Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Harald out in paperback

My first (and so far only published) novel, Harald, is now out in paperback. I am happy with it, but the style is definitely not for everyone. For a free sample, a beautiful map, and some other stuff, take a look at the book's web page. Those fond of the spoken word may want to try the podcasts of the early chapters.

My second and very different novel is still sitting at Baen waiting to be read.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I am planning to buy it. Does it have any anarcho-capitalist elements? Are there any translations planned?

Next time you make a podcast, could you please speak a bit slower, to enable non-mother-tongue readers to listen ? :)

Maurizio

David Friedman said...

Maurizio asks about anarcho-capitalist elements in Harald. The closest is the society the protagonist comes from, which is a semi-stateless society loosely based on saga period Iceland. But we don't see very much of that society, and there isn't any detailed explanation in the book of how it works.

On the other hand, one of the implied themes of the book is that real politics are about relations between individuals, not about the sort of hierarchical structures shown in a table of organization. The first half of the book is a conflict between a king who thinks he can rely on those people, and only those people, who are in allegiance to him, and makes some serious mistakes as a result, and someone who has no formal authority at all, but many friends, lots of ability, and a very considerable reputation.