It’s December!

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In anticipation of an end-of-year post, December brings its own news with the sale of the Spanish translation rights of Seven Graves One Winter, that’s in addition to the translations sold to publishers in Portugal and the Czech Republic. It’s all happening very quickly, or it seems to be. There are the usual periods of “hurry up and wait”, but there’s plenty to be written in the intervals.

Talking of writing, 2018 has been a huge year with lots of releases, including We Shall Be Monsters and The Calendar Man at the end of November, ready for the Christmas period. Yep, I mentioned Christmas again as I’m looking forward to a break during the holidays. But it’s not over yet, the first release of 2019 will be The Twelfth Night scheduled for release on January 6th, the same day as the Greenlandic tradition of Mitaartut when people dress up in masks and padded tops to scare away evil spirits – or do they? Find out more in The Twelfth Night, book 2 of the Dark Advent series picking up where The Calendar Man left off.

As for 2019 projects, I don’t want to give too much away, but here’s a teaser image for the cover of Narkotika scheduled for an early release. Narkotika introduces undercover Greenland cop Eko Simigaq in a darker, grittier (yes, that’s possible) Greenland Crime series set in modern Greenland.

That’s it for now. More later in December.

Oh, and if you’re enjoying the iceberg images on the covers as much as I am, do check out the work of Annie Spratt.

The Calendar Man – just in time for Christmas!

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Once again, the paperback version of my pre-order book is available before the day of release, but this time it’s a good thing! If you’re curious about reading The Calendar Man as an advent calendar, and you prefer a physical copy, then if you order soon it should arrive in time for December 1st.

The Calendar Man is a dark advent story. It is set about twenty years into the future, just to make things interesting, but it is not science fiction. Without giving anything away, I should add that it features many of the characters from my Greenland crime books and thrillers, and refers to some upcoming stories, with no spoilers.

The very nature of an advent calendar story is that it should be read one day at a time. While The Calendar Man can be read in one sitting, I would urge you not to. It’s an advent after all.

The paperback version (English) of The Calendar Man can be found on Amazon:

US, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, Canada, and Australia

The kindle version is still available for pre-order from Amazon

– currently at 0.99

Oh, and here’s the village Christmas tree from Qaanaaq, Greenland, 2010.

Iceland Noir

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After what has to have been one of the wettest November weekends in Iceland – ever, I’m back in Denmark and trying to process what I experienced during four criminally exhausting fun-filled days at Iceland Noir.

I have to start with the Arctic Noir panel, as it was my first, and I was in such good hands. Moderated by Dr Noir herself, the forty-five minutes breezed by with laughs and loads of criminal insight into the works of Óskar Guðmundsson, Quentin Bates and Michael Ridpath – fantastic crime authors with gripping books set in Iceland. They are serious fun too! Mary Picken captured a fun moment during the panel – thanks!

There were tons of panels and it’s probably easier to check out the programme for Iceland Noir 2018 at the website to see what you missed. 😉 But the atmosphere and the chatting around the panels was even more interesting as I got to know authors whose work I have read and a ton of others that I must read.

The mystery tour was a mystery, and I believe Quentin might be responsible for the incredible amount of interest/fangirling that took place around a petrol pump! I’ve never really got into petrol pumps, and I’m not entirely sure it’s an Icelandic thing, but, you know … I have to read the book. 🙂

I think it’s easier to catch up on the Drunken Author’s Panel and the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers via Iceland Noir’s Facebook page and Twitter feed. Suffice it to say, there’s a whole other side to crime writing that has to be seen and heard to be believed.

Ultimately, it was Iceland itself – the wind and the rain – that stole the show when we got to see it between the clouds. It reminded me of Greenland, and yet, not so much, although the rain in Nuuk and Reykjavík is pretty much the same in intensity.

Bottom line is, I have to go back! There’s too many good reasons and good people not to. Thanks to everyone for making Iceland Noir 2018 such a memorable event.

If Jack London wrote Arctic Crime Stories

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Constable David Maratse debuted in The Ice Star, rocked the Scandinavian (Amazon) charts in Seven Graves, One Winter, but I really got to know him through his early adventures as a Police Constable in Greenland. Compared to Jack London stories by one Goodreads reader, Maratse’s short stories include themes that are current and relevant in Greenland, and are drawn from my own experiences when I lived and worked in remote towns, villages and settlements on the west coast and in the far north of Greenland.

These are very personal stories. They are fiction, but there is a lot of truth between the pages; some of it is difficult to think about, but important to remember. I used to blog (private for family only) about my time in Greenland – the good, the bad, and the out-of-this-world-once-in-a-million experiences. Shoveling my own experiences into Maratse’s past brings Greenland that bit closer, and allows me to explore the country, and revisit the people that shaped me during a very intense seven years.

At the same time, they are tons of fun to write, and I am very fond of Constable David Maratse. So, I am excited to say that there will be more short stories set in Greenland coming next year, 2019.

Here’s the reading order if you, like certain members of my family, are losing track:

  1. Katabatic
  2. Container
  3. Tupilaq
  4. The Last Flight
  5. The Heart that was a Wild Garden
  6. Qivittoq (2019)
  7. The Thunder Spirits (2019)
  8. Iluliaq (2019)

followed by the novels

  1. Seven Graves, One Winter
  2. Blood Floe
  3. We Shall Be Monsters
  4. Untitled WIP
  5. Untitled WIP
  6. Untitled WIP

Monster Paperback

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This has taken an age, but The Greenland Trilogy is finally in paperback with a whopping 632 pages. #loveit

There are several polar bear sequences in the story, and it makes sense – for me – to link to another Nanook song about the polar bear, and a shaman taking on polar bear form. Greenland is rich with shamanic culture and tradition, so, naturally, book three my trilogy is called The Shaman’s House.

The Greenland Trilogy is available in paperback and ebook from Amazon USA, UK, Canada and Australia. You can find out more about Nanook on their Facebook page.

Reaching for the Moon

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Copenhagen Literary Agency

First things first, I cried in First Man, I honestly can’t remember how many times. It’s good. Ryan Gosling was amazing, Claire Foy was even better. See it, you won’t regret it.

Second thing, and I’ve been waiting to mention this, but Seven Graves, One Winter has been acquired by publishers in Portugal and the Czech Republic. This’ll be a short post as I really don’t know what to say about it, other than YES!

Right, gotta build a rocket ‘cos we’re going to the moon!

The View from Space

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“La La Land” encouraged me to write about a ballet dancing serial killer, and I had to go for a run to process the whole “Whiplash” experience. I have no idea what to expect from Damien Chazelle’s “First Man”, but I’m ready for anything! If he nails this story, that’s three out of three excellent movies. But with Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy, and space … what could possibly go wrong?

I love films. I seriously need to sell more books so I can see more movies – but more about that later. I think it’s the whole “paperback versus eReader” discussion. Would I rather see a movie on the big screen or the television? It depends on the movie, and there have been a few duds of late, but if we’re going to the moon we’re gonna need a big screen, big speakers – that whole all around you scary surround sound experience.

Yep – big screen!

Gotta be done!

About the selling more books? Yeah, later. First the moon, posts about books later.

Monsters in My House

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I just reread one of the chase scenes in We Shall Be Monsters. What I love about writing the Greenland Crime series is the chance to work some personal Easter Eggs into the story, and to build upon really local knowledge. I like to include action sequences in my books and I really enjoyed wrting the scene that occurs in the house Jane and I lived in during the four years we lived on the island of Uummannaq – see amazing photo above from Imgur.

Damn, I miss Greenland. But spending time with Constable Maratse and the rest of the cast of We Shall Be Monsters makes the longing that bit more bearable. I spent seven years in total in Greenland, but the four in Uummannaq were perhaps the most formative.

We Shall Be Monsters is the third book in the Greenland Crime series featuring Constable David Maratse. It is availble for pre-order on Amazon US, UK, Canada and Australia, and is scheduled for release on November 29 this year.

Just in time for Christmas.

Here’s some more Uummannaq!

Sneaky Devil!

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I’m not sure how it happened, but the paperback version of Paint the Devil is live two weeks before the kindle version comes out.

Oops.

However, if you’re curious and want to find out more about this Scandinavian “bestseller” (Amazon Australia) – yes, I had to get that in – then you could have a two week headstart. The pre-order is still available for the kindle version, and it will stay at the pre-order price until the day of release.

Here are the links to the paperback. The kindle version can be found on the same page.

US, UK, Canada, Australia

Until then, I’ll leave you with another short excerpt from the book:

Paint the Devil excerpt

The breeze is stronger now, blowing from the sea, lifting the salt tang from the waves and brushing the roofs and windows with fine crystals. Denmark is suffering. Inland farms are drying out faster than those along the coast. Thyrup has some luck, Bo thinks. But Thyrup has the wolf, and the environmentalists, the academics, and the so-called elite, sitting high on their morals, looking down, looking from afar, looking from Copenhagen. Christiansborg is a long way from Thyrup. They are at opposite ends of the country, almost parallel, on a direct line, but poles apart. They might as well be north and south.

South.

Bo thinks of Belgium, and the headquarters of the European Union. Wonders how they can decide his fate in the jaws of the wolf.

“Experts,” Aage says, as he joins Bo beside the grave of Viktoria’s father.

“What?”

“They are sending experts from Christiansborg. One, at least. A man and his daughter. They will be staying at the nature commission house, the one down by the beach.”

“How do you know?”

“Tilde Sørensen,” Aage says, and smiles. “She called the ministry for a comment, and the minister, Felix Poulsen, said he was sending a wolf expert to Thyrup. Can you believe it?”

“What will he do?”

“Investigate, I suppose.” Aage gestures at the gate. “I need a smoke. Walk with me.”

 

The kindle version of Paint the Devil is scheduled for release on October 28th, 2018.

More Dark Stuff for the Holidays!

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The Twelfth Night, the absolute scariest night in Greenland every damn year! I just had to write a story about it. 😉

It’s available now on pre-order and is scheduled for release on, you guessed it, January 6th.

Available on Amazon at just 0.99 of everything, really, until it goes live.

USA, UK, Canada and Australia

Here’s the blurb followed by the “big cover”.

When cyberactivists incite young Greenlanders in Nuuk to riot, Police Commissioner Petra Jensen must shut them down before the Twelfth Night becomes the city’s last.

In the wake of a turbulent Christmas period, Petra Piitalaat Jensen has barely resolved one serious crime before another more urgent disturbance demands her attention.

Commanding a police force suffering from fatigue and stress, Petra must rally the department and lead them on the hunt for a group of cyberactivists inciting the young people of Greenland to rise up and take charge of their future.

In a series of escalating events, Petra is drawn into Greenland’s dark underworld during the darkest month of the year, where traditional methods of policing require new thinking to overcome the first threat to Greenland’s new-found independence.

Set in Greenland’s future, “The Twelfth Night” twists Greenlandic politics, traditions and myths into a dark tale set in the darkest month of the year, in a frighteningly imaginable future.

“The Twelfth Night” is set many years after the events in the Greenland Crime series, but features several of the characters introduced in those books.