352 pages
First published Oct 10, 2023 (Rebellion Publishing)
SF.
This was a somewhat uneven collection, but enjoyable on the whole. I was disappointed by the note from the editor about how they were not able to include Indigenous and First Nations peoples (no reasons given), but this anthology includes stories from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. There are ghosts, strange girls, cruel men, absent and magical fathers, endless bars, and the epic Kalevala.
From Sweden: She (John Ajvide Lindqvist, tr. Marlaine Delargy) is the creepiest haunted house story I’ve ever read, with Nazis. Sing (Karin Tidbeck), a love story, was so pretty I could cry. I’ve only ever read short fiction from Tidbeck, and have always been left wanting more. Denmark: The False Fisherman (Kaspar Colling Nielsen, tr. Olivia Lasky) made me laugh so much, because I feel like I’m a false birder, sometimes, collecting all of the accoutrements and never really being the thing. Heather Country (Jakob Drud) was full of rural spookiness and modified humans. I also enjoyed The Traveller Girl (Lene Kaaberbøl), although it didn’t feel all that speculative.
The Abyss (Rakel Helmsdal, tr. Marita Thomsen) is The Faroe Islands’ entry, and is kind of depressing, but reminds me of those stories of staircases into the sky. From Iceland, The Dreamgiver (Johann Thorsson) is a chilling story about the essential work of dreamcatchers. Norway: I wanted so much more of Tone Almhjell’s The Cormorant, because why was the girl’s mother so incredibly dark? It also made me think about dark lands to the North. So did A Lion Roars in Longyearbyen (Margrét Helgadóttir): could lions really survive all the way up there? The assassin was cool, and I loved the ending, too. Finally, from Finland: A Bird Does Not Sing Because It Has An Answer (Johanna Sinisalo) has me listening to birds and wondering what they’re saying to each other.
Collections like this feel like they are an insight into the mythology of an area, and although Margrét Helgadóttir is at pains in the introduction to remind us about the differences between Nordic countries, this collection is so cohesive that it feels like it’s about the commonalities. Well worth reading.
Thank you to Rebellion Publishing and to NetGalley for access.
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Harare Review of Books 
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