Legend of the Last Vikings - So Why an Alternate Ending?

What happened to the Vikings after the Battle of Stamford Bridge in
1066? Where did they go? What did they do? What became of them?
Well Legend of the Last Vikings is just one possibility..............

But why an Alternate Ending?
When I started researching the book I was amazed to discover that the
Silk Route was not just one route, but instead a whole network of
routes reaching out from Eastern Europe and criss-crossing Asia. As
such I had to decide which routes my characters would travel on.
Before I could make this decision I had to research the routes. In
doing so I found so much fascinating information on each, trying to
decide which route to "travel" was not easy. Even though I eventually
settled upon a route, I did not want to waste potential stories so
decided to write an alternate ending which in effect brings these
stories in and gives the reader a two-for-one.

What Happened to Chapters 1 - 33
They're still in the book of course. I was going to give a summary of
these chapters, but have decided that too much action, adventure,
character building and meaning would be lost in doing so. So I have
kept this to a minimum.............

The Book
The book can be bought online at www.VikingLegend.com for just GBP9.90
or about US$19.50 It is a 511 page hardback with character
descriptions, historical companion, place name lexicon and maps and
measures 7 inches high /18 centimetres by four and a quarter inches /
11 centimetres wide. In the words of one reviewer:
"....much smaller than the typical hardcover. It may seem an odd thing
to remark on, but there is a satisfying heft to the book and it is
easy to carry around, fitting nicely in a pocket in my windbreaker."

Reviews of the book can also be found at www.VikingLegend.com and at
http://www.revish.com/reviews/0978589297/Max/

An Introduction to the Alternate Ending
On returning home to Norway after defeat at Stamford Bridge, our hero,
Ulf Uspakson, Herald to King Harald, realises an era is over. He
remembers the story of a Swedish Viking Adventurer, Yngvar Vittfarne
(Yngvar the Far Travelled), who went missing on a journey to the East
and in a last fling of youth decides to try and trace him - somewhere
on the Silk Route. No easy task! But then he is a Viking.

His journey takes him and his crew across the Euorpean Steppe, down
the mighty Dniepr to Kiev and the Black Sea. Across the Balck Sea and
the Sea of Azov, up the Don river to the White Fortress at Sarkel,
across the Khazarian Way and down the Volga to Astrakhan. Across the
Caspian sea and up the mighty Oxus River (Amu Darya) to Bactria and
then along the Silk Route into China's Taklamakan desert - and that's
just the route. Add all the action, adventure, interaction, hate,
love, greed, lust and betrayal and you have an epic on your hands!

The alternate ending starts with chapter 34. The adventure in the
Taklamakan over. The crew are tired and weary and are approaching
Astrakhan from the North East having looped around the top of the Aral
sea from the Jaxartes River (Syr Darya) in Kazakhstan having crossed
the Karakum and Barsuki deserts in the process. They may be on the
final leg of their two year journey home but the action and adventure
isn't over yet.

John Halsted
Author

Chapter 34 follows.......