Hello, fellow speculative fiction lovers.  Here’s another recommendation for summer reading.  Greg van Eekhout’s Norse Code.  Now, I haven’t read this novel yet, but I have ordered it.  It’s Greg van Eekhout’s first novel, and I’m really excited and totally waving it around on the blog based on my reading of his really awesome short stories that I have read, and loved, for the past few years now.  Here’s the book description:

Is this Ragnarok, or just California?

The NorseCODE genome project was designed to identify descendants of Odin. What it found was Kathy Castillo, a murdered MBA student brought back from the dead to serve as a valkyrie in the Norse god’s army. Given a sword and a new name, Mist’s job is to recruit soldiers for the war between the gods at the end of the world—and to kill those who refuse to fight.

But as the twilight of the gods descends, Mist makes other plans. 

Journeying across a chaotic American landscape already degenerating into violence and madness, Mist hopes to find her way to Helheim, the land of the dead, to rescue her murdered sister from death’s clutches. To do so, she’ll need the help of Hermod, a Norse god bumming around Los Angeles with troubles of his own. Together they find themselves drafted into a higher cause, trying to do what fate long ago deemed could not be done: save the world of man. For even if myths aren’t made to be broken, it can’t hurt to go down fighting…can it?

Sounds like Neil Gaiman territory to me, only using Norse mythology as its fantastical resource.  

I’m no longer linking book recs to online sellers.  You know where they are, just type the book titles into the search engines for your favorite site and hit the purchase button early and often.