Eric L. Olson

Born in Michigan in 1967, my family moved to Jacksonville, FL in the early 1970's. Now, growing up in Northeast Florida in the 1970's and 80's was a unique experience. Your choices were between Southern Rock and 4 wheel drives or punk, new wave, rockabilly, surfing and skateboarding. I chose the latter fortunately (nothing against the former but I am a big Elvis fan now).

When I was 13 my mother(now a single mom with 2 kids)moved us to an apartment that was walking distance to the largest shopping mall in the city. I was a typical kid reading comic books and fantasy books. Sometimes, when I needed a little break from school, my mom would let me take a mental health day and walk over to the mall. I made a B-line for the book store every time (ironic). Even in the early 80's the book store had that peaceful vibe. My favorite spot was the Fantasy shelf. There was a couple books of artwork by Frank Frazetta and Boris. I dog eared those books so much that they became displays only. But it was the piece by Frazetta of the Viking Berserker that captivated me. It drew me back over and over again. Fast forward to today and I am still mesmerized by the Berserker character, not because of the unbridled violence he is capable of, but because it is the closest a human can get to being super-human.

Dance of the Berserkers is the first book in a series that is set in two time periods; the 15th and 10th centuries. The fictional characters interact with actual historical figures that lived in and around those time periods. I committed to a two year research period before writing the book. When I began writing, the story flowed out of me so fast that I completed the first book in 90 days.

I really want my readers to know that I try to research as much as I can before I write. For example, in Berserkers, there is an actual battle that took place in Northumbria, England. I was about to write the part where the Saxons formed into battle lines. I stopped myself and spent two hours researching how they set up for battle at that particular time period. My message to my readers is this: I am not perfect, but I will use every possible method to make what you are reading as authentic as possible. If I write about a battle or a castle, I will look at satellite images of the structure or the ground before I write. I actually go and see the story before I tell it. What I am doing is more like Archaeological Fantasy than Historical Fantasy. Writing this series is a blast and I can't wait to start the next adventure. I hope you can come along with me.