Spent yesterday afternoon well listening to readings from and speculations on new Icelandic speculative fiction - or 'furðusögur' as the current phrase goes. Part of the discussion revolves around the way to translate various trade terms and how to approach coining various terms in Icelandic. All the works had a sort of teenage / young adult focus and these are (with one exception) young authors steeped in the genres of fantasy and sf. I was very much impressed and only slightly annoyed by the fact that there was no coffee to be had ..... in no particular order I 'll tell you about what I saw and heard - I'm confident some of these guys will go far:
Hildur Knútsdóttir (renowned for her extremely interesting take on the fashion world in Iceland) read from her new novel 'the Prophecy' (Spádómurinn). She said she had always loved fantasy and other speculative fiction, but been annoyed how it seemed to be possible to change everything except gender roles in such works. Therefore she wrote a book where all the characters are female, except for one fish. This books sounded like a really weird and wonderful piece and I look forward to reading it / reading it to my daughter. Be warned that Knútsdóttir is a feminist.
Gunnar Theódór Eggertsson read from his new novel 'The Stone Freaks' (Steinskrípin). He is a very interesting guy, with a passion for animal rights. Anyway this is a dystopian future novel where the world has literally turned to stone and weird, vaguely Lovecraftian, monsters roam the earth. I really loved the passages he read and describing familiar streets in Reykjavík in this very weird state gave me the chills.... a book I really look forward to reading!
Kjartan Yngvi Björnsson & Snæbjörn Brynjarson read from their novel 'Raven-eye' (Hrafnsauga). I enjoyed this, but it was a bit confusing because I missed their intro. This is a classic high-fantasy work, complete with a map and everything, and is the winner of this years award for children's fiction. I had a few words with the authors and this is an interesting book - and they envision as a series - definitely something worth following!
Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir was the most senior author to address the gathering. She gave a lively talk on how reality and fantasy are interrelated and how speculative fiction has not gained status in the literary world and is looked down upon still today. She apparantly is the mother of Kjartan Yngvi Björnsson and if I understood her correctly his reading of fantasy led to her reading and eventually writing fantasy! A lively and inspiring talk
Emil Hjörvar Petersen author of Saga Eftirlifenda and Heljarþröm (hard to translate.... ), the first two in a trilogy where characters from the Norse Pantheon act out the last parts of their saga in modern and future times, gave a talk on how Norse mythology (and mutatis mutandis mythology in general) influences fantasy and speculative fiction. Neil Gaiman is his all time hero (confirmed from the podium and when I chatted with him) and he had some interesting examples and concepts to tackle this important issue.
I have to say that this project was ambitious and I feel that there is a lot of promise in these writers - not least because of how varied they are. The plan is to repeat this event in one year and maybe, maybe, I'll say something about how philosophy and speculative fiction are intertwined .... in my opinion fantasy and sf are the most important vehicles for critical and imaginative reflection on life, the universe and everything.....
