Blank Slate Press, an imprint of Amphorae Publishing, announces the release of The Ice Queen by Bruce Macbain. Following Odin’s Child, this is the second volume in his Viking series, Odd Tangle-Hair’s Saga. In The Ice Queen, Odd Tangle-Hair is “caught between two wolves,” the arrogant, bullying Harald, and his sworn enemy, Ingigerd, Grand Princess of Novgorod, who schemes against Harald by seducing Odd. Book three in the series, The Guardsman, is in the works.

The Ice Queen takes up Odd’s adventures as a skald (court poet) in the land of the Rus. Here he is drawn into a dangerous love affair with the passionate and cunning Princess Ingigerd of Novgorod, the enemy of his sworn lord, Harald. During his time in the land of the Rus, Odd devises a stratagem to defeat the wild Pechenegs, nomadic warriors of the Russian steppe, as they besieged Kiev, and he ends up on a doomed mission to explore the distant reaches of the Black Sea. The novel concludes with Odd sailing into the harbor of Miklagard (which the Rus called Constantinople, modern Istanbul) bent on a secret mission, which will almost certainly cost him his life.

Beautifully written, impeccably researched, and deeply rooted within the oral tradition of storytelling, Bruce Macbain has woven an evocative saga that will sweep readers into the past and plant them firmly in Odd’s rapidly changing world. The Ice Queen will appeal to readers of Norse history, sweeping sagas, and anyone who enjoys the tales of young men coming of age in a time of transformative change.

About the Author

Bruce Macbain has a master’s degree in Classical Studies and a doctorate in Ancient History. As an assistant professor of Classics, he taught courses in Late Antiquity and Roman religion and published a few impenetrable scholarly monographs, which almost no one read. He eventually left academe and turned to teaching English as a second language, a field he was trained in while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Borneo in the 60s. Macbain is the author of historical mysteries set in ancient Rome, (Roman Games, 2010, and The Bull Slayer, 2013, both from Poisoned Pen Press) featuring Pliny the Younger as his protagonist. The Ice Queen is the second in his Viking series, The Odd Tangle-Hair Saga. More information about Bruce and his work can be found on his website, on Facebook, Twitter, and on Goodreads.