About the author: Stephen Zimmer is an award-winning author and filmmaker based out of Lexington Kentucky. His works include the Rayden Valkyrie Tales (Sword and Sorcery), The Ragnar Stormbringer Tales (Sword and Sorcery) the Rising Dawn Saga (Cross Genre), the Fires in Eden Series (Epic Fantasy), the Hellscapes short story collections (Horror), the Chronicles of Ave short story collections (Fantasy), the Harvey and Solomon Tales (Steampunk), and the Faraway Saga (YA Dystopian/Cross-Genre). Stephen’s visual work includes the feature film Shadows Light, shorts films such as The Sirens and Swordbearer, and the Rayden Valkyrie: Saga of a Lionheart TV Pilot. Stephen is a proud Kentucky Colonel who also enjoys the realms of music, martial arts, good bourbons, and spending time with family.

Ulstaran Feast – While a guest of King Fiall in the events of The Awakening, Ragnar enjoys a grand feast that includes roasted pork, rich stews, blackberries, honey, fresh bread, butter, and a thick, very strong kind of ale. The bread and ale are of a much higher quality than that found in the villages of the land, and Ragnar indulges heavily. [photo edited by MomGoth, because the little roasting piggy face hurt her heart]

Wild Boar – Wild boar is a favorite of both Rayden and Ragnar, when it comes to food. Wild boar are hunted in many of the lands that they adventure in, so it is a kind of food they are able to have a little more frequently. Difficult to hunt, and very dangerous, wild boar present a challenge for even those with the skill of Rayden and Ragnar.

Trout – Rayden and Ragnar never will pass up a chance to get some fresh fish, and both love the taste of freshly caught trout. Rayden, in fact, partakes of trout during the events of Darkness Enthroned, where she and the Sarvans fish them out of an iced-over lake (along with a pike).

Common Meal Example One: While in Teveren lands, Rayden partakes of a meal of bread, olives, figs, goat-milk cheese and a roasted chicken procured from a market close to the apartment where she and her companions stay after entering the Imperial City.

Common Meal Example Two – While in the city-state of Terith Ka, in the events depicted in Blood of a Queen, Rayden orders a meal in a tavern that consists of some tender mutton prepared with spices, bread softened with olive oil, figs, and honeyed dates. For a beverage, she chooses a lighter, fermented fruit drink made from pomegranate and water.

Common Meal Three – When Ragnar and some of his companions stay in a walled village in the events of The Awakening, he eats to his fill of a meal consisting of barley porridge, bread slathered with freshly churned butter, and several ample cuts of roasted beef. For drink, they have ale, of a more Celtic-inspired variety. Not complex, but very satisfying to him!