Bill Radford of the Colorado Springs Gazette talks with writer Brian Wood about his preparation for his new Vertigo Viking series, Northlanders:
“I go a little overboard with research — I always have — and my wife no doubt grows weary at the steadily growing stacks of books filling our house,” Wood said.
A trip to Iceland, which also served as his honeymoon, provided an opportunity for even more research.
“It was fun,” he said.
“Our hotel sat, literally, on the remains of an old settlement house, meaning one of the first houses built when Vikings settled the island. And I could go down into the small basement museum and check it out.”
Readers shouldn’t worry, though, that they’ll be force-fed lessons in Viking history.
“It’s all in the background, this research,” Wood said. “It’s going into the locations, the ships, the battle scenes — not into the dialogue, meaning no one in this book is spouting facts and history as exposition.”
The second issue is due in stores next week. A preview can be found here.
