Welcome to this Track of Words Author Interview, in which I chat to author Matthew J. Kirby about his new Assassin’s Creed novel, Geirmund’s Saga. Written to accompany the launch of the new Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla video game from Ubisoft, this is only being published by Aconyte Books in the US and Canada, with the ebook due out on the 10th November and the paperback following in March 2021. Expect Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and all manner of adventures…
Without further ado, over to Matthew for the interview!
Track of Words: How would you describe your new novel Geirmund’s Saga?
Matthew J. Kirby: With this book, I wanted to write an Assassin’s Creed story in the tradition of the Old Norse sagas. I wanted something sprawling and epic, with elements of myth and legend. But I also wanted something intimate. When you examine the sagas closely, many of them turn out to be family stories told against sweeping, dramatic events, so I wanted my book to have that kind of soul.
The new Assassin’s Creed game, Valhalla, will let players experience the Viking world of the 9th century in the immersive way that only a game can do. I wanted my book to do what books can do and give readers and players a different way into that world, as if they’re reading a saga about that same time period, and some of those characters.
ToW: Without spoiling anything, who are the main characters and what do we need to know about them?
MJK: Geirmund and his family are at the heart of the book, including his twin brother, Hámund, his father, Hjörr, and his mother, Ljufvina. But Geirmund’s journey also sees him build a new kind of family with his company of warriors, and he meets several historical figures and characters from the game, such as a Dane named Guthrum, and of course, Eivor.
ToW: For anyone who isn’t already familiar with it, can you tell us a little about Assassin’s Creed, and specifically the Valhalla world in which this story is set?
MJK: In the universe of Assassin’s Creed, two factions have been waging a secret war for the future of humanity for thousands of years. They have been present at (and even caused) many historical events, involving numerous historical figures. These hidden factions have gone by different names through the centuries, one of them striving for order and control over humanity, the other promoting individual free will, and their conflicts have frequently involved powerful relics from an ancient, advanced civilization that went extinct.
In Valhalla, we learn how this conflict influenced the Viking invasions of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during the latter part of the 9th century. It was a time of physical war, but also spiritual war between worldviews as the pagan Vikings attacked and then settled among Christians.
ToW: You’ve written Assassin’s Creed stories before – what is it about this world (or rather worlds, given the era-hopping) that appeals to you as a writer?
MJK: The era-hopping is one of the things I love about Assassin’s Creed. I’ve always been fascinated by history, the stories of cause and effect that we tell ourselves to create our identities, and I’m a sucker for secret histories, especially. I also find the tension between order and free will extremely compelling. How much freedom should be given up for safety and security? There are no easy answers to that question, which is why everyone answers it differently, and that is why Assassin’s Creed offers almost endless possibilities for stories.
ToW: What sort of audience would you say Geirmund’s Saga is aimed at? As I understand it, your previous Assassin’s Creed stories have been aimed at a teen/YA audience – is this the same, or have you taken a different approach this time?
MJK: I actually don’t think too much about the age of my readers when I’m writing. I try to let the story go where it wants and needs to go and then sort out the audience with my editor and publisher later. That said, I knew Geirmund’s story would need a certain level of violence to be told honestly, so I would say that this book is more mature than my previous novels.
ToW: Where did this specific story come from? Of all the Assassin’s Creed stories you might have written, what made you choose these characters and write this story in particular?
MJK: When Ubisoft first approached me to write a novel for Valhalla, they weren’t looking for a straight novelization of the game events. They wanted a parallel story to give that world a different access point, and a different perspective on it. One of the other reasons I love writing in the Assassin’s Creed universe is the respect Ubisoft has always shown me as a creator, and the freedom they give me. In the case of Valhalla, they sent me a list of characters and historical figures that would connect to the game, and they asked me what I wanted to write.
Geirmund jumped out at me instantly. His story has all the elements of an exciting and intriguing saga, with a family drama at its heart, and the historical sources that mention him are brief enough that he offered plenty of room for adventure. After that, I went up to the Ubisoft studios in Montreal (always a thrill) to bounce ideas around with the team, and that creative collaboration is something I really enjoy and appreciate. Once we laid out the rough shape of Geirmund’s Saga, and how it would fit with the game, it was my job to go back home and write it.
ToW: How closely does this story stick to real-world Norse mythology? Did you do a lot of research into the myths and the realities of that era as you were working on this?
MJK: This is actually the third Viking novel I’ve written. My middle grade novel, Icefall, and then Fate of the Gods, the last book in my YA Assassin’s Creed series, also take place in Scandinavian settings, so at this point I have some familiarity with that period of history. For Geirmund’s Saga, I did have to do quite a bit of research on Anglo-Saxon England, but like I mentioned, I love history, and I really enjoy research. I can get wonderfully lost in it, to be honest, and I often have to make myself stop researching so I can write the book.
In terms of how closely I stuck to real-world Norse history and mythology (and this applies to all the historical fiction I write), I try not to contradict what is known or well-established. When it comes to the Old Norse world of the Vikings, we don’t have any sources written by the Vikings about themselves. Instead, we have accounts written about the Vikings by the people they attacked, and with whom they traded, which means those sources are biased. We do have texts from Iceland, but these were written down centuries after the events they describe, and after the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity, so it’s difficult to know exactly how accurate they are as factual history. In writing Geirmund’s Saga, I tried to look at the texts in light of other sources of information, such as archaeological finds, to extract a truth that felt believable to me without significant contradictions.
ToW: It sounds like Assassin’s Creed stories are an interesting mixture of modern sci-fi and historical fiction/fantasy – how do you go about balancing those aspects as you’re working on a book like this?
MJK: It can certainly be quite challenging to juggle those elements, as it was when I wrote my YA series, Last Descendants, but that wasn’t as much a concern for Geirmund’s Saga. This novel doesn’t deal with some of the science fiction elements in the Assassin’s Creed universe, like the concept of genetic memory, or modern technology like the Animus. For this project, I had the challenge of balancing Geirmund’s story with the game, so that Geirmund could have his own saga within the larger Valhalla context. I had to be consistent with the game’s vision of Anglo-Saxon England, but also give Geirmund his own voice and perception of the events. That was a fun challenge to take on.
ToW: Do you have more stories planned for these characters in future?
MJK: There isn’t anything planned in a formal way at this point, but I do have some ideas of where Geirmund might go next. I think of this book as only the first part of his saga. In the Norse sources, he goes on to become a sea-king and one of the greatest settlers of Iceland, so there is definitely more of his story to tell, if readers want to continue his journey.
ToW: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on with Aconyte for future release, or anything else you’ve got in the pipeline?
MJK: I don’t have anything else coming out with Aconyte at the moment, but I’m working on a science fiction novel for another publisher that will come out sometime in 2022.
***
Big thanks to Matthew for taking the time to answer these questions and give us the lowdown on his new novel! To keep up to date with what Matthew is working on, check him out on Twitter.
Click here if you fancy taking a look at some other Rapid Fire interviews. If you have any questions, comments or other thoughts please do let me know in the comments below, or find me on Twitter.
If you enjoyed this interview, and can manage it, please consider leaving a tip on my Ko-fi page.
