I’ve already mentioned Karin Tidbeck a few times in my posts so far, but I haven’t talked of her work at length. Tidbeck may be a newcomer to mainstream genre (if anyone is unaware, Tidbeck has been publishing short stories for years, but it was her collection “Jagannath” to launch her in the eye of the public), but it’s exactly her ‘birth’ what’s exciting. I feel that electrifying feeling I am at the right place and the right place, watching something magnificent come into being even though signs have pointed towards it for those looking.

Tidbeck isn’t a new author in the sense she has yet to master her craft. No, writing is what she is meant to be doing and does so without effort. As with most non-US authors, Karin Tidbeck has been creating for years in Sweden before translating her works into English and publishing story after story in magazines such as Weird Tales (under Ann VanderMeer), leading to “Jagannath”. I find this process fascinating, because I adore short fiction and I tend to view collections as a big, bold picture with broad strokes. View the picture stroke by stroke and you can track it from its inception to its publication and there’s never been a more magnetic release such as “Jagannath”.

Huge props have to go to Tidbeck’s publishers (the VanderMeers) for the hype they rose around the release and made “Jagannath” the book I anticipated the most in a long time. I think I assume correctly by saying anticipating a book’s release brings a certain kind of joy young lovers feel in most romance novels. Considering how intense this year has shaped up to be, I’m grateful for the pleasant distraction of waiting for a worthwhile book and Tidbeck’s “Jagannath” is deserving of it. I fell in love so deep, I’m well beyond articulation. Nevertheless, this is what I had to say of her stories: Continue reading »