When I left it was about 10 minutes left of regulation time. The Swedish
football girls had stood up well against the Brazilian onslaught in the
Olympics semi final. The match was on one of those cable channels I don't have,
so I had searched the net and found it streamed from an unknown Spanish
station. Words in Spanish echoed in my ears. It was 0-0 but I more or less knew
how it would end.
I had to leave, to get to the Academy Bookstore (Akademibokhandeln) in
Stockholm, in time for meeting author Elizabeth Hand. She'd present her latest
novel translated to Swedish, Se Mörkret ("See the Darkness", orig English title
Available Dark, publisher Constant Reader, a publishing house owned by media
profile Linda Skugge who has also done the translation). On stage was also
bestselling YA author Sara Bergmark Elfgren (the Engelsfors fantasy trilogy,
co-authored with Mats Strandberg who was there too, but in the audience). I
arrived in the knick of time, grabbed a glass of white wine the publisher
provided and managed to get one of the last chairs for the packed crowd that
had gathered.
I've met (or at least seen) Ms Hand before. She was GoH of Finncon 2007 in
Jyväskylä. She writes fantasy, apocalyptic stories, thrillers often with
fantastic ingredients, and the new book - she began with reading a couple of
pages from it - is about a New York photographer, Cass, with a background as
punk rocker. I haven't yet read it, but It seems it has plenty of apocalyptic
moments, and it is set in Helsinki and Reykjavik.
"It contain a series of real world disasters," she said. "Like an apocalyptic
road movie..."
She describes Cass as an asshole, but she has her moments. She is
intelligent, can be funny and she loves art. Norwegian chuch-burners from black
metal rock circles are also involved. (That's real events which have gotten a
lot of attention in Norway.) Before writing she studied the black metal scene,
but she said she didn't connect to the music itself. She described it as
misanthropic.
"I always inserts elements of the fantastic," she said. "It's like a filter
against reality for my characters. I like to get a feeling of magic into the
world."
She has written more book in this series, and piece if news is that she's
working on book four - which will begin in London, and then move to Stockholm.
Sara said she and Mats had been out with Ms Hand yesterday guiding here through
town and thereby helping her to research the coming novel.
She's from Maine, but also lives part time in Britain. She likes desolate
"bleak" places and often begins her books in such a setting. She sees
similarities between Sweden and Maine. The landscape, the coastal islands, the
people, with their resilience - Swedish immigrants used to settle in Maine. And
she talked about when she visited Iceland, the rugged landscape with virtually
no trees.
Once thing she does (beside writing and being a book reviewer) is to teach.
She does writing classes.
"I find that very interesting and energising. You meet young people hoping to
start a writing career who have to find out how the craft works."
She was asked about her advice for new writers. Among these we have
"Don't be a dick!" Be nice, not grumpy.
"To read a lot is important." It's important to study how others write.
"Don't leave loose ends."
"Characters have to change."
In the Q&A session with the audience a women happened to ask exactly the
question I'd put forth (if I had been a little quicker), namely about the
technicalities of how she works, like if she plans the story in details
beforehand:
"I usually have a general idea of where the story should be going, but
details could change underway. I don't make it up as I go along. Writing is
like a road trip."
Afterwards a long line of people formed, wanting books signed. (And I have
myself downloaded some of here stories to my Sony Reader. But you can get eg a
PDF file signed...) I chatted bit with a lady who had been on a literary walk
about August Strindberg and I told her about my recent visits to the Strindberg
museum. And maybe a plastic glass of white to it. When signing was over I
exchanged a few words with Ms Hand. She remembered the Finncon, and though
inner Finland with its forests is the kind of places she likes. And of course
she'll come to Worldcon 75, next august in Helsinki.
A nice meeting.
As I next connected to the net, Team Sweden had beaten Brazil, on their home
turf in Rio. 0-0 after overtime, but 4-3 after penalties. I knew it. It was the
same story against the USA. The ladies in yellow and blue will be in their
first Olympic gold final. I guess someone will write a book about it. Should
they win it'd be almost science fiction...
--Ahrvid Engholm
About Elizabeth Hand:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Hand
Some of her awards:
The James Tiptree Jr Award and the Mythopoetic Fantasy Award for Walking the
Moon (1994)
The Nebula Award and World Fantasy Award for "Last Summer of Mars Hill" (1994)
International Horror Guild Award "Cleopatra Brimstone" (2001)
The World Fantasy Award for Bibliomancy (2002)
The Nebula Award for "Echo" (2006)
The Shirley Jackson Award for Generation Loss (2008)
The World Fantasy Award for Illyria (2008)
The World Fantasy Award for "The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon"
(2010)
About Se mörkret (Available Dark), info in Swedish:
https://www.akademibokhandeln.se/bok/se-morkret/9789198261097/
Akademibokhandeln/The Academy Bookstore in Stockholm:
http://www.nelso.com/se/place/241725/
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