Man Of Pain — Richard Quarry

(Previously published as Man of Pain by Richard Quarry)The Golden Apples that keep Odin, Thor, and the other Norse gods immortal — and sane — have been stolen by Gullveig the Gold-Witch. But the Aesir are too weirded to care; they're getting their jollies chasing after an enchanted treasure guarded by the poison-spouting dragon Fafnir. So while the gods go ga-ga Gullveig and the evil Loki form a conspiracy with the Dark Elves (no, not the unisex and flower-power kind) to depose the Aesir and rule the world.Sensing Ragnarok skate-boarding down the Rainbow Bridge, Odin plucks the balloon ship containing Odysseus and his female captors from the sky. For only the wily Greek can outwit such a devious pair as Gullveig and Loki. When Odysseus demurs, Odin hangs him upside down from the world tree Yggdrasil for a few days and plucks out an eye to help him get his mind right.Freshly motivated, Odysseus sets off on Gullveig's trail. To help keep him on task, Odin proclaims Taranga, the head Amazon, an honorary Valkyrie. He even gives her a flying horse, the better to keep tabs on the wily Greek, whom she is oath-bound to carry back to her oceanic goddess for sacrifice.Join the pair on a new odyssey of high adventure.