And from the light the flashes leaped;
High under helms on heaven's field;
Their byrnies all with blood were red,
And from their spears the sparks flew forth

The Valkyries – fierce daughters of battle, riders of storm and shadow. They choose the slain and carry souls to glory, moving between mortal and divine. For this call, we seek stories that tell their own back stories, and echo their power: tales of fate, war, sacrifice and the mythic eternal. Awe-inspiring and magical, when we think of the Valkyries, we conjure a vision of fierce but angelic warrior goddesses racing across the sky. They come to select half of those who have died in battle and escort them to Odin's hall of heroes: Valhalla. There they receive the heroes with horns of mead. But there is so much more to these heavily symbolic beings. The Valkyries are many and amorphous, some are named and famous – Brunhild (powerful and defiant), Gunnr (courageous in battle), Skuld (a Norn but also a Valkyrie)... – others exist in the shadows.

This submission theme offers an exciting opportunity to explore and expand on existing stories associated with Valkyries (not simply retell classic tales) or imagine completely new names and narratives for those who have never seen the limelight. Perhaps the Valkyries do not only exist to ferry the dead and attend to their needs as glorified waitresses; perhaps even Freyja herself has a story here – goddess of love, beauty, fertility and magic, but also of war and death, who receives the other half of fallen warriors in her hall Sessrúmnir, in the heavenly field Fólkvangr – if she is not a Valkyrie she is surely their Queen.