An author from mid-Norfolk has written a book about a Vikings after being inspired by 'fake news'.
Ian Sharpe, 45, is a former Northgate High School pupil and also attended Neatherd Sixth Form, and has developed the Vikingverse following his passion of Norse history
The author, who now lives in Canada, has created the alternate universe which sees his protagonist, Odin, escape his doom at Ragnarok - a parallel timeline where Vikings rule seas and stars with restless fleets.
He said: 'The Norse conquered most of England as pagans and we've been demonising them ever since.
'They attacked Norfolk in 865 and four years later killed the Edmund, the last king of the East Angles. Edmund went on to become a saint, the Vikings became horned devils.
'Viking settlement is thought to have stimulated the growth of towns such as Norwich and Thetford as part of a great North Sea trading empire.
'Do you really think they were smelly, horned-helmeted barbarians? Or does the record need setting straight? That was my impetus.'
The book took about six-months to write and two years after he started the project, it hit the shelves.
'I think writing is a discipline,' he added. 'I joke that someone should invent the writbit as the equivalent of the popular fitness device. It would track words and chapters instead of steps and calories.
'A novel is also a moment. A snapshot of time. My novel is born of rising tides, and rural life vanishing, while nations howl in outrage at each other. I wanted to hold up a cracked mirror to the here and now, and that came with a sense of immediacy of purpose.
'History is about perspective. It is a source of endless wonder to me that even individual words can change their shape and slide into a new meaning. Watching that transformation of thinking, looking at how what we believe changes, and then finding the connections between those changes was the bulk of the research.'
The All Father Paradox is his first novel.
- For more information about Mr Sharpe and his book visit the website outlandentertainment.com/project/vikingverse-the-all-father-paradox.
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