This is a retelling of the ancient Rhinegold myth. In it,
Brunnhilde, a Valkyrie, searches for an understanding of mortal love and hopes someday to experience it.While Brunnhilde goes about her quest, a secondary story involves a struggle to possess and control the magical horde of gold known as the Rhinegold, now transformed into quantum electronic devices of immense power. The god Wotan contends with two aliens in a three-way scrum.
This ancient myth is now told as a scifi tale with aliens replacing the fantasy creatures. Beautiful goddesses, magical gold quantum electronics, aliens, a murderous god, great heroes: what more could a reader want?
The Story Behind This Book
I love rewriting literary works, legends and myths. I've rewritten (screwed up? Spoofed?) a number of Shakespeare's plays including Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, MacBeth, Hamlet and Othello. In Wotan's Dilemma, I took a story that takes place in the Dark Ages and moved it into the future. I also transformed the fantasy creatures into aliens. The central artifact in the Rhinegold myth is a magical ring made from the Rhinegold. I felt a ring of power has become a cliche. After all, Tolkien used one in The Lord of Rings (he took that idea from the Rhinegold myth). I struggled for quite a time to come up an alternative to a ring. Finally, I had an idea: take the magical gold, combine it with quantum electronic techniques capped off by super-sophisticated computer code and Voila! A Chip of Power! Once I had that idea, the rest of the story almost wrote itself.
