 Award winning author of more than twenty five books, the majority of which are horror and thrillers. Nicknamed the danish king of horror. His work has been filmed, ‘Kat’ (2001) and ‘Finale’ (2018), made into radio plays and translated into English, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish. ‘Finale’ is his fifth novel published in English. Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourself? I am a Danish writer. 50 years old, living in Copenhagen with my wife and two teenage sons. My debut was back in 1995. I was able to quit my job the next year and have been making a living as a writer ever since. Some years ago I had four of my thriller noir novels published in English, however now I feel it’s time to get some of my darker, grittier, gorier, creepier and scarier books out there in English as well. What do you like to do when you're not writing? I like to travel. Go and see the world. Living in a cold and rainy place, I do prefer to visit sunnier climates. My travels seem to inspire some of my work along the way. Other than the horror genre, what else has been a major influence on your writing? Old noir stuff like Horace McCoy or Ira Levin — who despite his brilliant novel ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ really wasn’t a horror writer. The indie rock scene has also been an important influence, at least when I was younger. The term horror, especially when applied to fiction always carries such heavy connotations. What’s your feeling on the term “horror” and what do you think we can do to break past these assumptions? I am not sure we should try to break them. I understand that most of them are misunderstood and often negative, still, some of the genre’s strength comes from being unaccepted and frown upon. In my view, horror (like comedy) needs to be somewhat taboo-breaking or at least up there challenging good taste and the norms of society to really work. It can’t be safe and polite. A lot of good horror movements have arisen as a direct result of the socio/political climate, considering the current state of the world where do you see horror going in the next few years? Horror has been around for centuries, always changing, always dividing, always exploring new medias as well as going back and picking up old forgotten sub genres. Looking at the world today, with Trump being what he is, the EU dismantling old European states and democracies, anger and despair seeming to build everywhere, so much tension, so many people feeling powerless and abandoned by their leaders, one would think there were plenty to inspire for any kinds of movements, horror or not, and I both long for it to happen and fear it as well. The world is at a very scary place these years, I think. However, I do see, artists and writers try to play into this field, I just don’t see them finding common ground there. You could say that the never-ending row of superhero-movies are playing into the field of people feeling powerless and abandoned. But only to feed on it, not aiming for change. I haven’t got a clue where horror will be going or if it will challenge the state of the world. I don’t see it happening within the established scene as its all about the money but then again there has always been a strong indie scene for horror and what ever we will see coming in the future, it has to come from the more daring independent producers or publishers. What are the books and films that helped to define you as an author? Too many to mention. And at the same time, I feel a need to redefine myself over and over again. I have been doing this for a long time. Still, Stephen King’s ‘Pet Semartary’, Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’, Jack Ketchum’s ‘The Girl Next Door’, Ira Levin’s ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, Richard Laymon’s ‘The Woods Are Dark’, and movies like ‘Jaws’, ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘The Orphange’, ‘Psycho’, ‘Seven’ and many many others. What new and upcoming authors do you think we should take notice off? The Danish writer Michael Kamp has just released a few books in English, I believe. He’s something special. Not many authors manage to be both funny and scary at the same point but he does. Check him out. How would you describe your writing style? Short and effective, I guess. Minimalistic and cinematic. Scary and heartfelt. Are there any reviews of your work, positive or negative that have stayed with you? Oh my, the first one. It was February the 14th 1995. I had actually forgotten that this was my big day. The day of my debut. I went to work as usual but getting there I was told that there was a review in Politiken (a large Danish newspaper, considered the most important paper when it came to literature in Denmark) and my debut was ripped to pieces. Reading that, I understood that I was a failure and my book rubbish. I would never make it. A few hours later, however, my editor called and told me that there were several reviews in other papers praising the book and my debut. The book was later filmed and ended up as the beginning of a long and productive career. But I will never forget that first review. What aspects of writing do you find the most difficult? Being an introvert, like many writers are, the publicity of the business is not my favorite part. I do it. I have to. And for the most part it is fun and everything but it’s by far the most difficult part of my life. Being out there, being the center of attention. Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? Never is a dangerous word. Ten years ago, I would have sworn that I’d never do torture horror (some say torture porn — but porn and horror aim differently so I can’t use that word about a horror sub-genre). Then suddenly, I got this idea about two young women working at a isolated gas station being set up by an online snuff show, and I wouldn’t have anything to do with that idea, until I had to face it: It was no longer something I’d never do, it had become a challenge. Did I dare to? So, I wrote it, and it was awarded Best Danish Horror Novel of the Year, an upcoming film is based upon the novel and it has just been published in English and German. The latter by the Random House imprint Heyne Verlag. So today, I don’t think there’s much I’d say I’d never write about. It all comes down to having the right idea, the right angle at the subject, and then it’s all art. How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning? Names are tricky. I tend to forget names. Both in real life and when I write. At the same time I can spend hours, sometimes days, searching for the right name for a given character. I have even used Google Translate to create strange-sounding names. I can get desperate like that. Writing, is not a static process, how have you developed as a writer over the years? Getting older, becoming a father, a husband, experiencing life, love, death, becoming more mature, evolving as we all do in life, have changed what I write and how I write it and even how I see myself as a writer. The me of the 90s couldn’t write the books, I write today, however the me of today can’t write the books I did back then, either. I have become more self-confident over the years, more focussed and more disciplined. I get up in the morning, I write. I do not debate a lot, I do not waste a lot of time arguing or trying to explain myself or my work. I do my shit, knowing some will hate, some will love it, but as long as I know I do my best, and I always do, then it’s really out of my hands. What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers? Imagination. What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing? ‘Work gives work’. It wasn't an advice anyone gave me. In fact I believe it was an advice I read somewhere a long time ago that the actor Jane Fonda had gotten from her dad, going into the film industry. It goes for writers as well. New opportunities arise from the stuff you’ve already done, not from the shit you never finished. So finish it and move on. Getting your work noticed is one of the hardest things for a writer to achieve, how have you tried to approach this subject? I have tried almost every approach you can think of. As I said earlier, I have been doing this a long time. I am not sure about what have worked and what haven’t. It’s hard to tell. It’s very rare that you do something and then bang! your books sell like crazy. On the other hand, miracles do happen, and books tend to have a life of their own once they are out there and I’m not sure that any of the luck I’ve had along the way was due to anything I did, other than writing the book in the first place. I always try to do something. To reach out to my readers, new and old. I try to be honest and friendly. But you’ll never know. I guess, my approach today is to keep on going, never give up. At lot of it is about timing. At some points in your career you can do all the right things without any effect at all and then when the right momentum arrives you can’t do much wrong it just all comes around. To many writers, the characters they write become like children, who is your favourite child, and who is your least favourite to write for and why? That’s a tough question. I been thinking about it for more than a day now. It’s hard to pick, impossible actually, so I going to cheat and choose some of the characters from my new book in English ‘Finale’ as, to be honest, that’s the book I’m here to talk about. I could easily have chosen characters from most of my other books. But here you go: I will choose the two leading characters in ‘Finale’, Agnes and Belinda, as my favorite characters. Not one of them, but both of them, because what I really enjoyed about them was playing them up against one another. Agnes is a student at the university. She’s a caring intellectual, well-meaning and good-mannered. Belinda is the opposite. She’s a few years younger, up for trouble, uneducated and reckless. They don’t get along but they have to. In the beginning only in order to work the nightshift a the gas station but later on, when the night turns into the most terrifying nightmare, they have to overcome their differences in order to survive. They have to evolve and fast. The one character from the book that I favor the least must be Belinda’s lowlife boyfriend, Christoffer. He’s an immature and selfish thug, using Belinda without any concern for her well-being at all. I guess, maybe, some day he’ll become more mature and change his ways but at this point in his life where we meet him in this story, he’s just bad news. What piece of your own work are you most proud of? At tough question again. But I guess, I’ll go with the novel ‘Ø’ or in English ‘Island’. It’s not out in English yet but it’s been translated and will be published in English in 2019, I hope. And are there any that you would like to forget about? There are a few of my early novels, written by a much younger me, that I’m not sure I’ll ever publish in English. I can say that much. Still, there are readers that love them so maybe I should just shut up and accept that a younger me did his best back then? For those who haven’t read any of your books, which of your books do you think best represents your work and why? Maybe ‘The Whispering of the Flies’, to be published in English later this year (2018). It’s a mix of thriller and supernatural horror which seem to be my playground. It’s the younger me at his best, I guess. Or maybe I should choose ‘Island’ that I mentioned before as this novel may be the older me at my best. I don’t know. Do you have a favorite line or passage from your work, and would you like to share it with us? Maybe the first line from the noir thriller ‘In the Shadow of Sadd’. Published in English a few years ago. “There is always a unique atmosphere in the car when you drive through the City with a dead body in the back.” I like it as an opening line. It kind of captures both genre, location and the dark humor of the book in one sentence. As a reader, I have a weakness for great opening lines. They are harder to do than you’d think. Can you tell us about your last book, and can you tell us about what you are working on next? I keep my work in Danish out of this and focus on my English books. My new book is called ‘Finale’. It’s the novel behind the upcoming terrifying Danish motion picture of the same name. It’s a short novel, some may call it a novella, in the tradition of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘Hostel’ and ‘Saw’. Belinda and Agnes are working the nightshift at the gas station by the highway. It’s a big night as Denmark is playing the world cup finale and everybody will sitting at home watching the game. So, the two women expect very few costumers. But no costumers means no witnesses. They have been chosen for a totally different show. If everything goes as planned, I will publish my next book in English later this year as I mentioned before. It’s called ‘The Whispering of the Flies’. It’s something like ‘Seven’ meets ‘Sinister’. This supernatural thriller novel takes you around some of Copenhagen’s best known sites as its demonic tale unfolds. It’s the summer of 1999. During a seemingly never-ending heatwave, Copenhagen has seen a tremendous rise in the numbers of flies in the city. Two police detectives are working a strange case, the victims killed in the most gruesome and unimaginable ways. They soon come to realize, this isn’t the work of a serial killer. This is much worse. If you could erase one horror cliché what would be your choice? The part where someone sees something bad and pukes. I get it, I can’t stand the sight of blood myself, I once fainted at the veterinarian but still. Stop it. Get over it. It becomes mechanical—like oh look blood, somebody has to get sick or else the audience wont understand that this is really gory. I mean, hey, I want books or movies to make me feel something, I don’t want to sit and watch the characters feel something. It’s like watching a comedian laughing of his own jokes. What was the last great book you read, and what was the last book that disappointed you? The last great book must be ‘Stillhouse Lake’ by Rachel Caine. It’s a thriller, not horror, but it’s a great read. I hate to give thumbs down to other writer’s work. That’s not my job. What's the one question you wish you would get asked but never do? And what would be the answer? Can I please give you a million dollars? The answer would be: Hell, yeah. CLICK HERE FOR AN EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT FROM FINALE FILM REVIEW: #SCREAMERS
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