Dear all. About four years ago I released an eBook through this blog called The Little Book of the Icelanders. Almost immediately it was a success, and people started asking me when the next one would come out.
The Icelanders sure knew how to dance in the old days.
Well, the time has come. I am thrilled and delighted to announce that the sequel to the Little Book is ready, and this one is called … [drumroll] … The Little Book of the Icelanders in the Old Days.
Yep. As the title suggests, this second Little Book focuses on the Icelanders as they were in centuries past – their quirks, foibles, superstitions, customs … and lots more things. It is also a collection of 50 essays and has the same light, fun, easy format as the first Little Book, but is a more ambitious project [if I do say so myself] as it is based largely on what I have been studying over the last two years in the Folkloristics/Ethnology department at the University of Iceland.
Also, it is around fifty percent longer than Vol. 1.
The first Little Book was eventually published by a traditional publisher and has done tremendously well. It has been translated into two other languages [French and German] and is set to be translated into a third [Spanish].
With this book, however, I have decided not to work with a publisher. There are various reasons for that, which I won’t get into in this space … but here’s the thing: to get this project off the ground, I need your help. Production of a quality book like this is costly [like the first Little Book it will be hard-cover, with illustrations] and requires a substantial outlay of cash.
I have therefore launched a campaign on Indiegogo to pre-sell copies of the book and/or collect pledges that will help me raise the funds. [See widget at the top of the sidebar.]
Some of the things that you’ll read about in this new book are:
- sex with hidden people
- the dastardly debauchery of dancing (see photo)
- old-style porn
- corpses standing up in church
- visitors kissing everyone on the mouth
- log deliveries from Siberia
- Icelanders going to town
- life as a foreigner in the Iceland of yore
- why all Icelandic children learned to read
… and much, much more.
To learn more about the book and the campaign, please visit the Indigogo website where I have posted a couple of little samples and more about what you can expect.
If you enjoyed the first Little Book, I’m sure you’re going to love this one.
I really hope that you’ll be able to help. And if you are not able to help out financially, perhaps you could help me by sharing my campaign with others who might be interested.
Huge thanks in advance!!
[ps. the photo is taken from a 13th century manuscript and shows Icelanders dancing.]
