This photo was taken earlier this year. To the left is dopey-looking me. I don’t usually seem that short, but…Beside me is a tall, thin, blond Swede by the name of John Ajvide Lindqvist. You may remember me raving about his first novel, Let the Right One In (published in the US as Let Me In; published in his native Swedish as Låt den rätte komma in). You can read my review at Amazon UK.
Good news, everyone! His second novel, Handling the Dead (published in Swedish as Hanteringen av odöda) has a release date. Well, for the UK, anyway. 8th May, 2008. Mark it on your calendars, folks - according to Wikipedia, it has zombies, which means that hopefully at least Mark Henry and Carrie Ryan should be interested.
JAL’s short fiction collection, Pappersväggar, hasn’t been translated (or published) into English yet. But I’ll be patient.
And now for the fangirly squeeing. I read a lot of urban fantasy, written originally in English. Let the Right One In stood out in more ways than one.
*It’s set in the 1980s
*The setting is Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm (in Sweden, of course)
*The narrator, Oskar, is a kid
*Håkan is one of the most intriguing and disturbing characters I’ve ever read
And here’s the big clincher:
*Vampirism isn’t glamorous
In English-as-a-first-language urban fantasy, vampires are pretty much desirable (by the love interest, anyway). They’re good to look at, they’re seductive, and you’d pretty much let them bleed you dry.
JAL’s vampires are a lot more believable - they smell. After all, these are dead people we’re talking about. Undead is still somewhat dead, let us not forget.
I loved the book. That’s not to say I don’t like other vampire fiction - Jennifer Armintrout’s “Blood Ties” series immediately springs to mind as a favourite. But I seriously do recommend Let the Right One In to anyone and everyone who’s looking for something truly different and extraordinary.
And now in other news
*I think I’m getting seriously crackers, have no idea what I’m on about most of the time. Don’t know what’s happened to my humour. It’s either subtle to the point that it’s hard to tell if it’s even there, or I’m just plain crackers.
*Have figured out how to pay for things online with my debit card - and used it to buy Vicki Pettersson’s (and others’) Holidays Are Hell 
*I’m revising my Reading Wishlist with new titles and release dates - this could take some time.
*The single version of Gwen Stefani’s “Early Winter” is missing bits that were in the album version. This is annoying. Nevertheless, you can check out the filmclip here.
