Notes from the Frontline - An Example (Swedish)

Below is an example of what I have been working on. As my search for Science Fiction translated into English begins to slow down and reach completion (at least as close as I can get). I've been pulling entries from my database out into a Microsoft Word document and preparing my manuscript. I've chosen Swedish as my sample entry because it is brief but also high lights some of the features of my work. Where I have had comments about the general publishing trends in a particular language, I have noted them at the top before any entries. Where I am able to categories a collection I have included categories as well as an abstract. When the bibliography is complete I hope to have annotations for all entries as well as categories listed for every novel and as many of the collections and anthologies as possible.

Swedish

Scandinavian genera fiction has garnered significant attention as Steig Larson’s Millennial Trilogy has dominated the best seller list. There are several other well know mystery writer writing in Norwegian and Finnish as well. This attention has not as of yet translated into a publishing boom, however, Scandinavia has a thriving Science Fiction Community. Mikael Niemi, is one example of how Scandinavian authors are encountering Science Fiction and bending its tropes to their own creative will.

Short Fiction Collections and Anthologies

Niemi, Mikael. AstroTruckers (Svålhålet, 2004). Translated by Laurie Thompson. London: Vintage, 2008

Categories: Space Travel, Alien Encounters, First Contact, Virtual Reality, Sprituality, Social Science Fiction, Humorus Science Fiction, The Big Bang


Astrotruckers is a difficult to classify collection of short vinates that examin the impact of space travel and future technologies on the human spirit. The book gyrates from bar humor, to black comedy, to slightly introspective satire as it’s narrator takes us around the cosmos. While some of the stories hav a standard beginning middle and end, some of the vienettes have a post modern construction that leads the reader to some corner of the universe that he never expected themselves to arrive at.

Contents:Farewell to Liviöjoki, The Earth, Ponorers, Vanity Case, Stone, Big Bang, Pause, Emanuel, Ice, The Astrotruckers' Manifesto, The Tangle, The Swill Hole, Stop!, Androids, Rutvik, The Galactose Method, Night Shift, 0.002, Times Last Angle