SF Gateway Omnibus of the Week: The Berserker Trilogy

Kicking off a week of blog posts in honour of Robert Holdstock and his work, we are delighted to introduce you to The Berserker Trilogy.

Written by Rob in the late ’70s, under the pen name Chris Carlsen, the three books – Shadow of the Wolf, The Bull Chief and The Horned Warrior – tell the tale of Harald Swiftaxe, a young Norse warrior afflicted with the curse of the berserker. Dating from the beginning of his career, the Berserker books, though raw and less polished than his later work, carry the same restless energy and understanding of the visceral nature of life that was to infuse the likes of Mythago Wood and Celtika.

 

From the vaults of the SF Gateway, the most comprehensive digital library of classic SFF titles ever assembled, comes this republication of a trilogy of early, pseudonymous adventure tales by Robert Holdstock, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Mythago Wood.

The Berserker books are raw, primeval stories of a young Norse warrior, cursed by the gods to a life of savage warfare. Possessed by an animal, ferocious rage – implacable, invincible – Harald Swiftaxe fights his way across the Celtic world in search of release from his curse and, finally, peace. The Berserker omnibus contains Shadow of the Wolf, The Bull Chief and The Horned Warrior.

 

You can find more of Robert Holdstock’s work via his Author page on the SF Gateway, and read about him in his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.