January | 2022 | The Skaldic Eagle

I continue to prepare for my upcoming Patreon launch. There’s a lot of things to put into it, such as patron tiers, various rewards, planning a regular update schedule, and so forth. And, of course, picking the exact launch date. Got a suggestion for my upcoming Patreon? Whatever it is, whether it’s for content, patron tiers, promotional opportunities, or whatever, feel free to let me know, either by commenting here, or sending me a message through the various linked social media accounts or email on this page.

Some of the content will be poetry that will be available to patrons before it appears on this blog—if it ever appears on this blog. (Don’t worry, virtually all of my poems are likely to find their way into a book sooner or later.) Here’s a preview the first nine lines of the first poem that I’ll launch my Patreon with, titled “A Skaldic Eagle in the World”:

A Skaldic Eagle must offer his Mead,
must give his gifts, for gain to the World;
the Work is imperative, a wode-filled impulse.
But defending the Center ‘gainst foes and shadows
— that its sacred light illumines unimpeded
a world of darkness — is a woesome task.
And even an eagle must often land,
and life on the ground can get one down,
with its oft-assaulting slings and arrows.
………

The full poem is fifty-five lines, and in many ways, it is a companion piece to “A Skaldic Eagle Takes Flight” that I posted on this blog back in February 2017.

Finally, here’s a screen-cap preview of the site’s splash page, with art (from my Hail the Gods bookling) by the extremely talented Ermenegilda Muller—you can find a link to her in the side bar:

The time to the launch draws ever closer. Will you join the adventure when this Eagle spreads his wings and soars for the sun?

This blog has been pretty quiet as of late, and much of that had to do with the finishing up of my PhD and returning to the ‘States afterwards. Yes, my PhD is really finished, the defense was on October 22, 2021, and I’m now Dr. Westcoat! (I’m still not sure if it’s sunk in yet that I’m really finished.) After that, I enjoyed three weeks with my friends in Iceland, ending with a great metal music festival: Ascension. Then I flew back to Pennsylvania for a nice, solid break from Iceland. Yes, I really needed the break. I’m sure I’ll return to Iceland at some point, although when and whether it’s to live there again or just visit, remains to be seen.

Today is the 70th day of my life-after-PhD in Pennsylvania—yes, I’ve been counting up the days since my flight landed at PIT. As the days go by, they bring new wisdom and clarity to my life. I’ve had the opportunity to do some writing, both academic and non-academic, generally free from constraints or pressures, and I’ve given some thought to my upcoming publishing projects. Here’s a selection of what’s in the works, in poetry, esoteric prose, and academic scholarship, in no particular order:

My poetry will be appearing in another anthology soon! My fellow contributors in the heathen, occult, and runic scenes in this forthcoming volume are a truly august company to be printed with, and I’m excited and honored to be included in this collection. As to what exactly it is, I will leave that a surprise for the moment, since the publisher does not yet seem to have made any public announcement of it that I can see anywhere.
An academic article on the Old Norwegian Rune Poem: I’m told this is in the editing stage, and it should be published this year.
An academic article on the runes: this is drafted, and it’s in the pre-submission review and revising phase. It won’t be the final word on its particular runic topic (no final word is possible on this topic), but I think it will be a rather unusual one.
Unnamed poetry collection: This would be a small book of poems in the style of those appearing on this blog since the beginning of 2017, which are characterized by being more personal and in the Old English style of continuous verse, line after line, without stanza breaks. There’s quite a few of them I have not posted here. I think I have nearly enough poems for the book. Maybe it will come out later this year?
Unnamed esoteric prose collection: It’s been another long-term plan of mine to write essays on various esoteric or occult topics, and collect them into a book. Now, what do I mean by that? If you have my book Eagle’s Mead, you already have two of them: the essays “The Good of Galdralag” and “Runes for the Grails.” This has quite a ways to go before it’s ready as a book, and certainly needs at least several more essays than I have for it at the moment.
The publication of my PhD dissertation on the kraftaskalds. This is still in the early stages, and I don’t have a publisher yet. If you are an academic publisher who’s interested in it, or can recommend me a publisher, please do let me know. Academic publishing runs rather slow, so this certainly isn’t going to be out by the end of 2022.
“Book 3”: Not literally to be my third published book, but rather the third grand gesture in the trilogy that started with Viking Poetry for Heathen Rites and Eagle’s Mead. Still a very long way off, as in definitely not during 2022. A number of you out there have probably wondered when I’d publish something about how to write alliterative poetry in modern English. That indeed will be in this book, but there will be much more to this book than that.

Interested in previews of most of the above, long before they get into print, as well as other exclusive content that will never appear on this blog? How about how-to’s on alliterative poetry? Looking for a way to support me to make sure that more of my writing gets into print?

Join my upcoming Patreon! Yes, that’s right, I’m finally making a Patreon. It’s still in the early development stages, so it’ll be at least a number of weeks before I lunch it—gotta have a solid plan for it first. The bane and boon of having such a platform is the necessity of regular content for one’s patrons, and making it sustainable. And finally, I think I can do that. Keep your eyes on this blog (and my other social media presences), as there will be plenty of announcements for it as it gets closer. The exact and elected launch date for it has yet to be determined, but will probably be in early March.