
This fantasy quest is a blend of sci-fi and fantasy story and is a retelling of the ancient Rhinegold myth. The adventure takes place in a future Dark Ages with the usual fantasy creatures replaced by aliens. This comedy has beautiful Valkyries, magical gold, quantum electronics, aliens, a murderous god and great heroes. The main fantasy story concerns the Valkyrie, Brunnhilde and her quest to understand mortal love. For defying her father, Wotan, she is exiled to Midgard as a mortal and put into an enchanted sleep atop a mountain surrounded by a ring of fire. ,A separate story line involves a struggle to possess and control the magical horde of gold known as the Rhinegold. The Rhinegold is discovered by an exiled alien genius named Alberich. He transforms the gold into quantum electronic devices of immense power. Another alien, a notorious criminal named Fafner, steals the devices from Alberich. Without the Rhinegold, Wotan and the gods will age and eventually die. Wotan is desperate to regain the Rhinegold as is Alberich. Alberich and Fafner have a series of bizarre confrontations. Meanwhile Wotan develops an old-fashioned hero to recover the Rhinegold. Wotan’s hero, Siegfried, is strong of arm and weak of mind. Eventually, Siegfried ends up with the devices and rescues Brunnhilde from an enchanted sleep. Siegfried is soon murdered because of the devices and Brunnhilde seizes them. Brunnhilde decides the Rhinegold has caused enough bloodshed and she destroys the devices. Brunnhilde then continues her quest to find mortal love while Wotan and the gods head for the Ancient Gods Retirement Home. With the Rhinegold no longer a source of contention, Fafner and Alberich join forces to conquer the world.
Author

Hank Quense writes satirical fantasy and sci-fi. Early in his writing career, he was strongly influenced by two authors: Douglas Adams and his Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. Happily, Hank has never quite recovered from those experiences. He lives with his wife in northern New Jersey, a mere 20 miles from Manhattan, thecenter of the galaxy (according to those who live in Manhattan). They have two daughters and five grandchildren all of whom live close by. For vacations, Hank and Pat usually visit distant parts of the galaxy. Occasionally, they also time-travel. Besides writing novels, Hank lectures on fiction writing, publishing and book marketing. He is most proud of his talk showing grammar school kids how to create a short story. He used these lectures to create an advanced ebook with embedded videos to coach the students on how to create characters, plots and setting. The target audience is 4th to 7th graders. The book’s title is Fiction Writing Workshop for Kids.