Behind The Book With Bjorn Leesson

Last year Mickey Mikkelson connected me with author Bjorn Leesson for a Q&A. Bjorn has now returned for this interview for his current book in the Outside the Thalsparr series titled Runes of Spirits. 

Q: Welcome back to Book Notions Bjorn! Please tell the readers a bit about this new installment in your series Runes of Spirits. What can fans expect from this new book in the series? 

A: Thank you for having me back! It is an honor. Well, firstly, the reader can expect a fresh new perspective on this layered and complex overarching story. A new time and place. . . and a very different kind of character than has been encountered in the Thalparr Universe so far.

Starting with the close of the third installment in this series, “Rune of Destiny,” the focus shifts away from Myrgjol and to other supporting characters who have played their own parts in Myrgjol’s completion of her destiny, and they have some fantastic stories of their own to tell; Ingrid in “Rune of Revenge,” and Lord Wuldrid in “Rune of Whispers.” Now, with great pleasure, the Thalsparr brings you Josephine. A distant cry from the Norse era, or Montana in 1891, or the WWII era, Josephine’s story begins during the 1860’s, the American Civil War Era in, of all places, New York City. Josephine is a member of the wealthy Cameron family, led by her Scottish immigrant father, Alastair Cameorn.

Their family business, the Cameron Company, is one of the most powerful companies in this bustling and growing city of corruption at all levels from the police, business, government, and everything in between. Add to this pall of “every man for himself” ruthlessness, the poor immigrants, specifically many starving Irish, add to the cloud of moral ambiguity by forming gangs and taking part in the melee for their survival. This is the backdrop of Josephine’s upbringing; where business is only the wolves and the prey, there are really no rules, and legal and illegal are basically the same thing. Alastair sharpens the teeth of his new Cameron wolf, Josephine, by setting his own children upon each other to compete for the right to take over the business after him, and the business is vast and profitable. 

Unable to resist the tidal wave of torments and psychological (and physical) warfare any longer, Josephine descends into darkness and becomes a cold, ruthless, and violent shadow of herself just as her father devised. But it is more than learned behavior. Something grows in her. . . something Dark and sinister, beyond that of normal human nature. As a young adult, Josephine leaves her wicked family behind to make a new life for herself in the West, landing herself in Montana. She begins to lean into the life of a regular person and not just a wolf ready to rip a jugular, but she is a Cameron. . . she will always be a Cameron. And the salvation of the world, and the success of Myrgjol, all hinges on Josephine’s choices, the “monster in service of the Light.”

By the end, she discovers her true purpose, what is inside of her, and what she must do next. She is Josephine, and the living world simply will not survive without Josephine’s skills acquired in darkness.

Q: How long did it take you to write Runes of Spirits? 

A: The first rough draft was completed in about two and a half months, the came the editing, then the revision. All in all, about three months. The writing of this one flowed really well and fast, Josephine being one of those characters that can simply write themselves, but revisiting and polishing the complicated psychology that is Josephine – her deadly resolutions, her incorrigible will, and her fierce determination to serve her purpose – took some more time and finesse. She, like most of the character in this series, is a very complicated and sometimes contradictory woman. I really believe I nailed it for the reader. She is different, and such an unexpected presence in this story on the side of the Light.

Q: What lessons and emotions do you hope the book provides readers once they turn the final page? 

A: It is kind of a standard answer for me, but the whole spectrum! I have an umbrella goal in regard to the whole Outside the Thalparr series – believability and resonance. Although this installment is deeply rooted in “Historical Crime Drama” and the paranormal, it still has that wide, expansive, and realistic feel with the anticipation that the readers will feel like they are standing inside the scene themselves, feeling what Josephine and the other characters feel. And believe me, the feelings run the whole gambit, as they do in every installment of this series, from soul-crushing heartbreak, deep love and loyalty, searing rage, to belly laughs. The whole world, as it were. And, if there is any “message” that I would intend to send the reader away with, it’s; “The world is never, ever simple, in real life or in the Thalsparr.”