir, distilled from the revitalizing fruit of the great tree Yggdrasil. It also seems that these dreams have gotten worse. Odin witnessed one and used his magic to hopefully stabilize Baldr until he could get more answers.

Frigg also dragged Odin’s unconscious body out of Mimir’s glade where he’d cut his eye out. After that, she and Odin discussed the possibility of who might be behind the attack on Baldr and thanks to a memory Odin surfaced, she and Odin believe that Loki might have done it…they just can’t figure out how, since they were careful in the keeping of that secret. There’s also the Jotunn’s attack on Hals … and the retribution Odin asked Thor to carry out.

And with all this other stuff going on, as Almother, Frigg’s also been dealing with the administration of Gladsheim. Much of that has been handled off-camera, as it were, but now that stuff takes center stage.

Let’s rejoin her now.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 66 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week, we’re back with Vafthrudnir. The last time we were with him, Vaft had a front-row seat to the Thor’s destruction of a Jotunn town — which is Odin’s promised retribution for the Jotunn destroying Háls. Let’s rejoin him now.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 65 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week, we’re back with Vidar.

If you recall, Vidar had pursued several Jotunn warriors through the mines beneath the mountains north of Hals. Those Jotunn were the last of the warbands that had destroyed Hals.

Vidar never caught those warriors, but he did find the magic doorway through which they came — directly from Utgard, or so Vidar has theorized.

Let’s rejoin him now.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.

Welcome to CHAPTER 64 of the Kinsmen Die podcast, home of fantasy fiction based on Norse mythology that’s written and read by me, Matt Bishop.

In this podcast I read my first novel, Kinsmen Die, one chapter at a time. And, with each episode, when it makes sense, I provide some commentary about the source materials I’ve referenced in the text.

This week, we’re back with Odin. Having cut out his eye, Odin has now received expert medical care from his son, Baldr, and a new golden eye from Baldr’s wife, Nanna.

Over the course of the last few chapters, Odin has come to realize that his mind has been tampered with and the culprit is either Loki or maybe the spirit beneath the well. He intends to find out who did it.

Let’s rejoin Odin now.

You can find me online at: https://mattwritesmyths.com/ The show's public site is here: https://rss.com/podcasts/fensalirpodcast-kinsmendie/ The source for my short reading from Snorri’s Prose Edda is here: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm The source for my reading from the Havamol is here:https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe04.htm Larrington’s translation of the Havamol can be found where books are sold online.