Brilliant Q&A I did with Eden Sharp

How did a Kiwi (New Zealander - if you prefer) end up in Iceland?

I left New Zealand about 22 years ago when I moved to Sydney to broaden my horizons and to continue working as a roadie for indie Australian band ‘The Clouds’. In 2005 I relocated to Belfast. Once again the idea was to experience something new and Northern Ireland has a bitter and intense history that appealed to me in a twisted kind of way. After the financial crash of 2008 Iceland became an affordable holiday destination and it as it had always been a place that had intrigued me even though I knew very little about it. On my first visit here I fell in love with the place and wound up returning every year for the next five years. Eventually I had to face the fact that I couldn’t live without the place and once my British citizenship came through all I could think about was moving here. It is a thoroughly intriguing country that is so different from New Zealand in so many ways and yet so similar as well. I read somewhere recently that home isn’t necessarily where you were born but rather where you finally stop trying to escape and I reckon that’s exactly what I’ve found here. I no longer want to be anywhere else.

 

It's been said of Nordic Noir that the genre owes something to Scandinavia’s political system where the apparent equality, social justice, and liberalism of the Nordic model is seen to cover up dark secrets and hidden hatreds. What are your own thoughts on this and/or insights into the cultural landscape of your chosen second home?

For me Henning Mankell was the beginning of my Nordic Noir experience. His tales both in his books and his storylines for television set in and around the town of Ystad really encapsulated the idea of the dark side of Scandinavian life simmering just below the surface of the idealistic façade that is presented to the rest of the world. For me his stories are so much more than crime fiction. They are based upon a strong sense of social responsibility.

He focuses on the problems facing modern day Sweden such as people smuggling, domestic terrorism, corporate embezzlement and fraud, political corruption, child abuse and the drugs trade. While Iceland is small enough and remote enough to have avoided most of these ailments it will not be able to do so forever.

My first book ‘On A Small Island’ deals with child abuse and the scandal surrounding the historical abuse at a state-run home for wayward boys in Breiðavík that was shut down after the horror stories from within its extremely remote walls came to light. I discovered the story behind the place through the outstanding documentary ‘Syndir Feðranna’ (Sins of the Fathers) which traced the lives of the boys who were abused in the house in the far western corner of the country where they were thought to be out of sight and out of mind. People smuggling is touched upon in ‘The Mistake’ and drug-smuggling and high level political corruption feature in my third and as yet untitled book. Even the most idealistic countries have to face these problems sooner or later and Iceland is no different.

 

You write about recurrent themes of justice and vengeance - these are definitely my kind of books! - and Aidan Thorn, author of Criminal Thoughts, called Larsson, Mankell and Nesbo 'pretenders to your crown'. That's high praise indeed. You must have been thrilled by that. What topics and authors have had the most influence on your writing?

There are common themes in ‘On A Small Island’ and ‘The Mistake’ of people taking the law into their own hands because they are afraid their need for justice will be ignored if they simply let events unfold. The vigilante-type desires are quite different in each book though. In ‘The Mistake’ it is an impetuous and impatient need to see justice done as quickly as possible while in ‘On A Small Island’ it is and extremely different feel altogether with an incredibly drawn out and patient plan that is put into place to see that things are put right.

Justice and vengeance are themes that are addressed by some of my favourite authors including Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson who I have been compared to by Aidan Thorn as you pointed out. Other authors I am fond of who also deal with these themes include Dennis Lehane, James Ellroy and Jim Thompson. To be compared to some of the greatest Scandinavian crime writers of our time is of course very flattering and if I ever bump into Jo Nesbo I intend to ask him for my tiara back.

 

I'm intrigued to hear your thoughts on writing a character of the opposite gender as you do in On A Small Island. How did you find the experience?

After reading ‘On A Small Island’ several of my female friends commented that they were impressed by the way I had written the book in the first person from a female perspective. One even asked if I had a wife hidden away somewhere that no one knew about. To be honest I didn’t find it all that difficult. Creating characters is a process of amalgamating bits of different personalities from all sorts of different people who you have met over the years. When you get that mix right the person you are trying to imagine comes to life. I find that ex-girlfriends are an endless source of inspiration when it comes to creating female characters. You don’t need to recreate a person cell by cell in a book, what you’re looking to do is borrow the bits required to create the character you have in mind. Writing that book the way I did was a slightly worrisome task as well. Not only was I speaking in the voice of a member of the opposite sex but I had to become someone from a country I had only visited for short periods of time. The challenge was to free the 27 year old Icelandic woman within and I think I did a pretty good job. She must have been in there all along.

 

Your second book, the novella The Mistake, was picked up by Number Thirteen Press. How did you guys get involved and how has the experience differed from self-publishing?

I first saw an announcement somewhere on social media that Number Thirteen Press were open for submissions. At the time I was working on what would become ‘The Mistake’ and the idea that Number Thirteen Press seemed to stand for really caught my eye. As a new author it can be very difficult to get publishers or agents to read your work beyond the first three chapters if at all. Nobody accepts full submissions any more so the idea of a new publisher specialising in Noir novellas was too good a chance to ignore. The idea of thirteen works once a month over thirteen months was really appealing too. Something different, something imaginative. ‘The Mistake’ had been shrinking in length with each successive draft so I reworked it with Number Thirteen Press very much in mind aiming for a final word count of about 35,000 words. I wanted it to be short but not too short and punchy and just too good for them to turn down. I realised that at that length it would have to be self-published if it was rejected so it was a bit of a gamble but I had real confidence in it.

As for the experience compared to self-publishing I found that the main difference was that someone had taken that leap of faith with me and the feeling that someone had that confidence in me was priceless. It doesn’t take much encouragement to sustain a writer but it does take some. Chris Black who runs Number Thirteen Press couldn’t have been a better guy to work with. A writer himself who is obsessed with all things Noir I found that we were on the same wavelength straight away. His editing suggestions were straight to the point and all right on the money. They helped me make the book even better and as a result I was really happy with the final product. I think he’s put together a great selection of Noir novellas and I’m proud to have written one of them.

 

Describe your writing journey so far.

I began writing for fun while I was living in Sydney probably about fifteen years ago. I started off writing screenplays inspired as I was by the words of Robert McKee. I thought at the time that I was taking it seriously but I wasn’t really. I was young and too busy having a good time to really apply myself to it. It took a life-changing experience while I was living in Belfast for me to change my mental approach to life and start putting in the effort required to actually get anything done. An old schoolmate of mine from Auckland was killed in a car accident back home and to see how easily your life can be over just like that made me realise that it was time to do what I really wanted to do and that was write. So that’s what I did. I decided that I was going to write a novel even though I had no idea what it would be about and had never done it before. I started writing again but this time with a real sense of discipline and purpose and I was determined to finish it and to make it something I could be proud of. It took me three years to do it but I got there and the feeling of accomplishment the first time you do something like that is hard to describe. It was probably the first time in my life that I was really proud of myself.

 

What do you do for fun when you're not chained to your desk?

Movies at Bíó Paradís the home of independent cinema here in Reykjavík, swimming at Sundhöllin my local swimming pool and watching local rock bands play. The fantastic music festival Iceland Airwaves each November is the highlight of my year. On top of that there is always the phenomenal countryside to explore here in Iceland.

 

 

What are your future plans and ambitions for your writing?

I am presently working on my as yet untitled third book. It is a continuation of my crime stories set in and around Reykjavík. My first two books were quite different from each other and this one will be different again. After that I have ideas for two more books which will break away from the traditional ideas of crime fiction. Although both will have crimes in them they will focus on the stories of the people around these crimes and not necessarily those who commit them. I plan to pull away even further from the traditional paradigm of crimes, investigations and resolutions. I suspect that this will make it even more difficult to be picked up by a major publisher but it is what I want to do. Publishing houses all say that they are looking for the next big thing yet they tend to turn down anything that doesn’t fit their preconceived ideas of the formula that a crime novel should follow. It seems to be have been that way for some time now even though most of the really great books I’ve read in my life have succeeded because they’re dared to be different somehow and innovative. I guess that it’s just that time again for something a little different to come along.

The original interview can be seen in it's entirety on Eden's website at: http://www.edensharp.com/interview-with-author-grant-nicol/

'I Can't Go On Without You' by Kaleo

The brand new video from Icelandic band Kaleo. The video is shot at Búðarkirkja on the Snæfellsnes Penninsula in the west of Iceland in beautiful black and white to suit the frozen conditions. I saw these guys play at Iceland Airwaves last year in the restaurant at the Blue Lagoon and they were outstanding. They are on tour in the US at the moment and are definitely the band to watch at the moment from Iceland.


Watch the beautiful video here: http://www.thefader.com/2015/04/22/watch-the-video-for-icelandic-folk-band-kaleos-i-cant-go-on-without-you

My review of Ragnar Jónasson's 'Snowblind'

Ari Thór has had a little trouble nailing down exactly what it is he wants to do with his life up until now. He has dropped out of theological studies and trained to become a police officer instead. When he’s offered a job as the new copper on the beat in Siglufjörður in the lonely north of the country, a place once known for its vast herring stocks but little else, he jumps at the opportunity without discussing it first with his girlfriend Kristín even though he will be forced to leave her behind in Reykjavík. She is none too pleased with his lack of consultation but has little choice but to accept his decision.

Upon arriving in Siglufjörður Ari Thór finds that he likes his new boss Tómas well enough but struggles to fit in with the rest of the small isolated community and is worried that nothing of any interest will ever happen in such a tiny place. Has he made the wrong decision to leave Reykjavík behind and will it cost him his relationship with Kristín? Only time will tell. To add to his confusion he meets Ugla, a pretty girl from the west who also knows the difficulties of being an outsider in such a close-knit town. The two of them quickly become close and his guilty conscious plays havoc with his already confused mind.

When Ugla first moved to Siglufjörður she befriended retired author Hrólfur Kristjánsson and when Hrólfur dies in what appears to be a drunken accident at the local theatre Ari Thór finds that there might just be more to this sleepy little hamlet than he thought. Add to the mix a late night intruder at Ari Thór’s new house and a snow angel found in a pool of her own blood and there could even be too much action for him to deal with altogether.

Ragnar Jónasson has translated fourteen Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic and is an obvious devotee of the classic mystery structure. Snowblind’s twists and turns will keep the reader captivated until the final reveal and the setting of his hometown of Siglufjörður gives the story the feeling of a locked room mystery especially when an avalanche blocks the only road in or out of town.

Ari Thór is a likeable guy with his heart in the right place and with enough impulsive decisions in him to make him thoroughly believable and Ragnar’s descriptions of the local weather and wilderness are as beautiful and engaging as any Icelandic author I have come across yet.

It is surely only a matter of time before Snowblind (translated quite brilliantly by UK crime author Quentin Bates) and the rest of Ragnar’s Dark Iceland series go on to take the Nordic Noir genre by storm. The rest of the world has been patiently waiting for a new author to emerge from Iceland and join the ranks of Indriðason and Sigurðardóttir and it appears that he is now here.

Snowblind will be available in the United Kingdom through Orenda Books from the 20^th of April and as a paperback from the 15^th of June.

New review of 'The Mistake' by B.J.Mon

"Your mistake would be to pass this by."
By B.J. Mon
...

A cleverly constructed novella that gradually reveals the truth to the various lies told by several people. The nine year gap between events, when explained does raise an interesting 'just desserts' moral dilemma (no more detail to avoid spoiler). Increasing gruesomeness fits the storyline and does not seem gratuitous. The author builds a picture of an apparent unfortunate victim, Gunnar Atli, first on the scene of a brutal murder and quickly accused by circumstances. He has a tragic background and his inability to recall events suggests his vulnerability will create more problems for him. In a novella there is less room to develop characters but in this short space we gain clear awareness of the motivations of Detective Grimur and of Kjartan, the father of the murdered girl, Bella. The story rolls along, dialogue is crisp and realistic and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A Day Late And A Dollar Short #6

By the time my 6^th visit to Reykjavík came around the decision to move had already been taken. That visit was to the Secret Solstice Festival in June 2014 to see Woodkid and Massive Attack and coincided once again with my birthday. The circle had been completed. I had already left my job in Belfast and had decided to take three months off to watch the World Cup and finish the bulk of the remaining work on my 2^nd book, ‘The Mistake’.

It had been five years since my first visit to Reykjavík and my last experience of the nights that never dim. Compared to the short days and freezing nights that accompany Iceland Airwaves the middle of June could not be any more different. The first day of the secret Solstice festival was all about Yoann Lemoine or as most people know him (those who do know of him anyway), Woodkid. His performance stole the show not only for the first night but he comprehensively outdid Massive Attack as well. Supported by keyboards and a brass section as well as dual standing drummers at the rear of the stage with suspended bass drums he was a sonic experience. On top of all that he had unbelievable visuals projected onto the screen behind the stage that he had designed himself and were jaw-dropping on their own. When he’s not writing and performing he directs music videos for the likes of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Ray and Rihanna. His album, ‘The Golden Age’ is a triumph of originality featuring a huge percussive feel over beautiful and sometimes haunting lyrics. His video for ‘I Love You’ which was shot here in Iceland can be seen at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQu8FOjJXdI

The headliners on Saturday night were Bristol outfit Massive Attack. Tear Drop, Unfinished Sympathy, Protection and Safe From Harm were all played while the crowd spliffed up and rocked out under the midnight sun. It’s pretty funny watching a band play at midnight when it’s still as bright as it was ten hours earlier. Even though Secret Solstice was only in it's first year of existence it was plainly obvious that they would be back again and with a vengeance. The line-up for the 2015 festival includes The Wailers, Wu-Tang Clan, Agent Fresco and FM Belfast.

As I wandered back to my hotel I knew it would be the last time I saw Reykjavík through the eyes of a tourist. Heading back to the UK this time around would be easier than the previous five occasions as I knew that the experience would only be a temporary one and that I’d be back in Iceland in a couple of months.

And that this time it would be for good.