O, Iceland!

I expect there are many people staggeringly inconvenienced by Iceland right now. People who have never looked at a globe are now scowling at it, shaking their fingers scoldingly at the volcanically active island and complaining about their cancelled flights. I don't know why they're so surprised. I mean, you could just take a look at this map of Iceland from 1590 and know that someday it was going to throw out some serious shit:

Iceland: This map tried to warn us!

Look at those mutant critters swimming around everywhere! Why, some of them have the characteristics of land creatures! Some of them have antennae! Some of them have even learned how to walk on water! (I especially like the hippocampus near the bottom left.) 

In one of those minor cosmic coincidences that crunchy hippie people in the 90s might have called "very Celestine," I've been writing about Iceland recently in the third novel in my series, Hammered. Two of the characters are from there, and a third has an unfortunate meeting with Thor while staying near the modern-day town of Eskifjordur. While doing some basic background research yesterday, I'd just finished reading about how volatile and unstable the geology was when the news blared out at me that Eyjafjallajokull had announced its presence with authority. This is how Eyjafjallajokull says hello:

Howdy, world! I dare you to say my name!

After the dust settles, I'm going to have to visit. It's such a fascinating hunk of rock and not entirely covered in ice at all. The geothermal vents all over the place tend to heat things up, and ocean currents keep it fairly temperate even though it's above the Arctic circle. Since my fictional characters owe so much to their land, I owe it to them to see the nonfictional reality of it. I'm looking forward to the trip! You know...someday.