View from the cliff in Söder — kompakt!

Here's the view from the hill somewhere near Lisbeth's first apartment. Taken around 6 p.m.

Steve & Tiina back from Copenhagen & Stockholm with tons of new books

Yes, if you were wondering where we were, we took a little jaunt courtesy of the Danish Arts Council to the BogForum book fair in Copenhagen, then on to Stockholm courtesy of the fine folks at the Swedish Authors Foundation. Thanks for the support, Denmark and Sweden! (And thanks to Norway too for the translators conference in May.)

Here's Tiina in the rain at the Medborgarplatsen T-bana station in Söder, just around the corner from Lisbeth's old hangout Kvarnen, with the best food in Sweden. The Nordic lands put on their best November weather for us: rain almost every day and a couple of hours of weak sunshine in Copenhagen; in Stockholm it cleared up the morning we left from Arlanda airport. And the darkness at 4 in the afternoon was, as they put it, "kompakt." But we met lots of very nice editors, agents, and authors (some of whom we've been translating for years from afar but had never met). This trip should result in some hot new crime novels for you in the next couple of years, as well as some excellent new mainstream fiction. More info on that when the deals are made.

I'll post more pix as soon as the jet lag calms down a bit. Got to see Billy's Pan Pizza in the 7-11 too, sorry I didn't have a nuker to heat one up in. They're about the size of a paperback book and quite good if you add more stuff on top, according to one Swedish informant.

Stieg cleans up at Bouchercon

Stieg Larsson's first novel picked up 4 awards at Bouchercon in Indianapolis last week. First a Macavity Award for Best First Mystery; then a Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel of 2008 (shown in the pic above – and it didn't have to be British, just published there first). At the Anthony Awards presentation on Saturday it took one for Best Cover Design, then one for Best First Novel. Too bad I couldn't bring any of them back home with me, but at least I got a chance to say a few words to the crowd about Stieg's pro-feminist message in the Millennium trilogy and mention the website devoted to his partner Eva Gabrielsson.

Both fans and crime writers were extremely kind and enthusiastic about Stieg's work, and I received many compliments on a job well done. It was fun to meet so many people who love the books, even though the 3rd one isn't out in the States yet. But booksellers were filling that need with the imported UK edition, and I was persuaded to sign a whole bunch of copies, so if you want one they are available from some vendors specializing in signed first editions of crime fiction on the Web. (UK first editions of TGWTDT were going for $1000 and up, unsigned.)

Both Tiina and I are looking forward to Left Coast Crime in L.A. in March, and next year's Bouchercon in San Francisco. It will be gratifying to return home to the Bay Area with some translation successes to show for all my years away.

Reg and Felicity take Indianapolis by storm

(For an hour, anyway.) Anybody going to Bouchercon? We'll be appearing on a panel moderated by Peter Rozovsky on translating crime fiction. Come and hear the straight dope from the translators of Stieg Larsson, Karin Fossum, Henning Mankell, Mari Jungstedt, Karin Alvtegen, Peter Høeg, Camilla Läckberg, Mikkel Birkegaard, Leif Davidsen, Helene Tursten, Jan Guillou, and Arne Dahl. Thursday the 15th at 10:30 a.m. Hope to see you there!

Maps of Hedeby Island in English available

I'm sorry that the publishers did not include the two maps of Hedeby Island in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They make the plot much easier to follow! So if you want paper copies in English, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: Fjord Press, PO Box 14630, Albuquerque NM 87191. U.S. stamps only, of course. If you're not located in the U.S.A., you can check the postage rates to your country at www.usps.com: click on Calculate Postage, then on Calculate International Postage. Choose your country, click on Letter, and enter 0 pounds, 1 ounce. It looks like airmail postage to most countries is $0.98, so if you don't have stamps just put a dollar bill in with your SASE.

I'll keep sending out maps until it the copying gets too expensive, so please copy them and pass them around to your friends who are Stieg Larsson fans.

Update 28 Nov 2009: The maps are now available for download on a fan site under "Books." Mange tak, Chris!

Models and precursors of Lisbeth Salander?

Photo: Elin Berge

Speculation continues about the women Lisbeth Salander might be modeled on. Here's a pic of Stieg's niece Therese from a Swedish interview. 'It's mostly her stubbornness and her desire to help others that they have in common. But also their looks. Her body is small and her gaze is penetrating. "We could absolutely be friends, Lisbeth Salander and I," says Therese Larsson, the niece of author Stieg Larsson.'

Moving into German bestsellers

Starting the translation of Peter Prange's German bestseller, Die Philosophin, working title The Philosopher's Kiss. Not Swedish crime for a change, but a philosophical and erotic tale of Diderot's mistress and the Encyclopedia crowd...