In April 2025 Skyboat Media made our way up to Seattle, Washington for Norwescon 47 and we were greeted by more than just classic PNW rain and a beautiful view of Mount Rainier… there were Vikings waiting for us!
Gabrielle and Stefan came across the booth of an author of over a dozen historical fiction & fantasy novels: Jay Palmer. The Skyboat team got to talking with Jay, and his wonderful wife-editor-and-dancing partner Karen, and a new collaboration was born!
When not writing, Jay Palmer is often seen waltzing or doing the hustling upon dance floors all around Seattle. Born extreme ADHD at Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, Jay grew up on military base, moving to a new city every two years. Jay Palmer has always sought the novel and the obscure, and joined numerous fringe groups as a teenager, including Wicca in 1972, the Markland Medieval Mercenary Militia in 1974, Puget Sound Star Trekkers and the Society for Creative Anachronism in 1979 (where he fought his way to become a knight, herald, seneschal, and autocrat), and working ConCom for Norwescons 2-6. Jay Palmer rides a Kawasaki Vulcan and leads a quiet life working as a Technical Writer for major software firms including Microsoft, Attachmate, and the Walt Disney Internet Group. Jay is always looking for the next party, interesting people to meet, and new places to dance.
Stefan and Gabrielle voice the eclectic and ragtag team of Eric, a Viking seeking honor through a warrior’s death, Eloise, the heir to a grand barony, Karl, a handsome youth learning how to be a man and a fighter, Roselyn, a strong-willed beautiful woman with a mysterious past, Rafe, the aging, pious horse-master, and the companions and enemies they meet along the way.
The author is himself a master armorer, so not only is the series a wonderful story of magic, mythology, and found family, but it also boasts meticulously research descriptions of armor and military strategy. And with Jay’s knowledgeable assistance, Skyboat has taken great care in bringing the accurate accents and pronunciations to this colorful series. The word list alone was over a hundred words long!
“None has ever reached Valhalla with cowardice in their heart”
– A Norse proverb
What is exactly is a DeathQuest? Well, it is the motivation for Eric Bjornson’s journey. After decades of fighting and living the life of a Viking, Eric feels it is time to ascend to Valhalla, a paradise for warriors in the afterlife. But in order to get there, a warrior must die in battle and the Valkyrie must bring their soul to Odin’s hallowed halls. The best way Eric can see to achieve this is to die in war. And if he has to start one in order to make it so, that is precisely what he will try to do…
The whole trilogy is out now, so get ready for some Viking Bingeing!
DEATHQUEST (The VIKINGS! Trilogy, Book One) by Jay Palmer
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki
As King Svenson Two-Sword is about to embark upon his summer viking, Eric steals the king’s most-prized heirloom and sails to England … leaving behind a message of where he’s going. Arriving at Castle Bristlen, Eric offers the king’s golden heirloom as a gift, and they allow Eric inside. Seven hours later, the angry king sails up with his fleet, seven thousand Viking warriors, to recapture his property.
With old age sapping his fighting prowess, Eric seeks to impress the Valkyrie by earning the most-glorious death any Norse warrior has ever enjoyed. Unfortunately, his horrified Catholic companions refuse to sacrifice their lives so he can earn his death. Yet they can’t stop Eric from dragging them into every deadly danger he can find or invent on his quest to enter Valhalla.
Fleeing across Northumbria with the treasure they stole from Castle Bristlen before it was sacked, and chased by the vengeful Viking army, Eric’s companions must try to keep him (and themselves!) alive until the Saxons raise an army to slay the viking invaders and the war Eric purposefully-engineered begins!
Listen to a sample on SoundCloud! Or check it out on Jay’s YouTube!
THE MOURNING TRAIL (The VIKINGS! Trilogy, Book Two) by Jay Palmer
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki
Cheated of his glorious afterlife, Eric faces a terrible doom. If his companions can‘t save him then he’ll be forever barred from Valhalla and rot in icy, hopeless Niflheim.
Outlawed and hunted, with prices upon their heads, Eric’s companions must secretly flee from England, but a terrible curse delays them time and again. Allied with a snobbish Druid Seer, who alone can help them rescue Eric, they strike a terrible bargain: to seek “the crack in the world,” a mystical doorway to the forbidden realms of the Norse Gods.
Escaping from the sadistic Eorl of Northumbria, the companions face mystical enemies determined to thwart their quest. With the help of Seren, a wise, aging prostitute, they reluctantly cross the once-bountiful lands their merry chase helped ruin … where peaceful villages once thrived.
However, when they finally recover Eric’s dragonship, they face an even worse threat: the cold, stormy North Sea, upon which they must sail to an unknown destination, and none of them are experienced sailors.
Listen to a sample on SoundCloud! Or check it out on Jay’s YouTube!
QUEST FOR VALHALLA (The VIKINGS! Trilogy, Book Three) by Jay Palmer
Read by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki
Shipwrecked on the far side of the “crack in the world,” Eric’s companions find themselves trapped on the roots of Yggdrasil, the Great Norse Tree of Life. Lost and bereft of supplies, the companions wander blindly and soon find themselves in the worst land of Norse Mythology: Niflheim, the realm of the unfortunate dead. Facing starvation, the companions have no choice; they must seek and beg for assistance from Loki’s daughter, Hel, the Norse Goddess of Death.
Hel turns out to be a much nicer goddess than expected, but she’s lonely and desperate for companionship. She befriends them and offers them everything they could ever want, even immortality, but they must remain trapped in her Land of Death forever, and surrender Eric to a miserable, agonizing doom.
Forced to betray either Hel or Eric, the companions choose Eric. Stealing Eric, they escape Hel’s kingdom. Outraged, Hel calls upon her father, Loki, and together they chase the companions through Nidavellir, Svartalfheim, Jotunheim, and every other realm of Norse mythology, facing trolls, dark elves, and illusion-casting giants on a hopeless quest to rightfully inter Eric’s spirit into fabled Valhalla.
