Archaeological grave goods and unanswered questions drove Australian author Megan Formanek to create the Viking Trading Lands series. Her debut novel, Oath Undo Me, was released August 2022 and the second instalment, No One’s Viking, will be published on 24 February 2023. As a university history major, Megan became enthralled by accounts of Viking grave goods found in now Russia, reportedly inscribed in the deceased’s own hand, a rare find for this period. One interpretation was that of a woman called Neflaug, capable, of selffunded means and seemly apart from the violent Viking typecast. Megan’s pursuit of this possibility pulled her into an era of Viking history in flux where the historical accounts are now being challenged and in the Land of the Rus’, the role of women is emerging as more than we once thought. Megan Formanek writes Scandinavian historical fiction, telling adventurous stories of women set to make their own choices in a world where to fight can be an act of creation.