Ari Bach, writer of the “Valhalla” trilogy, shares insight behind the gritty novels Valhalla, Ragnarok, and Gudsriki, set in the 23rd century. Fans may want to know what’s coming next for Team V.
Thank you, Ari, for taking the time to answer a few questions. To start, could you tell us a little about yourself, like where are you from?
Thanks for the invitation! I’m from San Diego originally but grew up in Colorado Springs.
Could you tell us a little about the Valhalla trilogy?
It’s a sci-fi action/comedy series that takes a dark and peculiar turn. It begins with an exploration of the reigning tropes in the genres, then turns into a subversion of those tropes, and finally becomes something independent of them, something new.
Who is your favorite member of Team Valknut, and why do they stand out for you?
Hard to pick. Each one of them has elements of me and opposite of me, so they all stand out in different ways.
The Third book, Gudsriki takes the story down a darker path. Why did you choose to take the story in that direction?
Gudsriki is the story that the trilogy exists to tell. Originally, the project was a film script, and that script covered the stories of Ragnarok and Gudsriki. Valhalla itself was the backstory but it became the first book. So it’s not so much taking a darker path as a dark story that started out much lighter.
Could you tell us a little about how the story was inspired? Why the use of Norse Mythology?
The goal was to make the most fun, cool action epic ever, in film or in literature. Norse mythology was just a backbone to give it all form. That grew quickly though into layers and layers of allusion and symbolism which I enjoyed plugging in.
What was it like being published by “Harmony Ink”?
Amazing, I couldn’t ask for a better publisher. If I had it all to do over again and it was a choice between Harmony Ink and one of the biggest publishers, there’s no question I’d go with Harmony Ink.
I read that “Valhalla” started as a movie script. Would you care to elaborate on that experience? Could it ever become a movies script again?
It did, and it remains one. I’ll make the film of it or die trying.
Do you have any plans to expand the Valhalla universe?
If the series is successful I hope to write a series of novellas taking place between books 1 and 2. A full year of V Team in action, in their prime.
Where can we go to find out more about Valhalla?
The official blog is the-walrus-squad on tumblr but really I recommend just reading the free sample of the first book on Amazon. It’s a tenth of the whole book and it will tell anyone very quickly all they need to know.
Could you tell us a little about your comic “The Snail Factory”?
The Snail Factory is a pure surreal comedy webcomic on Twisted Jenius, featuring a cast of bizarre creatures and more bizarre plots and settings. There’s also a hidden blurb beneath every episode, and the rejected jokes for these blurbs and the Valhalla series became my humor blog, facts-i-just-made-up, also on tumblr.
Speaking of other projects, are you working on anything that you would like to share with the rest of us?
Right now all my energy is going into Jealous Gods, a feature film about three college kids who get their wishes granted, resulting in utter madness on campus.
Is there anyone you wish to give thanks to for inspiration in the past, or present?
All the usual people, they know who they are and how much they’ve meant to me.
Once again, thank you Ari Bach, author of Valhalla, Ragnarok and Gudsriki.
Thank you as well!
*****
Interview by Daniel Abbott – SFFWorld.com © 2016
