It all started with a Viking raid: When he is captured and forced into slavery, Aillil the Irishman must pretend to be a priest or die. Better to be a high-value priest than a low-value corpse, he thinks, and so it happens that a failed novitiate (he loved women too well) is taken up by Norway's first Christian lord, Erling Skjalgsson to bring the Word to his people.
Ironically, though "Father"Aillil is as phony as a three-dollar psalm, he and he alone must convert a fiercely pagan people to the gentle teachings of Christ—and they don't want to hear about it. Nor do their "gods," who are all too real, and all too liable to do something horrible to those disturbing their divine peace.
It's going to take a miracle for Aillil to succeed, or even survive, but fortunately God (the one true God, not those pagan demon creatures) is on his side. . . .
Publisher's Note: Part of this novel was previously published as Erling's Word.
"... many fierce battles, both •with men and with sendings from the other gods ... a Norse saga wrapped in a hair shirt . . . introspective and bloody. . . ." —VOYA
"The book is not for spiritual sissies . . . rowdy action and a realistic look at the human and spiritual costs of religious and cultural conversion." —Florida Today
It all started with a Viking raid: When he is captured and forced into slavery, Aillil the Irishman must pretend to be a priest or die. Better to be a high-value priest than a low-value corpse, he thinks, and so it happens that a failed novitiate (he loved women too well) is taken up by Norway's first Christian lord, Erling Skjalgsson to bring the Word to his people.
Ironically, though "Father"Aillil is as phony as a three-dollar psalm, he and he alone must convert a fiercely pagan people to the gentle teachings of Christ—and they don't want to hear about it. Nor do their "gods," who are all too real, and all too liable to do something horrible to those disturbing their divine peace.
It's going to take a miracle for Aillil to succeed, or even survive, but fortunately God (the one true God, not those pagan demon creatures) is on his side. . . .
Publisher's Note: Part of this novel was previously published as Erling's Word.
"... many fierce battles, both •with men and with sendings from the other gods ... a Norse saga wrapped in a hair shirt . . . introspective and bloody. . . ." —VOYA
"The book is not for spiritual sissies . . . rowdy action and a realistic look at the human and spiritual costs of religious and cultural conversion." —Florida Today
It all started with a Viking raid: When he is captured and forced into slavery, Aillil the Irishman must pretend to be a priest or die. Better to be a high-value priest than a low-value corpse, he thinks, and so it happens that a failed novitiate (he loved women too well) is taken up by Norway's first Christian lord, Erling Skjalgsson to bring the Word to his people.
Ironically, though "Father"Aillil is as phony as a three-dollar psalm, he and he alone must convert a fiercely pagan people to the gentle teachings of Christ—and they don't want to hear about it. Nor do their "gods," who are all too real, and all too liable to do something horrible to those disturbing their divine peace.
It's going to take a miracle for Aillil to succeed, or even survive, but fortunately God (the one true God, not those pagan demon creatures) is on his side. . . .
Publisher's Note: Part of this novel was previously published as Erling's Word.
"... many fierce battles, both •with men and with sendings from the other gods ... a Norse saga wrapped in a hair shirt . . . introspective and bloody. . . ." —VOYA
"The book is not for spiritual sissies . . . rowdy action and a realistic look at the human and spiritual costs of religious and cultural conversion." —Florida Today
