Authentic Arctic Thrillers
We arrived in Uummannaq in August 2006. We didn’t leave the island until January 2007. Specifically, apart from a free trip on the hotel boat (I was translating for the guests) we didn’t step off the island until the ice formed, and then, looking back at where we lived, it felt like something had changed. It’s one of those moments I remember feeling very much alive.
Chris
Nansen was my mountain dog. He never pulled the sledge, but we spent a lot of time on the mountain behind our house. The little guy is a loose puppy who followed us without really knowing what he was getting into it.
While I enjoyed sledging with the dogs, it was hard work, and sometimes it was difficult to know if I had enjoyed it or not. The neighbours did, for the first few years, until I figured it out. Days on the mountain, however, were nothing less than perfect.
‘Just taking the dog for a walk’ took on a whole new meaning in Greenland.
Chris
Jane fished. I just took photos! Actually, that’s not entirely true. Jane made me dig the hole in the sea ice first.
The mittens Jane is using are made of sealskin. They have opposable thumbs – meaning there is a thumb on both sides of the mitten. When fishing like this you pull a wet line – freezing cold – through your mittens. When one side is sopping wet, you switch them around and use the other side. The gloves were made locally, and the woman who sewed them also gave Jane a pair of wool mittens to wear inside – also with two thumbs!
I just do the grunt work, using the tuk or ‘ice staff’ to dig the hole in the ice. On a good day such as this chilly January 25th, it can get busy on the ice.
But it’s really about not about catching fish – thankfully. Because until we got the hang of it it was slim pickings!
Just a quick post to say Le Palais de la Pleureuse (The Banshee Palace) is on it’s way. It’s currently in the process of being published to the various platforms. It’s the 7th of the Greenland Missing Persons series to be translated into French.
All that remains to say is … thank you, Françoise!
Chris
Greenland gets under your skin. So, at the first glimpse of snow in Denmark, a couple of years after we left Greenland, I finished my evening shift at the boarding school where I was working at the time, and spent a very chilly night in the shelters, January 16, 2016.
Because of the humidity, a few degrees below freezing in Denmark feels a whole lot worse than -20 Celsius in Greenland. So no matter how pretty it might look, it was damned cold.
Me the following morning, on the other hand… even less pretty! 😉
Chris
Témpano de sangre (Blood Floe), book two in the Greenland Crime series, comes out today in Spain.
Here’s the teaser in English:
David Maratse is settling into early retirement in the remote Arctic settlement of Inussuk, when an expedition yacht is discovered at the edge of the sea ice. Patches of blood have frozen to the decks. Three of the crew in the cabin are unconscious but alive, the rest are dead or missing.
Blood Floe has a bit more action than Seven Graves, One Winter, and sets the scene for the much darker We Shall Be Monsters.
I’m still making it up to Petra for “Monsters” with the Greenland Missing Persons series.
The Greenland Crime series has always been a bit darker, a bit bloodier, and in the case of “Monsters” … well, not so nice to be honest.
Prefer your books in Portuguese? Blood Floe can also be read as À Flor das Águas.
Chris