My 2009

The last year turned out to be very prolific for me, if not very productive in the sense of actual money. I published at least books, although some of these were small or what you might call pamphlety self-publications, and some of them didn't have the ISBN code on them. However, several major books came out during the last year, including my first novel (sic). Here's a rundown:

Elokuvan lyhyt historia / The Short History of Cinema. BTJ.

Retrovauvat / Retro Babies. With Elina Teerijoki and Ville Hänninen. Ajatus Kirjat. (Actually this was a 2008 book, but it wasn't announced until 2009.)

Historiallisen romaanin taitajia 1 / Historical Novelists 1. With Jukka Halme and Sari Polvinen. BTJ. (Seems like I didn't do anything to promote this... but here's something. In Finnish.)

Päivitysten kirja: 11 kuukautta Facebookissa / The Book of Updates: 11 Months in Facebook. Abraxas (= self-publication).

Outoa huminaa, Joe Novak / It's a Weird Buzz, Joe Novak. Verikoirakirjat (= self-publication).

Bodice Ripper Apart: A Book of Spam Poems. ntamo.

Parhaita Isku-jännityskertomuksia. Edited. Turbator. (Collection of original Finnish crime stories published in my crime fiction fanzine, Isku.)

Reino Helismaa: Henkipattojen kylä / Village of the Outlaws. Edited by me. Suomen Länkkäriseura / The Finnish Western Society.

Veikko Hannuniemi: Suuri jano / The Great Hunger. Edited. Turbator.

Tankki palaa! / Tank Is Burning! Edited. Turbator.

Tuhansien zombien maa / The Land of the Thousand Zombies. Edited. Turbator.

Kaarlo Uskela: Vainovuosilta. Edited. (A collection of stories from during the Finnish Civil War.) Turbator.

The translation of Duane Swierczynski's The Wheelman as Keikkakuski. Arktinen Banaani.

I think there was at least one small leaflet of spam poetry... um, yes, it was called Will Load Patterns. Then there were issues of my fanzines, Isku, Pulp and Ässä, plus two issues of Ruudinsavu, the official magazine of the Finnish Western Society.

Am I forgetting something? Oh, I finished writing a crime/horror novel and did the first round of edits. I edited the YA novel Elina and I wrote already three or four years ago and sent it to a publisher that had showed interest in it. I edited a crime novel that I've written ten years ago and sent it to a publisher who were reading my earlier crime novel manuscript - comments have been promising, only wishing they'd make up their minds. (And by the way, a publisher I'd thought had already vanished from face of the Earth came out saying that they might still be interested in publishing a horror/fantasy novel that I sent them in 2003! There are just some problems with this, more on them later.)

I also edited the Arktinen Banaani's crime paperback series that had five books come out last year: Duane's Keikkakuski, Allan Guthrie's Kiss Her Goodbye as Viimeinen suudelma, Kevin Wignall's Who Is Conrad Hirst? as Kuka on Conrad Hirst?, James Sallis's Drive as Kylmä kyyti and Scott Phillips's The Ice Harvest as Jäätävää satoa. The series hasn't been as successful as we all hoped, but we have some tricks in our sleeves. More on them soon. (If someone's thinking I don't have a life: I didn't do much actual copy-editing with these books.)

I also had my hand in editing Petri Salin's first novel, Toinen nainen/The Other Woman, and it was partly due to me that Elmore Leonard's Valdez Is Coming was published in Finnish for the first time. (I didn't have anything to do with the actual process, except that the translator used my copy of the book!)

There are several book projects on their way, but I'm not sure when they'll come out. I think 2010 won't be as productive as 2009 was. Sad, but there's also the fact that it's a bit of shameful to put out so many books. I can't explain it very well, but it is awkward if someone asks a question: "What are you working on now?" "Umm... there are seven books on their way and I've just proposed a couple of new ones." (Usually I just say that I'm working on a book.)