greenland

Random “Dirty” Sledge Dog of the Month

May 27, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

May is simply the worst month of the year in Greenland. Everything melts. And I mean everything!

So… put your coffee down, finish whatever it is you’re eating, and brace yourself for the next image – no photo, I wouldn’t do that to you!

Imagine the dogs have been doing their business all winter long. And everything they did froze instantly. With each layer of snow it disappeared – instantly. And everyone forgot about it.

Until the month of May when everything came back with a vengeance!

Added to which, even in an area with roughly ten days of rain each year, there was plenty of meltwater, and that water carried everything everywhere.

Yep, you’ve got it now, haven’t you?

So, spare a thought for this little chap. It’s really not his fault.

Chris

The Ice Breaker Quandary – free story!

February 24, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

Here’s the Author’s Note for The Ice Breaker Quandary. I think it accurately describes what you’re letting yourself in for if you read this story.

The Ice Breaker Quandary is a short story featuring Constable Petra Jensen. It fits into the Greenland Missing Persons series, but can be read independently of that series.

You might recognise some additional characters, but this short story also introduces David ‘Dave’ Bennett, and was written as part of a reward for a Kickstarter campaign.

One word of warning… given the nature of this high stakes story, Petra is a little more intense than usual. And if this is your first introduction to Petra, well… Yeah, okay, I’ve got nothing. Good luck!

The Ice Breaker Quandary takes the Greenland Missing Persons series to a whole new level of quirkiness. Normal quirkiness (and a darker tone) will resume in the next book in the series.

Valentine’s Day – four years later!

February 14, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen Leave a Comment

So this is pure indulgence, but before Seven Graves, One Winter, this happened:

“Konstabel Brongaard,” the officer said and stepped forward. “My name is Premierløjtnant Vestergaard. I’m the investigating officer for your case and you are now in my custody,” Vestergaard said and waved the policeman forward. “Cuff her, Maratse.”

Fenna watched the Greenlander as he walked towards her. About the same height as Fenna, he wore the classic Greenlandic look of casual indifference together with a matching swagger. Fenna studied him as he approached. She glanced at Vestergaard and then flicked her eyes back to the policeman. He is Greenlandic. He understands this place. She allowed herself a breath as Bahadur let go of her arm. He might understand me.

This is from Chapter 2 of The Ice Star, and it is Constable David Maratse’s first appearance in any of my books. He was a side character, but things took off from there.

I feel as though we’ve known each other a while now, but he’s still rather aloof, and still not very talkative. Although, every now and again, he has one of his loquacious moments, usually when I’m trying to describe something Greenlandic, and Maratse takes over and talks about it.

Anyway, four years ago on Valentine’s Day 2018 I self-published Seven Graves, One Winter, and the rest is history.

Damn, that sounds cheesy, but it’s true. 🙂

Talking of cheesy romantic stuff… cue silly “Arctic couples” selfie.

Petra lives here!

February 11, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen 2 Comments

Moving south to Nuuk, here’s a photo from February (2013). The apartment block is one of five in a row in Qinngorput, a new (at the time) area in Nuuk across the fjord from the city centre. I took the photo from my balcony in an identical apartment block.

When I needed a place for Petra to live in Nuuk, it made sense to put her in my apartment. So this was her view looking to the right from her balcony.

Chris

The Boreal Tattoo

January 30, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen 2 Comments

This was never meant to happen. What began as a short story has developed some … perhaps a lot. It’s still novella length, but while Petra (no spoilers) is convalescing in her hospital bed in Nuuk, she gets a new assignment.

She’s meant to be in Australia!

Which means The Crocodile Beat has been pushed to number 14* in the Greenland Missing Persons series. Yep, like that’s never happened before! Sigh.

So, The Boreal Tattoo – publishing soon – will be the 13th in the series.

Five years ago…

January 27, 2022 by Christoffer Petersen 7 Comments

I published The Ice Star on January 26th, 2017. It was the first book I published that ever really sold, and it changed everything.

If you’re familiar with my story around writing The Ice Star, you’ll know I was sick of it. I had rewritten the book, from scratch, at least three times. While the lecturers at Falmouth University thought I was on to something, and I achieved a distinction for my work on The Ice Star (graduating in 2015), I was done. My brain was cooked. And, as I’ve mentioned before, I embarked on what I knew would be a successful writing career based on the conviction that The Ice Star would never sell, and Steampunk was the way forward.

Yeah.

That went well.

It took two months on the Yukon River to persuade me to dust off the latest draft of The Ice Star, and I revisited it on a tiny computer in the canteen of an Alaskan ferry crossing Prince William Sound.

I can’t remember how much I wrote on the ferry, but I finished revamping the story (and The Starlighter) before the end of 2016. I self-published in January 2017, and things became interesting after that.

And Maratse arrived, of course.

I often credit Seven Graves, One Winter as my breakthrough book, but really it was The Ice Star. Maratse is in it – his first ever appearance – but it was Konstabel Fenna Brongaard who forged my writing career.

So this post, and the new cover, is basically a thank you to Fenna, and the readers who bought the book and helped me take the next step on my way to becoming an independent author.

Chris