If you were asked to write an alternative historical novel, what would you write?

About a.d. 1000. ...

The Norwegians arrived in North America and kept coming. They avoided any diplomatic disaster that pitted them against Newfoundland aborigines, and established the arrangement of "Let's share the land and trade with each other". The warm period of the Middle Ages kept them in contact with Greenland, Iceland and their hometown for centuries, and brought more goods from Scandinavia to North America.

About 500 years before the French, Norwegian explorers and businessmen went all the way down the St. Lawrence River into the northern midwest of the United States. The climate is a bit dangerous, but it's not as good as Newfoundland or Greenland ... the voyage of long ships in the great lakes is very smooth. Thank you very much. Locals are always willing to exchange local copper and iron ore for metal products made in Norway. For Norwegians, they are not interested in building an empire or spreading the gospel. Sharing land seems to be a fair enough deal. After all, there are so many.

Approximately 1260 ...

The Indonesian volcano erupted, and the climate began to get cold. After crossing the arctic edge of the North Atlantic (now covered by thick ice floes), the Norwegians had 250 years, which was enough to gain a foothold. Trade and communication with China are shrinking, but so is political supervision. The Nordic colonies in North America are independent ... but their relationship with the First Nation is as strong as their relationship with their hometown (much stronger for many people in the frontier). "Life will go on ... for 400 years.

Now it's about 1660. ...

The British are nibbling away at the east coast of North America. The French are going upstream along the Mississippi River ... Sweden (thanks in part to the peace in Westphalia, now a rising power) wants to know what its North American colony has become.

The empire has great ambitions. The French and the British think they can divide eastern North America. Swedes believe that their lost colonies will welcome them with open arms and start over, so that Sweden can stand on the European continent. They don't think local people will be a problem; After all, they are just "backward barbarians".

They never thought that a group of enterprising Norwegian explorers and businessmen could build so many things in 400 years ... they have deep feelings for this land and the world they built with the aborigines.

Now it's about 1680. ...

A new century is coming ... life in North America will become complicated ... and the big countries in Europe will suddenly wake up.

chapter one

Sigurd Harald Desdotier watched the sixth and last ship she built in winter sink into the water, and the newly painted faucet shone in the April sun. She knew that people on the beach were watching the new boat moving in the water. She can hear their conversation, but she can't hear what they say. She saw them gesticulating, arguing and finally nodding. That makes sense, she concluded; They are the people who sail the boat. She is thinking about more exciting things, such as the money she has saved now, because she doesn't have to pay pirate Svencen to drag the ore from the mining area to her foundry. She leaned against the railing and sipped the smell of spring grass and new wood, intending to tell him that she no longer needed his help.

At least, she changed her mind with a smile, not for business.