Author
interview Stefan Spjut
Author bio:
Stefan Spjut (b. 1973) has worked as a literary critic and culture editor. His debut novel Fiskarens garn (Fisherman's Yarn)
was published in 2008. He lives in Stockholm and has two children, a
girl and a boy. He holds a black belt in taekwondo and considers himself
a reprobate MMA-junkie.
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Hi
Stefan, welcome over at The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these
few questions for us.
BP: First off, could you tell us a bit more
about who Stefan Spjut is? What are you hobbies, likes and dislikes?
SS: Greetings,
Book Plankers. I started out in journalism, as writers usually do, and evolved
from there, compelled to construct lies. As a person I’m quite docile. I read
and I write and watch movies and that’s what I do. Hang out with my kids. I
like the outdoors, the wind in the firs, birds, and I like fighting, the beauty
of a perfectly executed high elbow gulliotine. I dislike ignorance, the doom of
mankind.
BP: Stallo is your second book, you first
book was Fisherman’s Yarn. When and where did you decide that you wanted to
write stories?
SS: I’ve been
constructing stories all my life and the day I stop will be the day I depart,
or turn into a grinning idiot.
BP: Stallo, which is published this June, is
a supernatural thriller. What gave you the idea behind the story of Stallo?
SS: I’m a
supernatural guy. I mean, I’ve always been into the paranormal. And somebody
had to exploit our folklore.
BP: The supernatural requires some
imagination what inspires you in general?
SS: The Good
Lord’s creation. And watching people. They think they’re rational, but usually
they’re not.
BP: Some other Scandinavian writies use
supernatural beings like trolls in their stories. Do you think the myths have
some truth to it?
SS: All myths
have some truth in them. But maybe that’s a myth too? Do I believe in the
forlorn existence of trolls and such? Sadly, no.
BP: If you would have to sell Stallo with a
single sentence how would it go?
SS: I’m a poor
salesman.
BP: Writing a book is difficult, had you
learned valuable trick from writing Fisherman’s Yarn that you were able to
apply in Stallo?
SS: Writing is
choosing. You have to choose. In the words of Tony Soprano: A wrong decision is
better than indecision.
BP: What has been the hardest or most
trickiest bit when you were writing Stallo?
SS: Since I’m on
the Soprano track here: Don’t stop believin!
BP: Besides the difficult parts of writing,
which chapter, scene or character did you enjoy writing about the most?
SS: The boy.
BP: If you would be given the chance to
pull every book back make one final change would you do it? If yes, which part
and why?
SS: That’s a
nefarious question of some popularity, I’ve seen it in a lot of interviews. I
never engage in that kind of thinking. I’d end up in the loony bin.
BP: Now that Stallo is published, do you have
any other projects that you wish to continue in the near future?
SS: I’m working
on the sequel. And some other stuff. But you can’t really talk about things
like that, unless you’re aiming to jinx it.
BP: Everyone enjoys supernatural fantasy in
their own way, what do you like most about the genre?
SS: Well,
obviously, the absence of limits. Your kitchen window might explode and a
werewolf might stand in your lasagne. It actually might happen. The
supernatural also have the strongest metaphorical potency. Monsters are great
in that respect. Talking about monsters, how we relate to the concept, says a
lot about the nature of human beings.
BP: If you would have to give your top
5 favorite books which would they be?
SS: If I was to
list things that I dislike in modern journalism, listology would be up there.
That being said: here are five great works of fiction: The Divine Comedy by
Dante, The Wolfskin Trilogy by Kerstin Ekman; the Border Trilogy by Cormac
McCarthy and last but not least The Iliad by Homer, the gravity of it gets me
every time, it’s really larger than life. That’s not five books, that’s eight.
I’m either a rebel or a polydactylist.
BP: Can you tell us a bit for what will be in
store in Stallo? What awaits us.
SS: Creeping
suspense, I’d say. And bursts of troll action.
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