Booksigning at Albuquerque Costco Dec. 18

Hi, New Mexico Stieg Larsson fans. I'll be signing books and chatting at the Costco warehouse #116 in NE Albuquerque on Renaissance Blvd. near Home Depot on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 1:00 p.m. They have the 4-book box set for turning your friends and relatives on to Stieg. Hope to see you there!

"Why I Translate" article in Publishers Weekly

I was recently honored by being the first translator ever asked to contribute to the "Why I Write" feature in Publishers Weekly. Read the 500-word article here. I hope it helps improve working conditions for other literary translators.

Happy Halloween! Fallen angels, anyone?

I just finished another translation from Swedish, which will be published in 2011 by Sibling Press in the UK and Australia as Nephilim.

All you vampire fans, try out something new: these fallen angels, one of whom stowed away on Noah's Ark when God was trying to wipe them out with the Flood, then interbred with humans and created a new race that has survived to the present day. The Nephilim look like us, they talk like us, they walk among us! They're trying to fight global warming to stop another flood, and begin by murdering CEOs of the worst carbon dioxide polluters in Sweden. You decide whether they're good or bad.

Åsa Schwarz has written this as a young adult novel, but like the Twilight series, adults can read it as well, and there will be more books coming.

Treat yourself to a new brand of the undead.

Seattleites! Mysteries of translation revealed at Elliott Bay on Sept. 12

(photo from my home office in Seattle, around the time I was translating the 3 Wallander procedurals by Henning Mankell that I did)

Come on down and meet us (Tiina Nunnally and Steven T. Murray) at Elliott Bay Book Co. at 5 p.m. on Sunday, September 12th. We'll be talking about translating Nordic crime fiction and other stuff, and will answer all your questions about Stieg Larsson's books that we know the answers to! Also any other of our many translations. Reg Keeland promises he will show up too.

Camilla Läckberg ties the knot in Stockholm

No photos yet, see Ian Johnson's blog. Camilla Läckberg and Martin Melin look ecstatic, while the guests had to huddle under arbors and white umbrellas amidst rain and lightning. Best wishes to them both from sunny New Mexico!

Library Journal covers Thrillerfest

Here's a link to a good article and comments about the hunt for the "next Stieg Larsson" in Library Journal. I think it's a vain endeavor, because Stieg was definitely an original, but two interesting candidates from Sweden attended Thrillerfest last month in New York. Camilla Läckberg, the reigning leader of the bestseller pack in Sweden and much of Europe, with her blend of grisly murders, small-town police work, and domestic coziness, and Maria Gustafsson, who writes incisive international thrillers informed by her background as an interpreter at high-level conferences. Watch for U.S. releases by both of them!

Off the chain!

This Stieg Larsson thing is going nuts — who knew this would be the "hottest book on the planet"? And how often do you see a book on the cover of EW? Pretty good article, though the main emphasis seems to be on speculation about the casting of the upcoming Hollywood version of TGWTDT.

My vote? Brad Pitt for Blomkvist, old enough yet still a believable babe magnet and an actor with a great range; for Lisbeth Salander, I tend to agree with Roger Ebert that they should just hire Noomi Rapace to do it in English, but I know she's done with that role.

Who will it be? Someone less than 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, and not with a cute round face like some of the possibles being mentioned. Do it right, people, choose an unknown with the right edge!