Icelandic sagas never figured on Katie Aiken Ritter's bucket list, but life decided otherwise when one December, Vikings came crashing into her peaceful evening. A startling (and somewhat uncomfortable) epiphany left her with the clear understanding that she was to write a novel based on the experiences of an iconic family of Viking-era Iceland. That dramatic incident resulted in her
Norse Adventure series, currently three published novels with two planned sequels.
Since then, Katie has served as a deckhand on the Viking longship Draken Harald Harfagre (dangerous, thrilling, hard work, unfortunately cut short by a hurricane), and has traveled to Iceland to do historic and location research.
She has a deep and abiding interest in the rule of law: Iceland's Althing of the time was the site of Europe's first democracy, and their country was perhaps the only land to which Christianization came peacefully, i.e., by vote.
Books I and II (The Plains of Althing and Thunder Horse), as well as being novels about human experience, allow us to examine themes still relevant today: corruption in government, creeping authoritarianism, and questions such as what power might good character wield against wealth and entitlement? How does a decent person respond in a conflicted, nearly-impossible situation? How did people endure the enslavement common in those times?
In Book III, The Green Land, she did deep research into native cultures of Greenland and the first Icelandic explorers of the island. Based on their overlapping geography and accounts of other, later Europeans who had 'first contact' with North American peoples, she presents a similar, fictional account--because, based on archeological evidence from L'Anse aux Meadows, interaction did occur at some point.
Katie does not dabble in horned helmets or pillaging: her work appeals to readers who yearn for deeply-researched historical fiction that offers themes of real life and humanity, with all of it wrapped up in a big, exciting story. Male and female readers alike have offered critical acclaim for her award-wining debut novel.
Before what she refers to as 'the Viking incursion' happened, Katie enjoyed a twenty-plus year career in software consulting, followed by successful fundraising for a nationally-renowned private school. She has written for magazines and local newspapers, was tapped to be launch editor for a regional print publication, was the primary contract writer of an architectural monograph for an international architecture/planning company (DDG: THE MASTER ARCHITECT SERIES REVISITED), and produced complex case studies and white papers about Sugar CRM and other IT installations. She holds a degree in biology from Swarthmore College.
Katie lives in rural Maryland with her husband Mark and an assemblage of pets thoughtfully bestowed by their children. She loves to walk, dance, procrastinate, build stone walls, and feels the need for pearls and high heels when cleaning the oven (which really doesn't need to be done but about once a decade, if one thinks about it.)
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