K. V. Johansen

The Storyteller and Other Tales — (2008) Publisher: A collection for adults and older teens, The Storyteller and Other Tales will take you on a journey through exotic worlds and times. Demon bears take human shape and devils walk in the north of a world where every hill hosts a god and every river and spring a goddess. Ulfleif, a warrior-princess who would rather carry a lyre than a sword, is drawn into an unfinished tale by the storyteller Moth, and old lays of vengeance and betrayal wake into bloody new life around her. A slave in Bronze-Age Korthan sees his lovers suffer and die for the crime of worshipping outlawed gods and in the midst of horror at their sin, finds his own faith shaken and takes his own first steps on the road to rebellion. In a tale built on the familiar legends of our world, Merlin's daughter relates the story of the fall of Arthur's Britain as you have never heard it, a tale of adultery and treachery old and well-known, yet fresh and startling in Nimiane's telling. The unnamed common men of England who faced a later generation of sea-raiders are given voice once more in the historical tale of the Battle of Maldon, when English fought Vikings at the Blackwater and lost. In all these tales, the common thread is otherness; other worlds, other times, other ways of looking at heroism and tragedy, faith and betrayal and victory. Build the fire up, shut out the dark, and let The Storyteller carry you away.

The Storyteller and Other Tales

The Storyteller and Other Tales is a book of stories, and I mean that as the highest compliment. I felt like I was transported from the 21st century to some Thane’s hall with a roaring fire and a smoke hole instead of a chimney, while K.V. Johansen wove tales that took me to different and wonderful traditions.

Johansen is a fantasy scholar, and this shows up clearly in this book. The four tales that she presents use widely differing fantasy settings. "The Storyteller" is set in a Scandinavia-like land, in a world of little gods, ancient devils and power-hungry wizards. "He-Redeems" is set in the bronze age, and is told from the perspective of a simple, devout slave, and demonstrates the problems with blind obedience. "The Inexorable Tide" is an Arthurian story, the way it might really have been, and an explanation of how some became heroes, others villains, when the truth was something much more simple and likely. Finally, "anno domini nine hundred and ninety-one: two voices" (“a.d. cmxci”) is the story of the English defeat at the hands of the Danes in one of the last Viking incursions, at Maldon, a generation before William conquered England.

Johansen demonstrates her mastery of different styles of writing with each of these stories. While "Storyteller" and "He-Redeems" are the standard third-person narratives, "The Inexorable Tide" was partially a first-person narrative told from the perspective of an old woman (Nimiane, the daughter of Merlin) long after Arthur, Mordred, Gawain and others have died. "a.d. cmxci" is different altogether, for the musings of the common men on the battlefield soldier are mixed with the epic verse of history.

I am awed by what Johansen has shown here, and I would love to see "The Inexorable Tide" expanded into a full length novel, for which, I suggest, there is ample material. I was drawn completely into that story — which seemed incredibly real and likely — and Johansen developed almost fully-formed characters in fewer than twenty pages of text. This particular story was my favourite, I think because the characters were so wonderfully real and vibrant. "a.d. cmxci" was intriguing and it helped me (who is completely unfamiliar with battlefields, except in history) understand why men stand and fight when all hope is lost. I cared least of all for "He-Redeems," but that is probably because I had trouble identifying with the character — and that is my fault, not Johansen’s — and I have always preferred medieval fantasy over ancient fantasy. "The Storyteller" had an excellent moral (as did all of the stories), and it was another story that could be expanded into a novel but, again, my personal preference in fantasy types (I dislike gods that talk and get involved) did not allow me to enjoy this story as much, despite its amazing quality.

This very small book (under a hundred pages) needs to be savoured, because its only major disappointment is that it is so short. It could be easily and quickly read by anyone age 12 and up, though I think that older teens and adults will appreciate it most. The stories drip with atmosphere and feeling. Johansen’s background in history, medieval studies, and old English comes shining through, and she knows how to do characters. Nimiane, Mordred, and Guinevere, not to mention Arthur, Gawain and Amhar (Arthur’s bastard), spring from the page fully realized, and I long for Johansen to explore them further. This was a particularly wonderful story of how Arthur’s kingdom fell apart.

This wonderful offering from Johansen deserves an unabashed five stars. I hope she considers expanding "The Inexorable Tide" to a full, 1000-page novel —Angus Bickerton

Blackdog — (2011) Publisher: Long ago, in the days of the first kings in the north, there were seven devils... In a land where gods walk on the hills and goddesses rise from river, lake, and spring, the caravan-guard Holla-Sayan, escaping a bloodily-conquered lakeside town, stops to help an abandoned child and a dying dog. The girl, though, is the incarnation of Attalissa, goddess of Lissavakail, and the dog a shape-changing guardian spirit whose origins have been forgotten.  Possessed and nearly driven mad by the Blackdog, he flees to the desert road, taking the powerless avatar with him. And long ago, after the days of the first kings in the north, the seven devils, who had deceived and possessed seven of the greatest wizards of the world, were defeated and bound with the help of the Old Great Gods...Moth was once Ulfhild the King's Sword, wizard and warrior of the north. And she was once Vartu Kingsbane, one of the seven devils of legend. Moth cares little for the fate of a minor goddess of the earth like Attalissa, but at the command of the Old Great Gods she is hunting down her former comrades, though how her enemies have compelled her obedience is a mystery even to her lover, the bear-demon Mikki. And perhaps some of the devils are free in the world, and perhaps some are working to free themselves still. Necromancy, treachery, massacres and rebellions, gods dead or lost or mad, follow hard on the devils' heels. But it is Attalissa herself who may be the Blackdog's — and Holla-Sayan's — doom.

Quests and Kingdoms: A Grown-up's Guide to Children's Fantasy Literature — (2005) Publisher: Fantasy has become an increasingly popular genre of children's literature in recent years; Quests and Kingdoms provides a basis from which an adult unfamiliar with the genre of children's fantasy literature may explore it. Quests is an historical survey for the interested general reader, which will be of great practical value to library and education professionals as well. Though the aim is to give adults concerned with bringing children (or teens) and books together a familiarity with the children's fantasy genre and its history, for those who already know and love the classics of children's fantasy Quests will be an introduction to works and authors they may have missed. Taking a chronological approach, Quests begins with the fairy-tale collections of d'Aulnoy, Perrault, and the Grimms and works its way up to the novels of J.K. Rowling and Garth Nix, covering over three centuries of fantasy read by children. The lives of 95 authors are looked at and placed in historical context, while their works are introduced through both synopses and analysis. Quests also includes chapters on Tolkien, retellings of traditional stories, and King Arthur and Robin Hood. More than 500 works are discussed, and the thorough index makes the book a practical reference resource as well as a history and an introduction to the best in the genre.