Jay Veloso Batista

In the 1990’s and 2000’s I traveled the world on international business. Solid and concise written communications became an element of my success, and I authored a number of blogs, white papers and articles for technical journals, such as my work for the 2021 publication ‘The Media Workflow Puzzle: How it all fits together.’ But more importantly, traveling around the globe gave me an opportunity to read! Often selecting an author, I would try to read multiple works to understand the style and plot construction. Everything from Crichton to Michener to Dickens to Hardy to Tolstoy, Science Fiction-Fantasy to Romance to Thrillers to Adventures to Westerns.

My wife and I raised two wonderful children and yes, I read them both “The Hobbit” before bed! We now have two lovely grandchildren, and I can’t wait until they are old enough to listen to their Pop read. We live in the first state, Delaware, at the Mid-Atlantic shore where we enjoy the mild winters, the fresh seafood and craft beers, and the proximity to Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York City is only a few hours away by train or car.

In 1996, I took an art class and began to paint acrylic-collages, really finding a unique style by 2008 and today my artwork can be found in private collections around the US and Europe, and in galleries in Wisconsin and Ohio.

Why write about Vikings? My maternal grandfather traced our family lineage back to three Norman brothers who fought in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, as ‘William “D’Arcy’ was so physically large he could not ride a horse and was listed in the annals of the event. In 1992 my wife and I visited the UK city of York and took the ‘Jorvik Viking Tour’ which is a wonderful introduction to 9^th Century Danelaw life. And in a newspaper, I found an article about ‘Strange Ghosts from around the World’ which mentioned the medieval Scandinavian belief of a “vardoger,” which I clipped and saved as a unique idea for a story—how does a living person become a ‘forerunner’ ghost and how would it change your life, especially if you were a child?

Originally the story of Thorfinn Agneson was designed to be an RPG game—the adventures of a group of Viking sailors cruising treacherous waters and meeting strange ‘hidden folk.’ Each character was defined with skills and a background, especially the young boy with his ghostly affliction. Since I had no nearby friends to play RPG, at the prompting of a novel writing friend I decided to write a historical fantasy series. The game design assumed the background for the series, which required an expansion to introduce readers to 9^th Century life in the petty kingdoms of pre-England Britain, their beliefs, customs, and lore. Once the setting and main characters were established, I wanted to tell the stories of major Viking Age historical events through the eyes of participants and, bit by bit introduce more “fantasy” into the narrative until the books and characters pass completely into the Norse Realms beyond Midgard. While I hope the books give my readers better insight into the history, I hope they come back for exciting adventures, fantastic creatures, and well-rounded characters. The Forerunner Series consists of ‘Thorfinn and the Witch’s Curse (2019),’ ‘The Vardoger Boy (2020),’ ‘On Viking Seas (2021),’ ‘Kara, Shieldmaiden of Eire (2022),’ and the planned ‘Marauders in Jotenheim (2023),’ and ‘Voyage to Cordova (2024).’

Jay Veloso Batista is a member of

International Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors