Writing

This page contains condensed information about all my writing projects past, present and future.


Marked by the Hours (querying)

Ronoa is a jewel of a city, a tropical metropolis and the only place on the continent where magic exists – but pernicious powers seek to destroy the city a million people call home. Even with all of its magic and majesty, Korinn Adell and his fellow consultants are the only ones capable of keeping Ronoa from falling apart.

 

Marked by the Hours is the first of three books in my planned Annals of Ronoa series. It is currently “finished” (as finished as something like this can be) at around 143 000 words (a hefty manuscript). I am currently in the process of querying various agents.

I like to think of this book (and series) as “mundane epic fantasy”. Epic in the sense that there are many POV characters and the plot lines crisscross and get jumbled like that box of old cables you’ve got hidden away in the basement (you can’t just throw it away, what if you need something one day!?). Yet mundane in the sense that there is no Great Otherworldly Other knocking at the door, planning to plunge the world into a million years of darkness.

As a setting, Ronoa is warm and colorful, not much grimdark in sight. When designing the world, my northern star was “somewhere I’d like to go and have coffee“. To learn more about the world of Ronoa, check out the dedicated Ronoa page.

The Dark Heart of the Woods (writing)

Something kept in these woods grow,
Let rest root, do not fell and do not sow
Ar by Ar and stone by stone
Spiral prison built of bone
Of oak the bars and birch the seal
What lies beyond, freed from the real

The Dark Heart of the Woods focuses on the relationship us humans have with nature, and takes a more serious tone than much of the other stuff I write. Also unlike my other writing, this world is heavily influenced by Finnish nature and surroundings, and as such gets a bit darker in tone and setting.

Let’s just say that when you venture out into these woods, you will definitely need a large crossbow. Preferably two.

The Dark Heart of the Woods is planned to be a standalone book.

Codename: startup (planning)

Much of what happens in Startup (placeholder title) might be fantastical, but unlike all the other books mentioned on this page, this is not a fantasy novel.

Sometimes the truth eclipses even the most well-written story in absurdity. This is a book very much about contemporary tech startup culture, both the good and the bad. If you enjoyed HBO’s Silicon Valley, then this book should be right up your alley.

The story follows Rada, a software engineer, as she gives a first-hand account of just what went down those fateful years after she decided to move to California to work for a seemingly amazing startup.

Codename: VROOM (planning)

The following comparison might give you an aneurysm, but here we go anyway:

Drive to Survive Black Adder Stormlight Archive (see, I warned you)

So what does a sports documentary series, a BBC period sitcom from the 80’s, and one of the most lauded epic fantasy series have in common? The truth – loath as I am to say it – is of course: nothing. Until now, that is.

VROOM is a story about a realm at war. Constant, perpetual, tedious war (hence the Stormlight Archive vibes). Ruling this realm is Her Esteemed Empress Galiana of Shimmering Splendor, a very vocal regent, to say it kindly (the Blackadder vibes, Queenie would feel right at home). The realm’s hidden weapon, and the reason they haven’t lost in a spectacular manner, is a series of highly advanced mechanical battlefield vehicles called blitzcruisers. The pilots of these blitzcruisers have an unfortunate tendency to die, and it’s not exactly trivial to train them. Our protagonist, herald Graem, is tasked by the empress to bring credibility to this recently invented thing called sports (what a funny name! –Galiana). It just so happens that this thing called sports involves back-country farmers competing in racing vehicles with striking similarities to blitzcruisers (and also a quite odd resemblance to Formula 1 cars – hence Drive to Survive). When you bring this many competitors into close quarters with each other, there is one thing you can be absolutely sure that is not missing: drama.