Once Upon A Time In Scandinavistan!
On top-ten sales lists! Best position so far #3!
Praise for the novel:
Zac O’Yeah, who seems to possess unerring comic pitch as well as a sharp social vision, pulls off a charming conceit In Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan. Pankaj Mishra, author of “Temptations of the West”
Who knew that the ultimate manifestation of ‘Swadeshi’ would be ‘Swedishi’? Zac O’Yeah’s detective novel, set in a Sweden taken over by India, shows us why and how. In giving us a comic and suspenseful story that reimagines the relationship between east and west in utterly new terms, Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan hustles its way onto the small shelf occupied by such counterfactual classics as Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle and Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. Siddhartha Deb, author of “The Point of Return”
Uncanny, and original, and always funny. At first glance, Zac O’Yeah’s new novel seems to be about Stieg Larsson coming to India. But then you spot other clues. This thriller isn’t even about Europe being colonized by Indians. This is a sly, remarkable book about the death of the present, and the future that is already here. Amitava Kumar, author of “Home Products”
And as the pages keep turning, it becomes clear to the reader that the social narrative of the city is as important to the tale as the solution of the crime itself. O'Yeah's first work of fiction is a brilliant English debut. It plays on the sensibilities of the reader, making sure he or she blinks hard while reading about this strange world.
The Kathmandu Post
WHAT would happen if Stieg Larsson came to India, wandered into a nondescript town in the middle of the cowbelt, started to abuse controlled substances, and then proceeded to write a crime novel? You might, just possibly, get a book like Once Upon A Time in Scandinavistan. Or possibly not. Because Zac OYeah is that rara avis in the world of crime fiction, a genuine original.
The Mail Today
Though likely to be compared with Nordic noir such as the work of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell, this is closer in its antic spirit to the environmental thrillers of Carl Hiaasen, with his deranged characters running amok over Florida swamplands. Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan, then, is audacious in conception and has much brio in narration.The Sunday Guardian
The language is so precise that he is able to keep his kaleidoscope of cultural allusions from getting too intricate. To establish Gautampuri in all of its contours, he gives us electrifying nomenclature of Jasper Fforde quality… --- O'Yeah makes an important revision to the stark hard-boiled story by creating an oddly loveable protagonist, who falls so swiftly and trustingly in love with the ex-Miss Bihar Kumkum, you want to cheer. Consider Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan a real-time personal reading laboratory to observe the joys of genre fiction: it is not culturally offkey, so we nod in recognition, but it is suitably inauthentic, so we are not bored.
Tehelka Magazine
I'm
usually reluctant to compile year-end lists of my favourite reads, but if I had
to list my favourite fictional characters from 2010, Herman Barsk - the detective protagonist of Zac O'Yeah's Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan -
would be near the top. Barsk is the antithesis of the "hardboiled",
charismatically world-weary noir hero. --- To my mind, O'Yeah's book is a
winner not so much because of its unusual fantasy premise (a future Europe
colonised by India!)
but because it is anchored by this endearing and ungallant hero.
Jai Arjun Singh's 'Wordsmith' column
In short, there is nothing remotely dashing or heroic about
Barsk. He isn’t even the sort of character who is sometimes referred to as a
“little hero” – the Frodo Baggins-like underdog who triumphs against the odds.
The few times he does come good, it feels more like an accident of karma than
anything he might reasonably be credited for. Of course, his actions and responses
are defined by the chaos that continually unfolds around him, and the narrative
is full of passages of inspired absurdity…
BIBLIO Book Review Journal
Finnish born. Swedish native. Indian soul. Wondrously wacky
writer. Zac O'Yeah is out with another outrageous crime-fiction thriller, Once
Upon A Time in Scandinavistan, that's filled with bizarre adventures, weird
characters and twisted scenarios. --- In his latest work, Gothenburg is
Gautampuri and Sweden
is reduced to a grubby region colonised by India,
run by the Indian Administrative Service. It only gets better from there...
Mid-Day Newspaper
The narrative, from the discovery of the cannibalistic
murders to the solving of the crime, spans one week, and involves an intricate
network of spies, government servants, film makers, anarchists, reporters, and
prostitutes. --- Once Upon A Time In Scandavistan is funny and irreverent
despite its vile and stomach-churning descriptions of the murders. It is also a
horrifying and ghastly tale as it discusses the possible ecological disaster
that awaits Earth, if some preventive measures are not taken immediately. ---
Zac is Swedish but is now based in India.
He is obviously very comfortable with both landscapes, especially culturally
and linguistically. It is wonderful to read the ease with which he oscillates
between the two cultures…
Daily News & Analysis, DNA newspaper
The novel is a violent satire of the supposedly global society of the twenty-first century. It’s also a crime thriller that looks at the complicated way in which history is remembered, and how identity and racism can be mistaken for one another. The Mumbai Boss
If you were drawing up a map of crime fiction, the bleak, snow-bitten landscape of Sweden would have to be on it, as much as John Rebus’s sour Edinburgh or 221B Baker Street. Here, a girl with a dragon tattoo kicks hornet’s nests and killers into submission, and detective Kurt Wallander battles his personal demons as he investigates another murder in Ystad. Zac O’Yeah’s Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan reconfigures this geography with audacity. The Indian Express
This book is subtitled “A crime novel”, but few which claim
the name achieve all its resonances. Most such books do less than they aver;
this is one of the few I have read which does more than it claims without, in
fact, fulfilling all the tenets of a crime novel. --- All the characters in O’Yeah’s
book are weird, but these are weird times and they’ll get weirder as we go
along. --- Barsk is not a good detective – his doctor tells him his systolic
blood pressure is higher than his IQ – but things happen to him, and he happens
to things. His love affair with Kumkum is beautifully written, as is his
discovery of the corpses – not just cooked in a tandoori oven, but marinated as
well, with what Dr. Chatterjee at the morgue says are “South Asian spices”. The
best things about this book are O'Yeah's throwaway lines, which are there in
plenty… --- O'Yeah's characterisations are brilliant… his wit is sufficient to
enliven a dull day. The Hindu Literary Review
This isn’t your typical whodunit that has you biting your nails wondering whodunit as it slowly and cosily unravels clue by clue. --- At the risk of forever being put off your Tandoori chicken, do have a read. Reading Hour Magazine
…wit, style and that wonderful, cinematic obsession with
detail you’ve been missing in novels lately. --- There are enough plot twists
and romantic encounters that healthy, turn-the-page crime novels are the stuff
of, and the socio-political comment, inherent to dystopic visions, makes it
presence felt too, in all its bite. Cater to your what-happens-next instinct,
and the one that demands smart, kick-ass futuristic prophecies.
First City
Magazine
“Gautampuri city, Sweden Pradesh. Public Intelligence Officer Barsk reported several deaths due to charring of body parts and possible foul play involving cannibalism, at the Tandoori Moose restaurant, off Friendship Chowk. One BC (bad character) absconding. Suspect is a deviant girl, blonde, around twenty, no particular distinguishing marks except that she was last seen wearing a cook's uniform. Officer requested backup, forensic team. A memo has been sent to all concerned parties...”
This is a novel about a hypothetical if necessarily not
entirely true future. In this imagined world, India
has been entrusted with the difficult task of governing a Europe
in utter chaos. Global warming and the collapse of European Union finances have
conspired to wipe out many countries, some of them simply buried under the sand
dunes of a growing Sahara desert, and those that remain, such as Sweden, are – I’m
sorry to say – reduced to slummy badlands. At this point the population votes
for joining an Asian Union for reasons of stability, security and, well, in the
hope of getting tastier food and more vegetarian options on the restaurant menus. Trouble
is, there remains a disgruntled group among the Swedish natives, who want
everything to be like before this futuristic fusion-culture happened. These
troublesome folks live in a grungy, crummy native reserve, in the middle of the otherwise shining and prosperous city of Gautampuri (née Gothenburg), and they simply refuse to adjust, they won’t stop speaking Swedish, or stop drinking and fighting (two of the oldest and most glorified Viking cultural traditions), and they will absolutely not
turn vegetarian, and they would only embrace nonviolence over their own dead bodies.
This is the story of that clash of civilizations. (Please note: this is a
fictitious story and the European Union still existed the last time
I checked. Which was about two months ago. It may have disappeared by now.)
READ EXCERPTS
Now available in all well-stocked semi-decent bookshops all over India! If there's no shop nearby, get it online! First edition almost sold out! |
Sånt som händer i riksdagen då och då: Statsminister Fredrik Reinfeldt: ”När vi tänkte på vad vi möjligen skulle ge dig för någon enkel gåva, så har vi noterat att du har ett intresse för att powerwalka, och det tänkte vi att man kan väl göra samtidigt som man lyssnar på en god bok, och därför har vi laddat en iPod med en ljudbok om Mahatma... Gandhi, alltså, som heter ”Eller konsten att vända världen upp och ner”. Och det har du bidragit till att göra och därför tänkte vi att det kan vara en bra sak att också ge dig som tack för alla dessa år.” (statsministern överräcker en liten iPod med en förhoppningsvis inte piratnedladdad version av min bok i en sorts skumt diskret handskakning) Mona Sahlin, avgående oppositionsledare: ”Jag tackar för både orden och jag tackar för den här presenten. Jag har inte läst den, men jag tror att det är många som behöver lära sig hur man vänder upp och ner på världen. Kanske också statsministern själv?”
"Summan av kardemumman" - nu ute i pocket!
Omslag Jens Magnusson (klicka för att se förstorad bild).
En spänningsroman om globala konspirationer som utspelar sig någonstans i Mellanöstern - fast trots sin thrillerartade form, är detta en meditation över krig. Läs mer
Det är lördag eftermiddag. En svensk ambassad. Kontorsarbetet avbryts av ett brådskande telefonsamtal. En turist är skjuten. Diplomaten Kärstin Mordell beger sig ut på ett vanskligt räddningsuppdrag i ett bergsområde där terroristnästen och flyktingläger existerar sida vid sida. --- Sju veckor tidigare har en bombattack resulterat i att en krigskorrespondent blivit ihjälsprängd. Var det en olyckshändelse eller hade han kommit något på spåren? Hans unge brittiske kollega O’Guffin, den brittiska arbetarklassens svar på Noam Chomsky, tvingas fly för sitt liv efter att ha rotat i mysteriet. --- Under tiden flyttar ett svenskt biståndsarbetarpar till en bergsby i gränstrakterna mellan krigets helvete och paradiset på jorden. Men vem är deras mystiske granne? Alla trådar löper i en skrämmande riktning. Ett tredje världskrig. Vem kan hejda världens undergång?
”O’Yeah är ett skrivande fenomen med en ovanlig talang för de mest olika genrer.” Göteborgs-Posten
”Att språkvirtuosen Zac O’Yeahs författarskap är så brett och rikt att det rymmer både tung politisk analys, viktig historieskrivning och romaner som i all sin briljanta tramsighet får en att skratta högt är bara att applådera.” Helsingborgs Dagblad
”Om Guru och Mahatma! visade oss världen, så visar Summan av kardemumman att så här vilt och fräckt kan man skriva. Zac O’Yeah är en ny Povel, en ny Tage, en ny Babben, fast mycket, mycket värre.” Hudiksvalls Tidning/Dalarnas Tidningar
Ny utgåva av debutromanen PAJAZZO från 1997!
 Hon ber mig berätta någonting om mig själv.
Varför, frågar jag.
Jag håller på att skriva en pjäs, säger hon. Och om jag får skulle jag vilja ha dej som en karaktär i den.
Vad ska du göra med den pjäsen? frågar jag, men jag ser i hennes förfrågan en möjlighet att träffa henne ofta. Fast jag måste förbereda dej på att ingenting intressant nånsin händer i mitt liv.
Prat, säger hon, nånting intressant händer i alla liv. Det gäller bara att se det.
Pajazzo är Zac O’Yeahs första roman från 1997, om en ambitiös kvinnlig dramatiker som försöker att bena ut den mörka berättelsen om två mystiska män – berättaren, som själv är ett psykiskt haveri, och som träffar på en konstig, beväpnad gubbe. Läs mer!
“...märkvärdig debutroman...” Göteborgs-Posten
”...en hoppingivande debut...” Sydsvenskan
”... ett gränsöverskridande mellan verklighet och fiktion.” Btj
”Gripande vore kanske rätt omdöme, men det känns banalt i sammanhanget.” Västerviks-Tidningen
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