From book to game... PRECINCT 20: DEAD STRANGE

My book PRECINCT 20: DEAD STRANGE is now also a retro computer game!
The game's official release date is June 29th, 2019.

Watch the official game trailer:

The book is still available on Amazon, HERE. 

Book review: THE SIBLING SOCIETY by Robert Bly

THE SIBLING SOCIETY (1996) by Robert Bly

From time to time, the matter of "masculinity" becomes a public debate. What does it mean to "be a man?" How does a man earn his adulthood? Should society change its demands on men? There will never be an end to this discussion.

In the 1990s, Robert Bly gained enormous attention with his book IRON JOHN, where he tried to give "modern" men a myth, or story, to help them figure out the mental growth and change they needed to develop a mature sense of self.

Bly is a poet, not a social scientist. His approach is that myth, ritual and story are tools to instruct young men on a quasi-unconscious level. There's a whiff of "New Age" thinking about this, but I take his argument seriously: We need these tools.

In the book THE SIBLING SOCIETY, Bly further develops the theme of "reaching mental maturity." He is worried that modern Western society has not only lost the "rites of passage" that instruct young men that they must stop being kids - it's actively encouraging men to never grow up, leading to stunted development and unhappiness.
 
Note: Bly is not the reactionary you might expect. He clearly accuses commercial interests for denigrating the value of maturity and "infantilizing" men. (For example, he means that Western movies are a prime example of glorifying immature males.)

Recommended as "food for thought" rather than as a cure-all.

#bookstagram #bookreview #bookreviews #robertbly #thesiblingsociety #mensissues #menshealth #masculinity #mythopoetic

Book review: HANDLING THE UNDEAD (Hanteringen av odöda) by John Ajvide Lindqvist

HANDLING THE UNDEAD (2009) by John Ajvide Lindqvist.
(Original Swedish title: HANTERINGEN AV ODÖDA (2005).)

John Ajvide Lindqvist became a bestseller writer with his horror novel LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (a book so creepy I could barely finish it - and I mean that as a compliment!).

HANDLING THE UNDEAD was released after that monster hit (pun intended), so naturally expectations were high.
 
And it may not be bestseller material, but I really appreciate that Lindqvist did not try to repeat himself. The "undead" of the story are neither zombies nor ghosts. The story is not really about them, but about the living - about how we grieve and/or fear the dead, and how society tries (unsuccessfully) to control that grief and fear.

There is also an element of dark satire, when the Swedish "cradle-to-grave" welfare society tries to treat the undead as just another "social problem"... with unforeseen and ghastly results. (A "cradle-to-beyond-the-grave" society, if you wish...)

I think this novel is good. In places, it's even great. However, HANDLING THE UNDEAD comes just short of greatness. It seems to run out of steam towards the end, and the conclusion feels somewhat rushed.

It's creepy for sure, and refreshingly original, but... perhaps it could have offered a little more.
Recommended for readers of horror and weird fiction.

#bookstagram #bokstagram #johnajvidelindqvist #handlingtheundead #hanteringenavodöda #horror #urbanfantasy #ghoststories #skräck #bookreview #bookreviews #bookcover

Book review: HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF MISERABLE

HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF MISERABLE (1966, revised edition 1987) by Dan Greenburg, with Marcia Jacobs.

Each time you blink, a new "self-help" book is published - packed with "Positive Thinking" and pictures of smiling, confident people.

This is not one of those books. It instructs you how to become more neurotic, pessimistic, apathetic, unsuccessful and lonely.

If you grew up reading MAD Magazine, you'll be familiar with this type of humor. The parody of Positive Thinking is spot-on and laugh-out-loud funny. The excellent cartoon illustrations only increase the amount of laughter to be had from this "sick" book.

Actually, HOW TO MAKE YOURSELF MISERABLE works on two "levels": both as a parody, and as a guide to recognizing self-destructive thinking through humor.

Warmly recommended to neurotics everywhere.
FUN TIP: Give this book to people who try to make you read self-help books! ;-)




OBS! Svensk titel: KONSTEN ATT BLI EN FULLÄNDAD DEPPARE (1977)

 
#bookstagram #bokstagram #howtomakeyourselfmiserable #dangreenburg #humor #satire #parody #literature #book #bookreviews #bookbloggers #bookcover #bookcovers #bookstagrammer #bookreview #selfhelp #positivethinking #madmagazine

Book review: THE INVISIBLE MAN by H.G. Wells

THE INVISIBLE MAN (1897) by H.G. Wells.

Invisibility is only now becoming technically possible, but already back in the 1890s H.G. Wells wrote a novel about it. THE INVISIBLE MAN holds up very well today.

Wells' stroke of genius was that he ignored all previous fairytale tropes about becoming invisible, and instead treated the subject seriously. The result was a gripping thriller.

The malicious protagonist Griffin invents an invisibility serum, and imagines that it will give him great power over people. But all his plans fail, as he runs into one practical obstacle after another.

The worst side effect of being invisible, it turns out, is psychological. Griffin grows increasingly deranged and hateful, and begins to plot a "reign of terror" - i.e. he becomes a terrorist.

Surely a cautionary tale for our times, eh? Today we suffer the terror of many "invisible men" who, like the protagonist of Wells' story, have gone mad from social isolation.

Recommended for young readers who need to get out and meet people... and everyone else.


Listen to the audiobook version of THE INVISIBLE MAN on Librivox





#bookstagram #bokstagram #bookstagrammer #bookreview #bookreviews #bookcover #fantasy #sciencefiction #books #literature #classics #hgwells #theinvisibleman #invisibility #terrorism #thriller #boktips #lästips #fantastik

Smakprov ur REX OMEGA - ny svensk thriller om monarkins framtid

REX OMEGA
Ny thriller om monarkins framtid
UTE NU på Bokus:
https://www.bokus.com/bok/9789178190300/rex-omega/

Tips: Sommarläsning

Du får säkert många tips om böcker att läsa i sommar...
...och jag vill också tipsa om de böcker jag har fått utgivna.
Dessa titlar finns att låna på biblioteket (som ebok, pocket eller ljudbok).

Böcker för barn:
 
SAGOPYJAMASEN

HUNDRA TUSEN PIRATER

MONSTER I MASSOR

För barn i "slukaråldern":

STADEN UNDER JORDEN och uppföljaren UNDER UNDERJORDEN
(Skriven av KG Johansson, illustrerad av A. R. Yngve)

SUPERMOBILEN (OBS: Kommer snart i tryckt nyutgåva!)

TERRA HEXA del 1-3

För tonåringar och vuxna:

DARC AGES - De mörka tidevarven

Här står jag och säljer DARC AGES-böckerna på Bokmässan i Göteborg.

VAERNEN DEN FÖRDÖMDE (OBS: Ej lämplig för läsare under 15 år)

REX OMEGA

Jag har också gett ut böcker som inte finns på svenska bibliotek. De finner du på Amazon.

Book review: WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE: MANAGING SUCCESSFULLY ACROSS CULTURES

WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE: MANAGING SUCCESSFULLY ACROSS CULTURES (1996) by Richard D. Lewis.
 (New edition re-titled WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE: LEADING ACROSS CULTURES)
 
Check out the sample figures from this book - I like them a lot, and I can confirm that the author accurately describes the "management culture" typical of my native Sweden.

WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE is a book about how management/organization culture differs in various countries, and the misunderstandings that can happen when different cultural mindsets clash in international business.

Going into a situation where we must communicate with people from other cultures, we often assume that "surely they will communicate in the same way we do."

But what if they don't? We carry a lot of unspoken assumptions -- what to say and when, how to "get to the point," what is proper/improper, etc. 

The author explains and describes how different cultural/historical circumstances shape different cultural patterns of communication and delegation. Some cultures will get along just fine (Finns and Americans, for example), others will run into misunderstandings.

Written in an easy, accessible style with lots of explanatory figures and anecdotes, the book makes the subject both entertaining and insightful. I learned a lot from it!

The "communication" diagrams are often quite funny; they will make you smile, perhaps in recognition of your own experiences.

Has the book dated well since it came out? It could be that cultural differences are being gradually "smoothed out" in today's interconnected world, but even so I think it is still valid.

Recommended not only for people who travel and work internationally, but also for those who are interested in understanding other cultures (and their own) in a practical, down-to-earth context.