Friday, November 11, 2011

Working my ass off

I did recently a post about books I've had a hand in and that have appeared within this Fall. I mentioned therein some of the books that are still going to be published before Christmas. I seem to have forgotten some, so here goes again:

A collection of early Finnish horror stories (for Faros). This includes some dozen horror stories, mainly from the 19th century, but also some from the early 20th century, from such writers as Aleksis Kivi, Jaakko Juteini, Zacharias Topelius, Larin-Kyösti and Kyösti Wilkuna (he has four stories in this!). This was a fun book to do, even though the process has been long - I talked about this with the publisher already two (or maybe even three) years ago. This will come out as a small paperback under the title Hallusinatsioneja (Hallucinations; the title of a story by Wilkuna).

A book that compiles two long serials by the all-time great Finnish pulp writer, Marton Taiga (real name: Martti Löfberg; the link is in English, so take a look). The both stories are from the thirties and they are about time-travelling and take place in the antique world. One of the stories, Viiden minuutin ikuisuus (The Five-Minute Eternity) was published as a book in 1945, but the other one, "Osiriksen sormus" ("The Ring of Osiris"), has never been published in a book form. This includes also my foreword; comes out from Turbator. This has a cover illo by the great Anssi Rauhala, but I haven't actually seen that one yet.

I also edited a collection of erotic stories, the theme being sadomasochistic sex. (See the picture.) The book's title translates as The Agony and the Ecstacy. I grabbed the idea, when the publisher (Turbator, once again) threw a joke in the air: "If the regular erotica doesn't sell, we have to do a book about sadomasochism!" From this joke I think I developed a pretty good line-up, with some startlingly erotic stories (especially one by Essi Tammimaa, who's a revered novelist in her own right) and even some pretty deep ones, like the historical one by Jukka Laajarinne, who's been gaining fame as a novelist who's not afraid to try something new. There's also a story by one Mikael X. Messi, but you'll have to dig deeper if you want to know who that is. (Insert smiley here.) The striking cover is done by Tendril, who also has a story in this. See this link for more pictures; not safe for work!

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