#Finnish authors

[tuuliareads]

3 viral fantasy books I should read soon

Buying books and reading them are two entirely different hobbies...

Reading books and buying books are two separate hobbies. Before 2023 I counted over 50 unread books in my bookshelf. I made a promise to not buy more books before reading at least some of them, but that only lasted until July, when I was holidaying and ended up in bookstores. Playing bookshelf-tetris upon my return back to my apartment, I was forced to face the truth once again. I’ve bought…

[canisalbus]

hi sorry in advance if this is weird but i couldn't for the life of me figure out who machete was reminding me of and just now i figured it out - surku the dog from the moomins. can't remember enough to tell how accurate that is personality wise but something about the image of a distressed pointy-nosed dog shivering in a coat... plus ne on molemmat ahdistuneita queer ikoneita

I love Surku! Surku must be protected at all costs.

If you ask me, he's even more distressed in the comics.

I keep him on my fridge door as well.

But now that we're on the topic of Moomin characters, I must add that I see Machete in various Fillyjonks a lot. The short story Fillyjonk who believed in disasters is one of my favorite pieces of literature ever, when I first read it it shook me to my core, I still revisit it on yearly basis. For someone who seemed so wild and free spirited by nature, Tove Jansson did remarkable job at catching and depicting the essence of anxiety, uncertainty, vague sadness and irrational fears. At least in my opinion.

[saana-saniainen]

I mainly used TikTok to market my child, but I can't really write too much because of limits and just the format bothering me, so I've turned to Tumblr. I downloaded this app, noticed I had an account already and posted something years ago. I was kind of spooked because I had zero recollection of ever having an account, and the post was cringey as shit.

Anyway! This wonderful little book (240+ pages lol) is a rewrite of two I wrote before. I started writing the first book last year when my gap year started. Thanks to almost zero shifts from my employer back then, I started writing. I got too excited and self-published it. I wrote a continuation of it, then back in March of this year, days before the release date of the second book, I realized both of them were shite. I decided to rewrite them into one book what is now Aftershock. I left the two others to float around the internet because I can (too lazy actually).

I wanted the rewrite to actually have meaning because the first two were written just out of boredom. In the beginning of this year, I read American Psycho. It was a good book, I liked it, but the very brutal violence against women bothered me. I love thriller, crime, and horror books/movies, and in most cases the victims were women. So, I wanted to flip that around and try to break the pattern of female characters getting that treatment. Mariana, the MAIN main character, of my book was used as that character. She's a little bit of everything: weird, violent, comedic, compulsive, kind, thoughtful, and remorseful.

Another thing I wanted was to explore a friendship between a woman and man. Mariana and Aloisio, the other main character, and they have this sibling-like relationship. I rarely see female-male friendships in media that don't end up in some kind of romance. I also wrote these characters as the MCs because I created these two over five years ago, and felt like they needed to see the light of day. :p

Last thing!! I needed to make the list longer for aroace characters. Yes, Mariana is aroace. Her experience and identity is based on mine. I basically used her as a tool to figure out my own identity.

That's it. I really appreciate it if you took an interest in my book or at least read this. Aftershock is available as an e-book and as a physical copy. I get like 33 cents off physical copies which is pretty funny and I just had to let everyone know.

[fitzrove]

Reblogging that polar exploration post accidentally introduced me to a Finnish todolf poem xD Original Swedish & someone's German translation under the cut

Hjertats morgon (SE)

Mörker rådde i mitt sinne,

Kallt mitt arma hjerta kändes,

Innan kärleken der inne

Af en vänlig ängel tändes.

Ser du solen efter natten

Strålande på fästet tåga,

Dimmor skingras, land och vatten

I ett helgon skimmer låga.

Ser du bilden af mitt hjerta:

Så dess första morgon grydde,

Så med fruktan, tomhet, smärta

Skuggan från dess verldar flydde.

Sol, som lifvets natt förjagar,

Kärlek, om ett bröst du glömmer,

Hvartill dessa mulna dagar,

Som man utan dig fördrömmer.

Dessa dagar evigt like,

Dessa hopplöst långa stunder,

Detta lif i dödens rike

Utan ljus och utan under.

Des Herzens Morgen

Finsternis in meinen Sinnen,

kalt mein armes Herz ich fühlte,

bis ein Engel, bis nach innen,

es mit Liebeswärme füllte.

Siehst du nach der Nacht die Sonnen-

strahlen durch die Festung fliegen,

Land und Wasser wie versonnen

unter goldnem Schimmer liegen.

Sieh das Bild in meinem Herzen:

So sein erster Morgen graute,

so, mit Furcht, mit Leere, Schmerzen,

Schatten sich nicht zeigen traute.

Lebensdunkel flieht die Sonne,

Liebe kann ein Herz versäumen,

Wolkentage ohne Wonne

muss ich ohne dich verträumen.

Diese Tage, immer gleiche,

diese endlos langen Stunden,

Leben in des Todes Reiche,

ohne Licht und ohne Wunder!

© Willi Grigor, 2016,

aus dem Schwedischen

[finn-is-in-the-house]

i was on call w my friend when i saw this on my desk and i tweaked SO HARD

she said it was cute but i js sounded pathetic ngl

[bookcoversaroundtheworld]

The Fifth Season - Finland

This is the way the world ends. Again.

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

[samanthakgarner]

Historical inspiration for my fantasy novel: Early Finns, Sámi, and “unnatural” magic

Seeker of the Lost Song, my latest completed novel, is historically-inspired fantasy merging medieval Finnish & pre-colonial Filipino elements. Some key historical inspirations for the novel are the Swedish rule of Finland, and the Scandinavian belief that early Finns and Sámi practiced unnatural magic.

In the years I spent writing this novel, I changed the setting twice. But I soon found myself stuck. During a conversation with a friend I started telling her about a vague “historical fiction in Finland” idea I’d had for a long time. The more we talked about ideas and inspirations, the more home it felt. The more urgently I wanted to be there instead. And so we said – why not just do it?

Could I really fold the historical Finland idea into my novel? It seemed like a perfect fit. Early Scandinavians thought Finns and Sámi were forest weirdos who practiced unnatural magic. Firsthand accounts by/about Finns were scarce to nonexistent, both before and during the Swedish rule of Finland. And I’d always felt that the Finnish story was missing in the Viking/Norse saturation of books, video games, movies, and TV (woe betide the poor soul who inadvertently gets me talking about how Finns are Nordic but technically not Norse/Scandinavian). BUT. ANOTHER new setting?! I’d spent so long working on this book. I just wanted to write it.

I wrote about this a bit more on my blog, and - spoiler alert - changing the setting again was a good idea!

___⁠

Photo © Samantha Garner, 2024.

[abwwia]

Tove Jansson

Tove Marika Jansson (9 August 1914 – 27 June 2001) was a Swedish-speaking Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author.

Jansson wrote the Moomin books for children, starting in 1945. Via Wikipedia

palianshow.wordpress.com/2024/01/28/tove-jansson

#ToveMarikaJansson #ToveJansson #Swedish #swedishspeaking #Finnish #author #novelist #painter #illustrator #Moomin #artherstory #womensart #palianshow #artbywomen #contemporaryart #contemporary #art #femaleartist

[neuvostoliitto]

i have 3 months to do 3 exams of sociology but im already falling behind my schedule bcuz the books for the first one are boring

[tuuliareads]

Books completed in January 2024

Reading year 2024 has started strong, with 7 completed books in January. I regularly read only about four books a month, so anything beyond that is a feat! I am positively surprised, and can only hope it means the rest of my reading year will be great. Most of my books were in Finnish. Some were translations, some original. Six books out of seven were physical books from my own collection, one…

[evelhak]

📚

Since some people have evidently found my books through Tumblr despite of me not being very active on the Finnish side of it, I thought: why shouldn't I post about my books? It doesn't matter they are not available in English (yet, anyway) because I would be curious enough to read about stuff my mutuals do even if I couldn't read the actual material.

So, I plan to make a post about every book I write, do cover art for, or am otherwise involved with. Best case scenario is someone finds something new to read, worst case scenario is someone is bored.

This time, I'll introduce you to my debut novel:

☁️ Unitytöt ☁️

(dream girls)

Published: 2021 by Nysalor

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Slice of Life, LGBT+

Certainly not the first book that I wrote but this is my first published novel and my first cover project. ✨ I wrote this book in 2017 when I was about to graduate university, trying to juggle a full-time job as a mail carrier, nearly daily ballet training and writing both my original work and fanfiction which I also started doing the same year. The schedule turned out to be too much for my autistic brain and physical conditions. Regardless, I'm so happy I wrote this book!

It's a story about a technically bodiless creature, Venna, and a human, Aiju. Venna's species lives in people's heads or musical instruments because they need music to live. Venna is an outcast, and has been living in a wind chime to avoid people and their overwhelming array of feelings, which Venna's kind experiences directly in the human brain they are living in. Circumstances force Venna to move into the head of a young woman, Aiju, who is starting her studies at a temple (=a magic university). Unlike Venna's previous humans, Aiju can hear and feel Venna and is curious for, rather than scared of a new friend in her head. Aiju is also able to control and create elaborate dreamworlds where she and Venna can meet in their own separate forms. The two begin to live their life together, studying, enjoying music, maybe even falling in love when an older student is intrigued by Aiju's peculiar behaviour. It's a story about sharing a body and partially a mind, about merging, sense of self, neurodiversity and particularly sensitivity, and also abuse and healing. It's a slow love story, a fantastical exploration of the subconscious, a fantasy focused on characters and dreams that also touches on the larger context of the universe and existence.

I wrote this book because I had read many body sharing stories and was dissatisfied with the lack of portrayal of the ordinary every day experiences that would come with it, as well as I was with the ease with which body shifting creatures always seem to adapt to their new circumstances. I wanted to see more of the reality. I wrote this book because I had briefly introduced and later edited out a music eating demon in another fantasy story of mine, who possessed a girl and made her dance in a tavern until she fainted. I was curious what a story about a similar but gentle creature would be like. I wrote this book because themes of merging and separating your sense of self were relevant to me and I wanted to explore them through a fantastical world but also reality based concepts.

I was so much more nervous about the cover project than I was about actually publishing the story. I had zero experience apart from my personal cover doodles, no graphic design studies, and had only recently started learning Photoshop. Thankfully I'm still pretty happy with the cover, although there are technical details I would do differently. The most glaringly obvious one is the ginormous bar code. It was hard to tell how big it would actually look and my publisher had warned me not to make it too small, so I overdid it. My publisher is small so there are no resources to make test copies of the books, and it's due to the smallness of my publisher that I even had the opportunity to design the cover myself despite having no experience, just some visual skills.

I still like the cover art itself, the only problem which I did suspect back then too, is that in an attempt to make the cover dreamlike, it turned out a bit like children's literature. I was the only one who was worried about it, but in some libraries people have clearly thought this is aimed at 12-year-olds. I'm sure some of them would enjoy this, but it's a bit off. A lot of people have told me not to underestimate children, but it's not that I'm doing that, I'm simply aware that this book is not written in a way nor does it contain themes or life events that are relevant to very young people. It's a very psychological story and its issues are the most relevant to people in their late teens and early twenties. It's not that there's anything in this book that a 12-year-old couldn't handle, it's just going to be boring for most of them because it would be a lot to ask from a child's attention span to be interested in stuff they can't relate to for 400 pages. Even if many 12-year-olds still like to read about characters older than them, characters they can look up to, this book is written with people in mind who can relate to 20-year-olds. Of course there are exceptions. I probably would have loved this book as a 12-year-old. But I'm sure 90% of my peers would not have cared enough to finish it.

The cover seems to have done some of its job well too, because I know some people (adults) bought this book because they thought the cover was pretty, so that's good at least. Most of the feedback I've received has been really positive, the book seems to have found some of the readers it was clearly meant for. Some relevant criticism has also come my way and I believe I've learned some things since writing this book. The only really negative review I came across so far contained so many factual errors that it seemed the reviewer had been too busy to actually process the book. From that perspective it seems like the cover has also worked well enough to draw mostly the intended people towards the book.

The most memorable experience in its publication process was probably how it was chosen for an interview at the biggest national book fair by high school presentation/communication students who hold interviews on one of the stages there every year. It was such a good interview because the two students interviewing me clearly loved the book, related to it, and were excited to talk about it with me, and asked really thoughtful questions. I couldn't imagine a better first interview as an author. It was also the day the book officially came out. It was also my first time at that book fair (I don't often visit the capital) and I was the first author from my publisher to land an interview there, so I was really very nervous at first. I was unfortunately a COVID debut author so this was the only place I was able to present my book physically that year, which obviously affected its already marginal distribution. But it was such a lovely event for me that it is the more memorable for it.

I wish this book would find more readers who love dreamy, character driven and fairytale-esque fantasy. It's not without plot, mystery, or danger, but it's definitely not the best pick for someone who needs an epic, fast paced and world-shaking chain of events from their reading experience. This is for the other sensitive dreamers out there who just love to drown in characters, experiences and subtle magic, and would rather stop to contemplate it than to rush forward at all times.

[rosetta-j-stone]

Me: <is off to Sweden this weekend to see a Finnish artist>

ALSO ME: <has a Serbian song stuck in her head and may or may not be trying to work out ways to express certain umazane misli in Slovenian>

Me: Ooh this is so Joker Out Nordic Tour coded

[faybellesbeauty]

working on my book rn and just. doing an eah character insert every single chance possible the mc's hometown mayor is called Snow-Apple (makes more sense in the story)

[theshatterednotes]

Finland-Swede poet and author Stella Parland

[fiera-writes]

I... Kinda wanna write a fic I've been mulling over in my head for a while now. But also I'm very not caught up with Detective Conan rn to do it.

How do I solve this dilemma