In the Author Spotlight,
J. A. Hunsinger,
Author of
Axe of Iron: The Settlers
and
Confrontation

 

Much of author J.A. Hunsinger's adult life has been associated with commercial aviation, both in and out of the cockpit. After ending his successful career, Jerry found himself with time to pursue another passion - writing. In his new book, Axe of Iron: Confrontation, Jerry continues the story of Norsemen settlers in Greenland and their quest for a new home on the North American continent in the face of hostile opposition.

Jerry became interested in the Viking Age at a very young age. In school, he took a course on Norse Mythology and was instantly hooked. "This tale is the culmination of a lifelong interest in the Viking Age," Jerry explains. "I'm half German, half Swedish, so I've been exposed to the history all of my life. All of my books are based on extensive historical research.

"Axe of Iron: The Settlers is the first of a five to six book series answering the question - Why did the Vikings of Greenland literally disappear? While my tale is a work of fiction based on many years of dedicated research, something happened to them and several of us believe their genetic signature, the Norse DNA haplogroup, will be found in the blood of the Cree, Ojibwa, and Iroquois Indians," he says.

"Between 986 and 1425, the generally accepted 500-year longevity of the medieval Norse settlements on the island of Greenland, a gradual assimilation process began with the native peoples of the Arctic and present-day North America that culminated in the disappearance from history of all 4000 of the Norse settlers. What happened to them has been a source of contention ever since-nobody knows to this day," Jerry explains.

In Confrontation, the second book in the series, two calamitous events occur that pave the way for the hostile beginnings of an assimilation process between the Greenland Norse settlers and the natives of Vinland. The first mixing of cultures occurs when a woman of the Northmen, Thora, and Deskaheh the Haudenosaunee, marry. This union, accepted enthusiastically by the Northmen, opens a window into the native mind.

For all the people of this land the way is rocky and fraught with danger at every turn, but the acceptance and friendship that develops between the Northmen and the Naskapi, another native tribe, over an affair of honor, the eventual acceptance of a young boy of the Northmen by his Haudenosaunee captors, and a scenario that seems ordained by the will of the gods, makes it all begin to fall into place, as it must for the Northmen to survive.

“Creating this series of books allows me the fill in this gap, but I don’t simply create a wild answer, I offer a plausible, even likely, scenario based on years of my own research and study", Jerry explains. His bottom line: The Vikings went through climate change and environmental changes just as we are right now, and began to assimilate with the North American native peoples to survive.

Jerry lives with his wife Phyllis in Colorado. He is currently working on the third book of the Axe of Iron series.