Villi Asgeirsson

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It Never Stops – The Soundtrack of a Trilogy

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If the Frank & Celestina trilogy had a theme song, it would be Sketches of Spain by Nits.

Not the Miles Davis piece, but the haunting Dutch song from 1983. It is quiet, elegiac, and full of echoes.

It begins with the line:
“The streets of Barcelona are filled with blood and rain.”

That lyric became the seed for the first novel’s title, Blood and Rain. It captured everything I wanted the story to be. A collision of love and violence, beauty and loss.

When I wrote the trilogy, I often returned to that song. It moves like memory – gently, hesitantly – as if afraid of breaking what it remembers. Then the percussion breaks the calm like a machine gun. And the refrain that refuses to fade:
“It never ever, never ever, never stops.”

In the deepest, darkest moments of A Sky Without Stars, as the world relentlessly piles its weight onto Frank and those he loves, he echoes that line in despair: “It never stops.” The same sentiment, the same exhaustion. War is relentless, and all anyone caught in it wants is for it to end.

That line became the emotional spine of the entire saga. It’s history itself speaking. The endless cycle of wars, betrayals, and fragile acts of mercy that never truly end. In A Sky Without Stars, those words close the circle between music and story.

It isn’t coincidence. Sketches of Spain is one of those rare songs that take you to a place and show you what’s happening with the same clarity as a photograph or a piece of film.

For me, that song is the trilogy:
how beauty survives horror,
how memory outlasts time,
and how, even when everything ends,
it never really stops.

No matter when you’re born, there are choices to make, and hard times to endure.

It never stops.

Listen to Nits – Sketches of Spain (live)

A Sky Without Stars is out now.

A Trilogy – Completed

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Origins: Blood and Rain
In 2013, as I was finishing Under the Black Sand – my debut novel – I started thinking about what to do next. I had proven I could write and complete a novel, it felt like quite the achievement and I wanted to try it again! Apply everything I had learned, avoid some of the pitfalls and detours Black Sand had presented.

Blood and Rain would be that next project. The criteria were simple:
Shorter than Black Sand.
Linear, no flashback hopping.
Nothing supernatural.

I suppose I still wasn’t quite ready to leave Iceland behind. Gunnar, the protagonist, was an Icelandic reporter. He was bored and as the Spanish Civil War broke out, he saw his path to glory open. Unsurprisingly, as he arrived in Barcelona, he was perfectly out of his depth.

Blood and Rain probably served as a training ground. My characters were deeper, the events were real, if stylised and modified for the story. I think my writing style was emerging. Short, to the point, as little fluff as possible. And let strong characters run the story.

And that’s when Celestina appeared. She began as a love interest, but refused to play the role. Her backstory would be revealed and deepened throughout the trilogy, but it already dictated her every move. She wouldn’t let herself be “paired off.” She had her own purpose. In the end, she almost took over the book.

From Barcelona to Amsterdam: Mont Noir
Mont Noir followed. I hadn’t planned a series, but Celestina demanded more space. Here, Gunnar – now calling himself Frank – lives in Amsterdam. It’s early 1939. Celestina is still a thorn in Franco’s side, and someone in the German administration decides she could be useful in triggering a limited war between Germany and the West. She’s flown to Berlin, then to Amsterdam.

Mont Noir is shorter, leaner, more to the point. I dare say I was honing my craft. It also introduced new characters. Lodewijk, the aging diplomat who returns in the final novel, and Marleen, the beautiful jazz singer.

The Question That Ended It All: A Sky Without Stars
I wasn’t planning to create a trilogy. The spark for A Sky Without Stars came when I visited the Verzetsmuseum (Resistance Museum) in Amsterdam. One of the first things they ask you as you enter is this:
Under occupation, there are three choices.
Adapt.
Resist.
Cooperate.
What would you do?

I think it was in that moment that I realised, the Frank and Celestina saga needed to be completed. I had been absolutely clear with myself. I will NOT write a World War Two novel. Ever! It’s overdone, and there have been so many tragic and beautiful stories, that I can’t possibly hope to compete in that space.

But the question lingered. Each of my characters would answer it differently. Frank had never been a hero. Would he adapt? How long could he get away with it? Lodewijk was a patriot, but would he risk others for his own safety? Celestina had left the Netherlands at the end of Mont Noir. Where was she now?

On 6 January 2023, as I was preparing the Mont Noir launch, I was sitting in a Dutch Air Force canteen in Soesterberg. I had a few hours to burn. I opened a new Scrivener document. I typed the first line. Then the next. Within a month – 7 February, to be exact – I had a complete first draft. The story came out fully formed. The characters made their choices. I simply watched and wrote.

Now that A Sky Without Stars is complete, two things stay with me. First, strong characters are everything. Once they live, they drive the story. Second, I’m convinced Sky is my most layered and emotionally mature novel. Not necessarily the most complex – that honour still belongs to the debut – but it’s the deepest. It even closes an arc first opened in Blood and Rain and never revisited until now.

This book truly ends the trilogy. It completes the arcs for Frank and Celestina, bringing them roughly to where they wanted to be at the start of Blood and Rain. Roughly, because they have evolved, endured, changed. And so have their ambitions.

As I close this chapter on my writing journey, I can’t help but wonder if I will miss them. Especially Celestina, the character who began as a love interest and became the backbone of a trilogy. As I move toward new and very different projects, I suspect she’ll keep shaping the women I write.

Time will tell. Now I am going to celebrate an achievement that I honestly never thought I would reach.
Finishing a trilogy that grew stronger with every book.

A Sky Without Stars is out now.

A Sky Without Stars – Pre-Order

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A Sky Without Stars is almost here. It has been a long journey, both for the book and for the larger story.

The final novel in the Frank & Celestina trilogy began at a Dutch air force base in January 2023, a month before Mont Noir was published. My son had an introduction day there, the base was hours from home, and I spent the day in the canteen with my laptop.

I started the morning on a fantasy saga that may or may not appear one day. The setting worked against me. Uniformed pilots on lunch breaks, the sound of engines, the atmosphere. Dragons and castles refused to cooperate.

I opened a new Scrivener file and typed. It had no title. For months the project was called “that WW2 thing,” but there was a plan. An early reader of Mont Noir had asked how the story would end. What would happen to Frank, Celestina, and Lodewijk. The question surprised me because I had not planned a third book. I had not planned to write sequels at all. Still, she had a point.

If there was going to be an ending, I needed to write it.

That air base pushed the story into focus. In this book Celestina becomes a pilot. Not air force, which was not possible for women in the 1940s, but a pilot all the same. Frank remains cautious and slow to decide. His plan to leave the Netherlands came too late and he found himself trapped in an occupied country. Lodewijk works for the Nazis. He despises it, but it keeps him alive.

The outline and first chapters were written on 6 January 2023 in Soesterberg. The first draft was finished a month later, on 7 February. It was rough and unreadable, but it was the skeleton of what became A Sky Without Stars.

We are now finalising publication. On 10 October 2025 the ebook will be available worldwide. Amazon is taking its time to approve the listing, but you can pre-order at a discount on Smashwords. Depending on timing, you may even be able to download it already.

If you want a note when the book drops, plus news, behind-the-scenes notes, and a free short story, subscribe to the newsletter.

Announcing: A Sky Without Stars

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It’s finally time. And I’m excited!

A new novel is on the way, my fourth.
And the third and final installment in the Frank and Celestina saga.

I never intended to write a series, but after Blood and Rain, I wanted to explore the characters further. Frank was interesting, but Celestina demanded more time. Why was she the way she was? Her backstory was touched upon in Blood and Rain, but not explored deeply enough.

Then came Mont Noir.
Celestina is on a warpath after what happens in Blood and Rain. Barcelona no longer offers hope. There are only ghosts. The only thing left is revenge. She is angry, but dangerous. Franco wants her out of Spain, the Germans need a job done. A deal is made. And Frank is the perfect scapegoat.

In Mont Noir, we uncover more of Celestina’s past. Her motives, her desires, the traumatic events that shaped her view of the world.

That should have been the end.
But then I had the privilege of visiting the Verzetsmuseum in Amsterdam, the Resistance Museum, which remembers the occupation of the Netherlands from 1940 to 1945. I was looking at the artefacts, listening to the stories, and something struck me. They have to come back. Frank and Celestina must meet one last time. The loose ends must be tied. The story needs a true ending, the conclusion it deserves.

That’s where A Sky Without Stars was born.
Inside that museum.

The novel begins in Amsterdam on the eve of World War Two. It follows the bombing of Rotterdam, the occupation, the persecution of minorities, resistance networks, espionage, escapes, and ultimate sacrifice.
A Sky Without Stars goes deeper, darker, and more human than anything I’ve written before.

I’m glad I wrote it.
Their story begins in Barcelona in 1936.
Continues in Amsterdam in 1939.
And ends here, in 1942.

This is the final chapter.

I’ve worked on this novel since the day Mont Noir was published.
Today, I can finally show it to you.

I can’t wait to share it with you.

A New Novel – coming soon

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Today is my birthday and I feel like giving you things. My books. All of them. And a quick update on what’s coming.

As I’m sure you can imagine, I do not live off my writing. I have a job and writing novels and other things is a hobby. As such, my publishing scedule is sporadic. Under the Black Sand came out in 2013, Blood and Rain in 2017 and Mont Noir in 2023.

What I do care about is readers. You.

Summer is for reading. Exclusive to subscribers of this newsletter, I am giving you a 100% discount until the end of August, so make sure you subscribe. This is my thank you to you for being here, reading this and having faith in this project of mine. I cannot express how much I appreciate you being here.

Updates? I was busy with work. New position at the same company but demanded all my attention. Didn’t write anything for a year. In the last few weeks, I have been getting back into writing though. Last time I mentioned a sequel to Mont Noir. I opened that project a few weeks ago and was kind of surprised to see that it was closer to completion than I remembered. I am now hard at work finishing it.

That is coming after the summer. My fourth novel is coming this year. And there are other things. Watch this space. Oh, and if you want to be the first to read it, if you want to give me feedback before it gets exposed to the public, subscribe to the newsletter and let me know. Here is the opening paragraph. It’s Frank, but Celestina will be joining later.
Just for you:

Amsterdam, 10 May 1940
He was too late. The Germans had crossed the border that morning, and now Frank stood before the jeweller’s counter, staring down at the golden rings laid out like a promise already broken. There were rings with stones, sapphire, jade, diamonds. They were expensive, but he had some money. As beautiful as the gems were, he preferred the plain rings. He would have had them inscribed, but there was no time now.

Oh, and the windmill image is relevant to the new novel. :o)

Free. Worthless or priceless?

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It is the end of winter, summer is coming. The weather today is nice, I drove home from work with the top open. One of the simple pleasures in my life. Driving with the warm wind in my hair.

Summer is when people read books. They lie on sunbeds on beaches, besides swimming pools in foreign countries or in their own back yard or on their balcony. It is a time to relax, disappear into other worlds, enjoy that we get this time on earth.

I think everyone that has followed me and my writing for any amount of time will understand that I’m not in this for the money. While I appreciate every single reader and absolutely love seeing positive reviews, I have a day job that provides a salary. Writing novels is a passion. Sometimes frustration, but always passion.

Recent years have been strange, with a pandemic, inflation and geopolitical unrest. We should be nice, we should help each other where we can. And I can give my books away for free. I have a job and don’t need the royalties, but I love the feedback.

It is with this in mind that I decided to give my books away for free this summer. Until the end of August, you will get a coupon code when subscribing to the newsletter. The books in question are the three novels in the original English language and the Icelandic translation of Under the Black Sand, which I translated myself. All eBooks, obviously.

Some say giving away your work for free makes it worthless. I’m not sure I agree with that. A lot of things seem to have less value than they used to. We subscribe to streaming services, making all the world’s music available to us. I remember a time when aquiring an album was an undertaking. You had to save up for it, and that was what you had. You couldn’t listen to an artist’s whole catalogue. Just that album. Movies, a similar story. We stream them whenever we want to.

Doesn’t make them worthless. A good album is a good album, even if you don’t pay much for it. A novel you got for free is no less entertaining than if you’d been charged a good sum of money for it.

Giving my books away for free does not make them worthless, but your feedback and review after you’ve read them is priceless. As is your act of subscribing to the newsletter.

Let me know if you’ve read any of my novels and what you thought. And most of all…

Have a lovely summer!

You can find more information on the newsletter here.