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New Perspectives on Nordic Noir

 

 

 

 

 

 

LYS

The Art Of Writing Mystery

The Art Of Writing Mystery

Humans are inherently curious. From searching for “how does something happen” to “when will it happen”, our penchant for mysteries is endless. Mystery and crime fiction speak to our most basic instincts – survival and the thrill of...

Follow that car!

Follow that car!

In books and films, cars can define a story, a character, or be a central part of the plot. When picking a car, the author has decide if it is a major player or just a bit-part. In This Land is no Stranger, the chosen car was both a...

The big question: who was the founder of Nordic Noir?

The big question: who was the founder of Nordic Noir?

A long-read article - settle in. The proliferation of Nordic Noir in the last two decades was made possible by earlier Scandinavian authors who paved the way with bold and challenging stories set against the everyday realities of life,...

Feel the chill: great winters in literature

Feel the chill: great winters in literature

Nothing says bleak like a brutal winter's day. And authors throughout time have used bitter cold as a narrative tool and companion for misery, loneliness, desperation, and death. From war stories to love stories, harsh winters have found...

Travel By Reading Suspense Fiction

Travel By Reading Suspense Fiction

What is required to travel around the world? Tickets, passports, savings, and whatnot.What if we told you there exists a secret passage? One that can fly you to any place that you can think of.  Your dream destination does not even have...

Swedish Breakfast Bingo

Swedish Breakfast Bingo

Here, please enjoy a free download for playing Swedish breakfast bingo. Please share this link with your friends and followers or talk to us on social media. We are @lysandelagom on Twitter and @lys_publishing on Instagram. If you want to...

How To Create A Sustainable Reading Routine 

How To Create A Sustainable Reading Routine 

Before Netflix and TV screens took over, reading was the purest form of entertainment. Now, even many of us bookworms have fallen out of the habit of reading.  Why bother, when there’s a movie on almost all the classics ever written?  But...

A serial killer or just a typical Swede?

A serial killer or just a typical Swede?

Imagine you are a writer, and parallel to drafting your book — a crime novel — you are blogging under the name of the main character. Not to trick anyone, just for the fun of it and to explore your fictional character’s feelings and...

Reading Crime Thrillers During The Pandemic

Reading Crime Thrillers During The Pandemic

Rarely does the world experience something as devastating as the recent global pandemic.  Pandemic’s adverse effects on health and emotions were equitable as they affected everyone around the globe without discrimination. While you can...

Remaking Nordic Noir — is it just the subtitles?

Remaking Nordic Noir — is it just the subtitles?

Nordic Noir has a unique cult following, but why is there such a rush to remake original programming with English speaking actors. Characters from Lisbeth Salander, to Sarah Lund, and Wallander have all been anglicised in some way, but...

Best Upcoming Crime Series of 2021

Best Upcoming Crime Series of 2021

Most people give in to the debate between reading and watching the movie adaptation without realizing there is a middle ground. While a real page turner novel is irreplaceable, an actual series does a great job at bringing the story to...

Best Upcoming Crime Fictions of 2021

Best Upcoming Crime Fictions of 2021

The new year, 2021, brings with it an array of exciting and sensational crime fictions. A portion of what is in stock for the year to come includes: proceedings with a brilliant retro of ladies composing spy fiction, another flood of...

What divorcees in Nordic Noir can teach us about Sweden

What divorcees in Nordic Noir can teach us about Sweden

Divorce in Nordic countries is a reality in both the real and fictional worlds. But are the divorces and divorcees depicted in Nordic Noir a true reflection of the lived reality or an imagined misery to align with the exaggerated grey and...

What Smilla has taught me about snow

What Smilla has taught me about snow

A reader's first foray into a specific literary genre can define their future reading enjoyment and set a benchmark for all novels that follow. The proliferation of Nordic Noir means some readers are picking up defining classics after...

Notes from my Henning Mankell residency in Sveg

Notes from my Henning Mankell residency in Sveg

An author's persona and mystery can add layers to their work that are hard to strip away from the written words on the page. But what happens when a reader comes face to face with their literary icon? Can it inspire beautiful prose or...

Is Sweden as gloomy as Nordic Noir suggests?

Is Sweden as gloomy as Nordic Noir suggests?

Is it really that bad? Are the Nordic countries always cold and are Nordic people always miserable? The conflict between lived reality and the Nordic Noir genre is a hot topic. So, what can fiction really teach us about a culture that is...

Nordic Noir Bingo

Nordic Noir Bingo

Take your next Nordic Noir tv series binge session to the next level with our play at home Bingo card. Tick off all the common doom and gloom elements while trying to decipher the language differences and nuances between the Swedish,...

Why crime thrillers are great first reads in Swedish

Why crime thrillers are great first reads in Swedish

Pick up a Nordic Noir novel to help make the leap to reading in Swedish. You'll already know the basic framework and flow of the story as most crime thrillers follow a similar pattern and you can focus on organically learning new words as...

The big question: who was the founder of Nordic Noir?

The big question: who was the founder of Nordic Noir?

A long-read article - settle in. The proliferation of Nordic Noir in the last two decades was made possible by earlier Scandinavian authors who paved the way with bold and challenging stories set against the everyday realities of life,...

The two flavours of sidearms

The two flavours of sidearms

In the best classic noir novels, firearms can rise to the level of main characters. Given the restrictive laws in many Nordic countries, Scandinavian mystery writers tend to be a little less gun-happy than their American counterparts....

Reindeer Rudolph(ina) or the Majestic Moose

The unwieldy antlers, the mystical presence, the traditional Nordic companion. It could only be a moose. Or a reindeer. Unravelling the truth about both creatures is an exercise in mythical and actual history, pop culture, and lived...

Behind Blue Eyes by CS Duffy

Behind Blue Eyes by CS Duffy

A young English woman, Ellie, moves to Stockholm from London to live with the man she loves, Johan. A Midsummer party in the archipelago sets off a series of unexpected events, and Ellie starts doubting the motives of her boyfriend. In a...

Is it possible to write about a place you’ve never been?

Is it possible to write about a place you’ve never been?

Does an author need to have first-hand experience of the setting for their novel? Clearly not if you write sci-fi, but how about with Nordic Noir? A totally fictionalised location is one thing, but a real place needs to be accurate so...

Missed meals in fiction

Missed meals in fiction

The writing is done, the book is published, the sales are coming in… and so to the questions about the story and the process. Hindsight is a hard task master but one that we bow down to even when we know we’ve done a great job. By Gil...

LYS Crime fiction

Title: This Land is No Stranger: A Nordic Thriller

Authors: Sarah Hollister & Gil Reavill

Language: English 

Publication date: March 3, 2021

Title: Landet: en kriminalroman
Original title: This Land is No Stranger

Authors: Sarah Hollister & Gil Reavill

Language: Swedish 

Publication date: October 15, 2021