Swedish mysteries
Right now, Europe is discovering Swedish crime novels. I just read an article on the Guardian’s website which mentioned, among others, Stieg Larsson, Liza Marklund and Camilla Läckberg. The UK has already taken Henning Mankell’s Wallander mysteries to their heart.
It seems almost petty to mention that they’ve just scratched the surface. In all honesty, I haven’t read Stieg Larsson or Liza Marklund. I have however read Mankell, Nesser and Läckberg and I must say I wasn’t impressed. For instance, take the latter – when you write a ‘mystery’ that is so predictable that someone like me – a writer wannabe, but still just an amateur – knows exactly who is the killer, why he did it and how it all happened when I’m reading the first couple of lines of the second chapter – what does that tell you about the quality of the book?
Forget all of the above writers (the Whiskas people books – Whiskas people are those who go for the most popular of anything, in case you’re wondering). I’ll tell you about my favorites instead. Since we’re talking about Swedish mystery writers, I won’t go into my Finnish favorite, at least not here, or the British, American or French books I like. So, here goes…
Emma Vall. She’s really three persons using the same pen name. They’re reporters, and so is their main character Amanda Rönn. She investigates crimes in the northern town Sundsvall. Emma Vall also writes mysteries for kids, about a girl named Svala (she’s originally from Iceland, hence the unusual name). The mysteries for kids are as well written as the others. My only problem with the kids’ books, is that they’re a little predictable. The basis is as follows: Svala makes a few new friends (or reconnects with some old friends) who have a problem. She starts to investigate to help them. That’s it. Don’t let that stop you from reading them, if you like books for older kids. They’re still good, even if the writers might want to vary the ‘recipe’ a little. If I have to criticize anything about the ‘grownup’ mysteries, it’s the fact that while Amanda Rönn is relatively young – just over 30 – she prefers men who are around 60. I think that’s because one of the writers is about that age herself and creates love interests of her own age. All their books are well written and definitely worth reading.
Arne Dahl. Pen name for a man named Jan Arnald. In addition to writing mysteries he’s also a short story writer, editor and critic. His mysteries are about a fictitious group investigating serious crime – the A group. The group employs quite a few people, so chances are you’ll find a main character you’ll like. For instance out of the roughly ten people involved, I primarily like two of them, both male, but there’s no one I absolutely can’t stand. These books are well written and fascinating, but once in a while, Arne Dahl tends to get a little too fanciful (I noticed this in Hidden Numbers (Mörkertal).
Thomas Kanger. He’s a reporter too, just like the women behind Emma Vall. His main character is young cop Elina Wiik who works in Västerås in eastern Sweden. Just like most cops, she’s single and trying to find time to date in the midst of her busy professional life. I used to like these books and I still like most of them. However, in The Borderland (Gränslandet) he just gets too fanciful for my taste. There’s absolutely no logic in the ending. It stops being a mystery and turns into speculative fiction and that just isn’t appropriate, without any warning. The earlier books are still fine, but I won’t recommend The Borderland.
Åsa Nilsonne. She’s actually a psychiatrist and medical doctor, but also writes excellent mysteries about the cop Monika Pedersen, working in Stockholm. Monika Pedersen is single (is there any cop who isn’t either single or divorced?), but has a close male friend, who is gay. Most of the cases are investigated in central Stockholm, but in the last book Monika goes to Ethiopia to follow up on a lead.
The writer’s course
Last night was the first time in our writing course. It was ok, quite fun, though not like the last one. I had worried a lot about the first exercise, but I shouldn’t have. (We were supposed to bring a printout from a book that had influenced us in some way. I’ve been reading since I was three and writing for almost that long, so practically everything I’ve read has influenced me.) That went ok too.
What wasn’t quite as much fun was the fact that out of a possible fifteen people (from the last course), only six had signed up and just four actually came. We don’t know what happened to the other two. Oh, well, I never expect much from this town.
Our efforts to start a writer’s group have failed. Only one person outside our family had shown any interest. No one has the time, or the inclination to join a writer’s group. :/
The Book
This is the book, the one with two of my stories and one of my poems:
The Book
Will edit my book
Last night I actually had a pretty detailed and clear dream. In that dream, I had the idea that I should edit the book I’m going to submit to a publisher this spring. The first chapter might hook the reader a bit more than it does in its present form, so I’ll try to think of something more exciting. Maybe that will help. In any case, I want to make the book as good as it can be.
Bitter and disappointed
These days I find it hard to rouse myself from my apathy. I’m beginning to realize that this is how my life turned out. There’s no hope at all that I’ll be able to work things out now. It’s too late, or rather, considering the sort of person I am, there was never any chance. I used to be angry with myself for failing all the time. Now that I’ve thought long and hard about it, I know that there was never any way I could have ended up anywhere other than here. With my personality, I would have ended up this way even if I had another chance.
Another chance… You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to turn the clock back and still have time, still have a future. If there was any way I could get that, that’s what I’d do. No matter what little change I might be able to to make to my life, it won’t make up for ending up like this.
I’m even beginning to think I was lucky to get seriously ill and nearly die. It made me think that was why I’m such a failure. But that wasn’t it. It was just the way I was.
Yes, I am bitter and disappointed. It hurts to know that nothing will change. My life is going to continue like this, or get worse. I don’t know how other people live with this, but I handle it badly.
Then it hit him…
Found this on a news site:
With regard to gay sheikhs some years ago a young friend of mine went to work at his uncles company in one of the Emirates. He was introduced to the local sheikh, and carefully remembered the greeting the sheikh gave him in Arabic so he could use the form when meeting other dignataries. It was only after he had been using the phrase for a few days that somebody translated it for him, and he realized why everybody had looked at him so strangely when he repeated the sheikh’s greeting to them. The translation of the phrase was “Mm, you do have a lovely arse.”
Reminds me of another similar story. One of my mom’s colleagues was married to (still is, I presume) an engineer who worked a lot in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates etc. This guy was a real jerk, and I couldn’t stand him. Anyway, he told his wife the following story from his work. The guy in charge of the workers referred to their crew this way: “Those guys, all they do is f***.” And my mom’s colleague’s husband thought to himself. “Funny. I didn’t think there were any women on site.” Then it hit him… “Oh, right. Duh.” When I heard this, I couldn’t stop laughing.
Guilty secrets
Most people probably have some guilty secrets. I know I do. Most of my readers and friends know that I write fan fiction and slash. At times, when I’m really depressed and need cheering up, I also write (shame on me) real people slash! Of course, I’d never in a million years post anything in public. At least not about anyone who hasn’t been dead for a couple of hundred years.
(I also fall pathetically, ridiculously and meaninglessly in love with hot celebrity guys. Sh. Don’t tell anyone, please. LOL)
So, what about you guys? Share your guilty secrets with me! I dare you!
Writing for the minority
Over the years, I’ve had literally thousands of readers, but of those, practically no one leaves a comment. Out of those few, some have given me very positive feedback. The question is, why don’t more people comment? Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that most people don’t like my writing. Another reason might be that they feel that the stories I write are too long. Some might like my stories, but are too lazy or not care enough to comment. But even if those are contributing factors, the fact remains, my writing doesn’t appeal to that many people.
It’s discouraging, because I don’t just write this way because I can’t do any better, though maybe that’s part of the truth, I have to face that possiblity, but I actually like these stories. It’s the sort of thing I Iike to read. I’d read more of similar writing if it was available – and in some cases it is. The books I buy are often unknown to the general public, though I like relatively ‘mainstream’ genres and subgenres – mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, historic novels.
There isn’t much I can do about the popularity of my stories. I know one thing though: I’ll keep writing what I like to read. If no one else likes it, fine. I can live with that. After all, I’ve never expected more. Hoped, but never expected.