All Comments on 'The Wilde Irish Solstice'

Very interesting story!

5

Well written and enjoyable read. Thank you.

Excellent story.

This story is set in the mid-900's. Not your typical opening for a romance story, but I wanted to establish good reasons for Elin to leave the prior life she had in Wexford. As she says in the story, there is nothing for her there now. The rest of the story is the melding of Norse and Irish Solstice traditions, some of which we similar even from ancient times. Add to this, the arrival of a new religion in Ireland, one that would soon be adopted throughout the Viking world. Fast forward to Dublin in today's time, where Eabha is offered a chance at a new life, and is brave enough to try. She looks around at her current life and her small flat, and like Elin, realizes there is nothing for her there now.

I liked the connection from old times to modern, and how traditions live on. It would be interesting if Santa used flying goats to pull a chariot. But Rudolph!

I am glad you posted the epilogue to Wilde-irish-strawberries. I love how you integrated Elin into Irish life and then melded her experiences with the modern day Eabha. My only complaint is I like your stories so much I wish they were longer. I am looking forward to reading Sven and Ole and a Valkyrie hopefully it will have another “It is one of many things Valkyries do to prepare warriors for Ragnarök“ moment. Thank you again for your stories and please keep posting here

21% Norwegian

Two brave women who were not shy and decided to grab the opportunity.

5 stars.

Thank you Anon 21% for your lovely comment. I'm still new at this, and I am seeing that Romance and Mature readers seem to prefer longer stories. It's tough to do a longer story in this violent age without going too far into that aspect, but you have inspired me to consider a prequel for an 18 year old Elin in Norway. Her mother died earlier in childbirth and she was raised as an only child by her father, who lacking a son, taught her swordsmanship. Lots of romantic opportunities as she fends off potential suitors, but things don't go to plan, and so Elin and her father decide to move to Wexford. Plenty of material for a longer story, hopefully submitted a couple of months from now. Meanwhile, Sven and Ole went way off from my 'universe', doesn't seem to be drawing much interest, and I am thinking of removing the story. Still lots of other ideas for continuing Anna the Valkyrie.

Great! maybe too unsexy for this site, but very interesting!

I love any means of transport, but especially Freya's chariot pulled by giant cats! Could you please confirm that these were huge cats, six feet tall?

Also nice was Thor's chariot, with two goats that he could roast.

@Norway_1705. Freya's cats, Bygul and Trjegul probably have more spiritual significance than actual size. Possibly ancient Norwegian wild cats, but not likely to be six feet tall. You can still admire their symbolism of loyalty and strength. Just as I was ready to submit this story, I saw a story in Romance that said it had No Sex, and it received high scores with many comments. Obviously, a well written story, but it made me think that long descriptive sex scenes in the Romance category were not a requirement, so I cut back the sex scene to quite limited, in order to emphasize the Solstice traditions. Elin will return in a prequel called The Wilde Irish Arrival, where her sexual appetite forces her and her father to leave Norway.

What a lovely story! It is very festive in it's own way. I look forward to reading the prequel to this story. Have a Merry Christmas.

Excellent writing. I was very touched by the insight you gave into the lives of some of my ancestors (not Nordic, but Celtic).

Many people don't realize the Vikings as a group were influential in every civilization of their time from Greenland eastwards to the Russias down to the Turks. Their descendants, the Normans, spread even further to Italy and Sicily. Is it really any wonder at the commonality of customs throughout Europe?

Thank you for helping me remember the people I came from. Makes a truly good Thanksgiving Day today.

What a sweet and beautiful story. As a Swede who's grandparents hailed from the old country, this tale touched my heart. Happy Solstice and Merry Yule!

Rockadilly

“Odin”, in #Slavic, means “the First”. I leave the ramifications to others.

The best face of Janus for the new year to all.

Great story.

First 5 ⭐ and the present day brought a tear to my eye.

When I saw the title I was afraid it would be about the wrong solstice. But it wasn't. By the time of the story there would have been thousands of years (since the building of henges) of confidence that the shortest day would mark the end of it getting darker, but thinks like the Yule Log were probably a case of a hint to the sun.

My view is that once people ceased to be nomadic hunter gatherers and became settled farmers, the annual fear would be that the sun wouldn't stand still, but would continue south until the world was eternaly dark and cold. So confident it wouldn't they would still have watched to make sure. The summer solstice, by comparison, was just a check that the sun was keeping to the script.

The bigger henges (Stone Henge in Southern England and Ring of Brodgar in Orkney) probably had other checks on the Sun and Moon for better early warning of any trouble ahead.

I reserve the right to be (proved) wrong. YMMV

AlexFourways - Thank you for your wise and informative comments (again). The depth of your knowledge is wonderful to read, and I (and other readers) appreciate you sharing. The Viking Age was not the beginning of civilization in Norway, and recognition of the power of the 'sun'. There are rock carvings in Scandinavia depicting the sun even back into the Bronze Age. And, not to be overlooked, like many civilizations, the Vikings counted lunar cycles, and linked them to their farming and other activities.