As a Norske American I’ve always been fascinated by the myths and folklore of my Scandinavian ancestors, and of course, the Vikings. I am blessed to live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina with my beautiful wife, Lisa, and our three wonderful children. As with everything I do, I write for them.
Biography: From Fjord to Ford
Derek Nelsen was born in New Jersey and raised in North Carolina. A second generation Norwegian American, his grandparents emigrated to the US, settling in Norwegian neighborhoods in New York.
Within a generation these wonderful people left NY to find a better life for their families in the country. New Jersey, the Garden State.
Kids grow, neighborhoods change, and slopes are slippery. To protect their four boys from inevitable incarceration, the next generation moved south. Back when calling long distance cost money, before overnight delivery, and when flying home was not an option, Derek’s mother and father left friends and family behind to escape to beautiful Western North Carolina.
Derek graduated from Western Carolina University with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering and a couple of minors (not related to writing). His career afforded him the chance to get paid to travel and see the world. For over twenty years he used the time traveling to project sites to rediscover his love of story.
Weary of the radio always playing the same songs, sports, and politics, Derek remembers making a conscious effort to turn off the noise (well, most of the time).
On his way to becoming an airline million miler, every time Derek was in a car, waiting in an airport or flying on a plane, he was reading or listening to audiobooks or podcasts. How else could a modern man claim to have read Crime and Punishment? For the first time he studied the Bible and religion, read philosophers and storytellers, and discovered a new love of History and Science, too.
Derek’s favorite non-fiction stories have a nautical bent, and include Nathaniel Philbrick’s ‘In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex’ and Alfred Lansing’s ‘Endurance: Shackelton’s Incredible Voyage’. His favorite fiction authors range from Michael Crichton to George R.R. Martin, with a special love of the masters, Inklings C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Recognizing the ties to Epic Fantasy, Derek began delving deep into his Norwegian heritage, reading the Scandinavian Sagas, Myth and Folklore.
It was these master story tellers and epic sagas that lead Derek to discover his own love of creative writing. In 2014, Derek was compelled to write his first Epic Fantasy novel ‘Viking Lost’, the first in his ‘Saga of Souls’ series. Writing these books it turns out, was something he’d been preparing for his entire life.
Derek still feels blessed to be able to call the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina home. After marrying Lisa, a local girl, he believes his family combines the best of their two worlds, like tynne pannekakes (Norwegian Crepes) and biscuits and gravy.