Tom Sjovall

My name is Tom Sjovall, born in Oslo, Norway. Already as a child was I fascinated by the stories of the Vikings.

I read books about them during my first school years and tinkered helmets and swords out of cardboards and wood.

Watching myself closely in the mirror, I thought I looked fearsome. Years later, as a young student, I was again

enthused with the lives, explorations and Sagas of the Vikings. In Norway there was quite a lot of literature concerning the Vikings. I tried to get hold of everything. My interest grew from day to day.

One day my grandfather came to visit us. We did not see him very often because he lived so far away.

Out of his backpack he pulled out an old piece of paper, asked me to sit down and listen to his story for a while.

I was at once interested because I spotted my name on the list. He read, my name, my mother’s and father’s, my grandmother’s and grandfather’s,. it turned out to be pretty boring because I did not know these people whose names he read. Grandfather noticed this and asked me for a little patience. Then what, I noticed Vikingnames that I knew.

Yes, to my surprise he ended the monologue with the name of Harald Finehair, Norway’s first King.

“These people,” he said ”are your ancestors.

The more I researched into the history and Sagas, the more I needed a reference book about these times. This had always been lacking. It had been a chore and strive to gather all the information, to go back to find where I had been in the books, to read the same information 2-3 times just to get a certain date.

I have been writing this reference work for a year now in three languages, English, German and Norwegian, with the assistance of all my friends.

I shall hope that new knowledge of Vikings will never recede.

I am looking forward to hear from you.

With your help I shall have this work finished within a year to put it on the market.

Education: German language and History studies- University of Utah, USA