S.T. Sonntag

I am a Medieval Archaeologist specializing in the Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Migration Period Groups.  I had the idea for a fiction story (which developed into the Sutton Hoo Stories) while working on my Master's thesis, which discussed the significance of Christian and Pagan artifacts in the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial in Suffolk, UK.  I love historical fiction, but the books I read tend to fall into one of two categories: brutal, militaristic, punchy prose (all of which seem to feature a steely-eyed man of about 6'4" as their protagonist); or sappy, drawn-out love stories with no real action or relevance to the period.  I naturally found some which broke these molds and remain some of my favorites to this day, but I wanted MORE.  

 

So I decided to give myself more.  I wanted to write the sort of book that I would want to read: not just epic,  battles and brave warriors (a very common subject among Anglo-Saxon and Viking fiction writers), but well-written characters and storylines based in their relationships and their own personal struggles. Sure, I love the daring warriors and the powerful women, but I also wanted to give a voice to the forgotten people.  The children; the people with disabilities; the men who were tormented and killed for loving the wrong people; the people who were destroyed mentally by PTSD; the mothers and sisters who were so vital to the life of a community, and yet are never remembered in song.  In short, the people behind the artifacts, not the people of the history books.