It’s hard to imagine the thrill of writing a full blown novel until you do it. When Under the Black Sand was completed, six years ago, I could hardly believe it. If I can do it once, I can do it again, I though. in 2017, Blood and Rain was published. It was written differently, deliberately simpler than the debut, much more linear.
That was two years ago. What has happened since?
I took a new job and that ate away most of my time. Still, I have managed to finish the first draft of Mont Noir, promised for 2019 but will be published next year. Then there are the Portuguese and Spanish translations of Blood and Rain, both coming soon.
That’s not all. I revisited the Black Sand and translated it into Icelandic, my native tongue. I always felt it should exist in Icelandic. It is an Icelandic story, the mythology, the saga that spans a thousand years, the modern reality of the boom-bust economy and privatisation, the disconnect from what really matters as we lose ourselves in the race for material comfort. They all play a role in the story and so it should be accessible to my fellow countryfolk.
Funny thing about going through it again and seeing it in its native language, I felt I needed to expand on a few things because the Icelanders would “get it”, while I deleted other things as it didn’t need to be explained to them. The Icelandic version has turned into its own thing. It is the same story, but it feels different.
I may want to revisit the English text now, but maybe I should focus on future projects instead. Time will tell.