Nordic Visions: The Best of Nordic Speculative Fiction

edited by Margrét Helgadóttir; stories by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Maria Haskins, Karin Tidbeck, Kaspar Colling Nielsen, Jakob Drud, Lene Kaaberbøl, Rakel Helmsdal, Johann Thorsson, Tone Almhjell, Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson, Tor Åge Bringsværd, Thore Hansen, Margrét Helgadóttir, Johanna Sinisalo, Hannu Rajaniemi and Emmi Itäranta.
published by Rebellion Publishing (Solaris imprint)
publication date: October 10th, 2023
352 pages

This is a much-needed speculative anthology to cover the holes in the press regarding Scandinavian literature. Some of these authors have made their name known overseas with novels — like Rajaniemi —, but very little is known about other writers of the area. Nordic Visions covers Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and one story from The Faroe Islands; so, it is a pretty general overview of what’s being written over there and even some common motifs between those countries pop up in this book. There are references to their national mythology, to nature and to the relationship between parents and children. Like in all anthologies, some voices cast a shadow over the rest, so for this writer the following stories are the best of the book: In the opener story “She”, John Ajvide Lindqvist sets the tone by not only telling a frightening tale of a “presence” in a couple’s new house, but by also reminding the reader that history has consequences, whether we were there to witness them or not; “Hamraborg Babylon”, by Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson is a nightmarish vision of a traveler among strange and surreal landscape that, while not heavily plotted, it does convey an unnerving mood; similar to this one is “The Abyss” by Rakel Helmsdal, in which, again, an unsettling mood conveys the disorientated journey of a traveler throughout what does sound like a nightmare full of sensorial poetry. And lastly, the fourth-best story in the anthology for me was “Sing” by Karin Tidbeck which is about people of a strange planet who communicate by singing because of the effects of their moons. The protagonist, Aino, is a pariah in this world and when an offworlder visits her, she begins to wonder if she should leave since she’s not well-liked there.

Nordic Visions will prove to be a new first-step entry for anyone who wants to dive into modern Scandinavian speculative short fiction. ~