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Viking women, if they were left behind, were ruling their town. They were earls in their own right; they owned land in their own right. They could divorce their husbands if they wanted to. All of those wonderful allowances that were made for women in the Viking culture weren't really part of the Christian culture at the time.

I love that Viking era, but also they're a fatalistic people and that dictated their fearlessness in battle and approach to life.

I absolutely believe the past had its share of warrior women who fought like men. Whether some of these were the actual Amazons from Greek myth is another matter.

I think Vikings have always been popular, haven't they? I remember being a kid and being in second grade reading a book about this Viking warrior.

The Vikings themselves are fascinating creatures. They're human beings, of course, but their ethos are so different from ours. The fact that they live as warriors - their willingness to die for the sake of what they believe in - is quite shocking to us, and it's fascinating to see.

I felt that a lot of Viking culture had been caricatured and misconstrued. After all, they were far more democratic than the Saxons and the Francs, who were exercising really hierarchical social structures at that time. The Vikings had popular meetings where everything could be discussed.

I'm so intrigued by women throughout history where the significance of what they were representing at that time is obscured by the fact a man saved them or they were prostitutes.

Vikings were pretty brutal, but also very educated people. They were salesmen, businessmen who started raiding when business wasn't good. That's why they had such great boats.

I do not believe in using women in combat, because females are too fierce.

I always thought of my mother as a warrior woman, and I became interested in pursuing stories of women who invent lives in order to survive.