Category: Writing (page 1 of 3)

Posts about writing and/or selling books.

About Russian alcohol consumption

September 22, 2018 / / 0 Comments

It isn’t easy to hide the fact that Russians have a reputation for being … thirsty. Of course, here, like in other countries, there are people who do not drink or drink very little.
But when I visited Russia for the first time in 2014, Vladimir Putin had changed the period during which shops  could sell alcohol. From being able to sell twenty-four hours a day they could only sell until eleven o’clock in the evening. A rather harsh restriction, but seen through the eyes of a Norwegian, it is still quite astonishing to be able to buy alcohol until bedtime for most people going to work, school or university the following day.

As if this wasn’t enough: having been in Moscow for almost a month, I have noticed that they sell beer everywhere. Not spirits but beer. Beer is sold at Burger King, at Subway, and, along with Kvass, at a lot of coffee and brunch places and patisseries. Beer is sold at the cinema, and any restaurant with respect for itself has at least a selection of five to ten varieties, not including spirits and drinks.

Most people who know me know that I have a liberal relationship with alcohol and am very fond of beer. That’s why it’s really absurd that I’m sitting here and ranting about too easy access to beer. Still, I don’t understand the Russian alcohol culture.

Paulaner

Paulaner

As a Norwegian, it’s hard for me to understand the need to order beer with coffee in the morning on your way to work, or with or without family at Burgerking (if you want to eat and drink alone, can’t you order your burger at Burgerking and bring the beer from the supermarket across the street into the park?)

And what’s the point of going to the movies if you’re going to drink anyway and don’t want to pay attention? Believe me – beer and cinema do not belong together. A good friend of mine was once going to review a movie right after drinking an unknown number of beers out on the town – it didn’t work out well.

It can’t possibly be the availability that’s at fault. There is no supermarket in Moscow without a rich offer of alcoholic products – so it would be logical to assume that there’s something cultural going on.

Yes, and did I mention that you can also have a beer at the MGIMO canteen? I’m going to sound like a reactionary Christian conservative American now, I know, but: what on earth is it that makes the Russians believe that alcohol is a smart idea to serve to beer-thirsty students in the middle of a busy college?

Is there some kind of reverse perverse logic behind it, or is it an unspoken social code that if you order beer in the canteen outside of special occasions, everyone will give you the stink eye?

Dear Russians: I just don’t understand!

Lenin: The paradox

August 31, 2018 / / 0 Comments
Lenin's Mausoleum Photo: Larry Koester

Lenin’s Mausoleum
Photo: Larry Koester

A couple of days ago I was at the Lenin Mausolum on the Red Square.

Being so close to the body of a man who is so steeped in myth and history, still glorified today by so many people, was a very interesting experience. It made me think of the fact that I used to glorify Lenin. To a certain extent, I still do. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that the man was more of a paradox than a hero.

He was a saviour for millions of poor russians, and for that, he will always be  a hero in my eyes. But he also gave the order to kill their oppressor. tsar Nikolas II. The oppressor might have been more or less incompetent as an omnipotent ruler, and thus more indirectly than directly responsible for oppressing his own people. The fact remains, though, that he was an oppressor.

But did he deserve to die?

This question should be at the forefront when looking at Lenin’s life and  political work. Like the tsar, Lenin was also more or less indirectly responsible for his actions. Nikolas’ dad had given the order to kill Lenin’s brother, and Lenin had started a revolution that might have been very difficult to see through to the end had the tsar still been alive.

But did that relieve him of the responsibility for giving an order to murder an unarmed man and his family?

This is the paradox of Lenin. After being to his mausoleum, I visited Russia’s State Historial Museum. On the occation of the tsar’s murder, it contains an exhibition to Nikolai IIs memory. I’m not the only one who’s had to grapple with Lenin’s paradox. Vladimir Putin is also having to navigate between strongly condemning the act of murder and at the same time not condemning the Lenin’s Soviet Regime.

For some people, murder is a line that cannot be crossed. Once you’ve murdered someone, you are and forever will be a tyrant, a beast, a semi-human. I will contend that Lenin was, like the rest of us, a flawed human being. But unlike the rest of us, he achieved great things.  And here, perhaps more than any, is the most important question concerning Lenin:

Can great acts of heroism excuse tragic acts of violence?

Depending on what your answer is, he is probably a hero or a beast. For me, he will always remain a paradox.

Mitt år i Russland: de første dagene

August 25, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Russian President Vladimir Putin has a joke he likes to tell;

A man arrives at Lubyanka (KGB headquarters) saying:
– I’m a spy, I want to surrender.

He is asked:
– Who’s do you work for?

He answers:
– I’m an American spy.
– Well, then you have to go to room number 5.

He goes to room number 5:
– I’m an American spy, I wish to surrender ..
– Do you have weapons?
– Yes.
– Please go to room number 7.

He goes to room number 7:
– I’m a spy, I want to surrender and have weapons.
– Please go to room number 10.

He goes to room number 10:
– I’m a spy, I have weapons, and I want to surrender.
– Do you have communication equipment?
– Yes.
– Please go to room 20.

He goes to room 20:
– I’m a spy, I have weapons and communication equipment, and want to surrender.

He is asked:
– Do you have a mission?
– Yes.
– Well, go and do it. Stop disturbing people when they’re trying to work!

This is obviously an old joke from the Soviet era, but it goes right to the heart of Russia’s bureaucracy . A bureaucracy that is still very healthy and strong.

When I shared this joke with the exchange students who are here with me at MGIMO, many responded instinctively: “This is MGIMO’s international office,” they said.

Being an exchange student – or “international student”, as it is called here – at MGIMO isn’t easy. The first thing you have to do is deliver your passport to an office for them to copy. Then you must bring your passport, health insurance, negative HIV test and vaccination card to MGIMO’s International Office, where all documents are copied.

Moscow by night

Moscow by night

Once this is done, you’re handed a contract with about ten pages that you have to sign, sign and sign again. All this takes about twenty minutes. When you come back after a day, you get a bill that you have to bring to another office to pay for your accomodation. Also, do not forget to go through a fourth office to take a photo. Images must be taken to the international office anyway, but the picture to be used on MGIMO’s access card must of course be taken by MGIMO!

Apropos admission cards: Oh my God, how wonderful it will be to receive admission cards! Both the dorms and the university have their own security guards who have nothing to do but check the identity of those who go in and out through the barrier at the entrance. At the entrance to the dormitory, it is sufficient to show an admission card issued on arrival. At the university, on the other hand, one has to show his or her passport. And it must be checked – manually – against a list. If more than three students are going through at the same time-well, you can imagine.

Back to the dorms: they’re … OK. The rooms are in a building that is obviously a survivalist from the Soviet era. But it has been refurbished inside. There are rumors on campus that these dorms are the best throughout Russia. I do not quite know what to say – at least they are minimalist. Each room is approx. 15 square meters, including the bathroom. It contains two beds – fortunately, I still live alone – cupboards, and shelves. The bathroom has a toilet and a bathtub, and that’s it. Wifi isn’t available, but fortunately I have access to Moscow’s public internet from my room.

Me, in front of a building which housed Lenin and his secretary during the soviet times.

Me, in front of a building which housed Lenin and his secretary during the soviet times.

The dorms are five minutes walk from MGIMO. It would have been nice, but MGIMO isn’t exactly centrally located. It takes five minutes by bus and twenty minutes by metro to get to the city center. Fortunately, there are several shopping malls around the local metro station, Юго-Западная (literally: Southwest), so you can get most of what you need without having to go all the way to the city center.

Nevertheless, the distance to the center means that one way or another you always have to use Russian somewhere on your way back or forth. And for someone who loves this difficult, strange, but beautiful language, the language of Pushkin and Tolstoy, which many English speakers regard as “butch,” and the Russians themselves merely refer to as “очень сложный,” very complicated, that isn’t exactly a disadvantage.

See you next time!

Paid book review: rant

December 15, 2017 / / 0 Comments

A few days ago, I was emailed by the proprietor of this blog. The conversation went a little something like this:

Proprietor:  Hi! I’d like to review your book on my website. Are you willing to shell out 75$ for my services

Me: Uhm, I’d rather not. I can pay you 10$ now, and 65$ once I’ve made that much in book sales. That shouldn’t be any trouble for you if you’re actually confident in your own product.

Proprietor: I’ve done this with three authors before, and not one of them fulfilled on the promised deal.  They made the money back and more and still they did not pay me.

At this point, I am sceptical. How did she know that the authors “made the money back and more”? Clicks does not equal sales. The conversation continued:

Me: Fine. I guess it’s fair that we should split the risk. I’ll pay you 35$ now, and then 35$ later.

Proprietor: I’d like to go through with this. You’ll pay me 35$ now, and then 35$ when I prove I’ve written a review, before I publish it.

Me: I’m not sure you understand. My risk is that I won’t make back the money in sales. I have no doubt that you’ll actually write the review. I’ll pay you the remaining 35$ once I’ve made 75$ in sales.

I haven’t heard from her since. Here’s the thing – and I can’t believe I have to state this again:

Clicks and/or pageviews does not equal sales!

I  have no problems paying maybe 10$ or so for a review now and again when someone contacts me, even though they usually never equate to any sales (maybe one or two). Mostly, they build my ego, even if I prefer reviews that are not paid for (I have some of them as well). I’m an author, my job is not to be a financial advisor to myself.

However, I’m also not stupid. If I were to shell out 75$ for every review without expecting a return on my investment, I’d be financially ruined.

If you read this, and you’re a book blogger, you need to understand that from a business perspective,  your review is essentially worthless if it doesn’t generate sales. I’m sure some of you will be thinking “it’s a hobby, you shouldn’t expect to be making money off of it”.

But that’s exactly the problem – there are a million and one of not just reviewers out there, but publishers, proof readers etc. who are doing everything they can to make a quick buck off of people’s hobbies. And it’s a real shame, because for every genuine hobbyist out there, there are two more secretly wishing to reach the New York Time’s  best seller list. I can tell you right now – you don’t get there by paying for reviews.

Interview with producer Oscar Boyson about Good Time

October 17, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Sometimes an interview just doesn’t pan out. In this case, me and the culture editor thought it was good, but the editor didn’t. Anyway, I saw Good Time before it was released in Norway, and I had a conversation with producer Oscar Boyson about the movie.

Oscar Boyson is the producer of Good Time, one of the films featured at BIFF this year, with Robert Pattinson in the lead role.

– I had a wonderful experience producing this movie, explains Boyson. It was difficult, challenging, educational and emotional, but first and foremost rewarding. The thing with New York is that it has become a very welcoming city for filmmakers.

Oscar Boyson before the red carpet of Good Times

Oscar Boyson before the red carpet of Good Times Photo by / Courtesy of Saskia Lawaks

Boyson explains that there are bigger and bigger productions filming there because of tax incentives and how welcoming the city has become. But, he says:

– Productions with less money are being pushed to the outskirts of the city. Every movie I’ve been working on has been gradually harder to make than the previous one. What’s happening is almost like discrimination of film productions.

Boyson believes that Good Time gives a perspective on America at a time when nearly two and a half million people are imprisoned in the country.

I’m not sure if you can talk about a message, but I think it gives a perspective. It lets you decide what’s wrong or where the community is wrong.

He says that it’s not just about being imprisoned, but about where you are when you are released from prison.

– If you have a criminal record in this country, you have very few possibilities. For example, you cannot vote. The film shows us a side of the story we do not always see and asks us to think about it.

Back to youth

The film makes him feel the way he did when he was young.

– It made me think about why I wanted to be a filmmaker. We need more movies that look like they were made by a person and not a committee. We need to remind people why we make movies.

In the USA, fewer and fewer people go to the movies, Boyson explains.

– It is harder and harder to make people sit in the darkness of the cinema with random strangers when we have created the expectation that you can watch movies on your phone and computer.

Always difficult

“It’s always hard,”  Boyson sighs when asked if the movie was hard to finance.

It doesn’t matter how much money you have, it will always be difficult. If not you’re doing something wrong, because you’ll always want to make it look like it cost more than it really did. Robert Pattinson is a star and he wanted to get this movie made no matter what the cost. We manufacturers only want to make things all the time. When someone like Rob gets involved, it makes everything a lot easier.

The fatal flaw of “Thirteen Reasons Why”

May 21, 2017 / / 0 Comments
Thirteen Reasons Why

Thirteen Reasons Why

So, I’ve been watching the wildly popular Netflix show “Thirteen Reasons Why”. The show has received a lot of criticism from teachers, parents and mental health specialists.

This article is not a critique, but an attempt to point out a fatal flaw that nobody seems to be talking about.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, anywhere from one-third to 80% of all suicide attempts are impulsive acts.
This means that, while Hannah Baker‘s suicide might have been premeditated, it is highly unlikely that she would be planning it for as long as it would take to record thirteen tapes where she intricately describes every wrong doing she has suffered at the hands of her tormenters.
At that point, she would likely be crying herself to sleep, not commiting suicide. Human beings have a survival instinct. To overcome it, you, more often than not, have to be acutely sick – experiencing a psychological crisis – or under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Here’s what I mean: I am a survivor of many suicide attempts. While I can only speak from my own experience, I think it’s safe to say that once you go from being suicidal to attempting a suicide, you are way beyond blaming other people. You are experiencing a crisis, such that the only thing that matters in the entire universe is yourself. More specifically, the black hole that exists within you. 24% of all those who made near-lethal suicide attempts decided to kill themselves less than five minutes before the attempt, and 70% made the decision within an hour of the attempt. Those statistics simply leave very little room for the kind of premeditation existing in Hannah Baker’s mind.
Is there a point to all this?
While the things experienced by Hannah Baker are each like adding salt to a wound, The National Institute of Health says that 90% of all those who successfully go through with a suicide display some sort of diagnosable mental disorder. In other words, the wound is already there. The dynamics of suicide are bewilderingly complex, and it is never one person’s, or even thirteen persons’ fault. At worst, each person may have contributed in some small degree, but in the end, statistics show that in reality impulsive decision making and immediate crises play a much larger role.
Does that mean that people should stop caring for each other? Absolutely not! Every positive comment, however small, every smile and every genuine question helps to minimize the risk that the person in question will experience the kind of crisis that can ultimately take a life. If anything, that should be the lesson that people learn from “Thirteen Reasons Why”.

People are adding “And then the murders began” to famous book openings

March 29, 2017 / / 0 Comments

There’s a rule called “Laidlaw’s rule”, which basically states that any book will be better if the second sentence is “And then the murders began”.
People have started using this to hillarious effect! 😀

Here are some awesome examples:

 

 

 

 

John Hart (Font Forlag)

John Hart (Font Forlag)

My meeting with John Hart!

March 11, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Today I had the privilege of being able to experience John Hart, award-winning author of books such as Redemption Road and Down River at my local library in Bergen.

It was a magical experience. He talked a lot about where he gets his inspiration from and how he creates his characters. But what I’d like to show you, my dear readers, are the tips he gave me as an up-and-coming author. Hopefully someone other than me will be able to utilize these tips as well.

I can only speak to (sic) my own experience, but I think that this can be a universal thing.

The world is full of people that will tell you you cannot do it. My mother literally said “don’t waste your time, you will never get published.” This was after she read my first two unpublished novels. Maybe she’s onto something! But I cannot listen to her; I would have stopped.

Had I listened to all the agents who rejected my first novel or my second, I would have stopped. Had I listened to the surgeon who’d heard I had quit my job to write my third novel, who accosted me in a coffee shop, poking me in the chest, saying “Who the hell do you think you are, the next John Grisham”, I would have stopped.

So, I think there are a lot of reasons for this. I mean, people walk away from their aspirations all the time, I mean, it’s just a hard world. If they see you walk away from yours, then maybe they feel better about their decisions. If you go on to become the next Jo Nesbø, then maybe they should not have walked away from their dreams.

So, it’s just the way of the world – there are people like that. You need to find people who understand what you’re trying to do, and will be supportive.

But – be careful about people you ask to read the manuscript. I’m going to tell you this from my own experience – there is no creature as insecure as an unpublished writer. I’m not saying that’s you, but that was me – in a very specific way. If you’re looking for someone to read your manuscript, it’s going to be someone you trust – obviously.

If they tell you that it’s brilliant, you’re probably going to think they’re being nice and not believe them. If they tell you it’s horrible, you’re going to be crushed, and you might never write again. It’s very, very difficult to find the right reader – someone who’s opinion you trust, who can deliver it in an honest, caring way. I was lucky in that my wife is great like that. And if I succeed, it’s great for both of us, so, she’s very capable of that honesty. She’s not going to leave you down the primrose path.

So I think those would be my two pieces of advice. The world is full of writers that will say “take classes, join workshops” – I never did any of that, so I can’t speak to that. I do think that there are countless rookie mistakes that keep you from being published – not you specifically – it’s very important to learn what rookie mistakes are. I don’t know at what level you write, but I did read a few books early on. Just “How to avoid passive voice,” “How to show, not tell,” you know, the proper use of certain types of punctuation, so that I’m able to present a manuscript that looks knowingly done.

Because publishers and agents are very, very busy, they’re very, very jaded because they’re inundated with manuscripts. They’re so busy with the ones they already have that are working, people that are selling, working on the next book and need this, that and the other. Thus, it’s hard to find the time to nurture the new voices. So, you need to be very careful to not rush the manuscript out.

And let me give you a personal anecdote: so, the first novel failed, the second novel failed, it was my third that was published. And this is a rookie mistake, and this is how eager I was. Remember I talked about that insecurity? What I wanted was validation – I wanted somebody in the know to say “you weren’t foolish to do this a third time.” So I think I was probably about ten pages away from finishing the book, when just on a lark I emailed an agent the first chapter, thinking “well I’ll hear back in maybe six weeks.”

Well I got an email that night from her assistant saying “Heidi really loves this, why don’t you send the rest of the manuscript?” I hadn’t finished the book! So I wrote like a madman for the next couple of days. But when I sent it off, I hadn’t edited. And then I got rejected. I got rejected and rejected and rejected. For nine months I got rejected, before I finally did what I should have done in the first place, which was to step back. I had done that through all those rejections – for nine months, I had not looked at the manuscript. I went back and read it with some perspective, and I saw all the problems that were obvious to everyone that said no. Plotholes, tin dialogue, overwritten purpley stuff. And I fixed it!

Three months of rewrites, I sent it out, and the first agent that saw it wanted to represent me. So understand that, yes, there are lots of agents and publishers, but you only get that one shot at the first impression, so don’t undo your good work by rushing it. It’s very tempting.

I hope that helps!

Murder in Lima - Cover

Murder in Lima - Cover

Third chapter from Murder in Lima

January 4, 2017 / / 0 Comments

– Did you shoot many men?

Anastasia was white in the face.

– It was front-page news in all the big newspapers. But you’re … a Belarusian, aren’t you? Anyway, they killed my wife and child. I completely lost it. I lost my job in NCIS, but they didn’t find me guilty of murder. The perps had weapons and were preparing the biggest shipment of cocaine in Norwegian history. But obviously, I should have called for backup. Fortunately, I got a job as a reporter afterward.

– You did the right thing, said Petter. Without you, maybe we’d experience a generation of young adult Norwegians growing up to become cocaine addicts.
– Thanks, said Kurt and flashed an apologetic smile.
– Thank you, Kurt, for the gripping story. Now, my friends. While we wait for the food we will be served, I want to show you the reason for inviting you here tonight, John remarked.

He pressed a button under the table. Slowly but surely, a video screen slid down from the restaurant’s ceiling next to them.
When it was completely down, John turned himself and his chair  towards the screen and picked up his cellular phone, a Samsung Galaxy Beam I8530.

– Kurt and Rebecca, please turn. You don’t want to miss this!

Both turned around as John put the mobile on the tabletop and started an embedded projector.

– What’s that?

On the screen, a room in a salt color palette appeared.

– This, my friends, is a fire, bullet and bomb safe storage room in the house. Right now it contains only two things: the paintings I just appropriated, Autumn in Bavaria and Several Circles.

John pressed on the screen of his mobile phone and Kurt noticed that when he did it, the camera in the room began moving. Soon it had zoomed in on a painting that represented something that looked like an alley surrounded by trees. The alley led to something that looked like a church spire far away.

– My God exclaimed Petter. How much did you give for this again?
– About 206 million. But you already know that …

Petter sighed.

– Still, cannot believe that you got Autumn in Bavaria so cheap …

Kurt turned to Petter.

– Don’t you read newspapers? Aftenbladet just wrote a story about how the selling price was at a record high.

John smirked.

– Quite unflattering, that portrayal …

Petter snorted.

– I could have paid twice that amount if I wasn’t busy that weekend.
– There, there, said Anastasia and patted Petter on his back. You can do it next time.

Just then Hugo Friis came out of the restaurant building beside them with two deep plates.

– The first dish, he announced. Northern Norwegian fish soup!

All eyes around the table turned to him as he placed the plates in front of Kurt and John.

– Bon appétit, he said.
– Is that fish soup, asked Rebecca.
– Yes, it is, said Kurt.
– Looks tasty, said Rebecca.

When everyone had eaten chowder, John once again turned and directed everyone’s attention to the screen.

– As you should know, I also purchased another painting, Several Circles.

Again he pressed on the mobile phone, and soon a new painting had emerged on the display.

Rebecca gasped.

– It’s gorgeous!

The painting consisted of several circles of different sizes on a matte background.

– It is even more beautiful in reality, replied John. It reminds me of space.
– Didn’t Kandinsky say that it was his favorite painting, Anastasia marveled.

Petter nodded.

– That’s right, dear. He never managed to surpass it later in life, he said.
– So, said Karl Homme and gazed at John with a sly smile. A bird told me that you had purchased Casa de Aliaga from the Aliaga family and live there now?

John sent Karl Homme a look of astonishment.

– How did you know?
– I have my sources. It’s pretty sad for Lima’s many tourists, but all the better for me.

Karl grinned.

– I planned to dedicate a chapter in my new book to it. Now my book will become even more popular. Because I may come to visit, John?

John sighed but smiled wryly.

– Of course, you may.

Karl smiled.

– Many thanks! For those of you who do not know, Casa de Aliaga is the former house of the General Jerónimo Aliaga. It was bestowed upon him by Fransisco Pizarro himself, so that they could be neighbors. Aliaga was Pizarro’s most trusted general. He was involved in the execution of Atahualpa, the last Aztec king. Is the sword still in the house, John?

John smirked.

– Nothing escapes you, does it? The sword was one of the treasures that the family, unfortunately, insisted on retaining. Which is understandable, given that it is over four hundred years old.

*

– Should we go to the top of the pyramids? John wiped his face with a napkin.
– Sounds like a good idea, said Kurt and put down his spoon.
Tiramisu was the best desert Kurt knew about. But right now he was so full after two portions of Ceviche that there was a half eaten Tiramisu left on his plate.

– Agreed, said Karl Homme. Let’s go, he declared, standing up immediately from his chair.
– I’m old and tired, and can’t bear to go there. But I can certainly join around the rest of the site, declared Rebecca.

John smiled.

– That’s fine; I can pick you up later.
– How fascinating, said Anastasia. Is it possible to view the whole city from here?
– Well, parts of it, in any case, said John.

Kurt took up a cigarette from his breast pocket and lit it before he got up from his chair and joined the little train of people which was moving towards the pyramids, led by John Fredly.

– How long did it take to build these, asked Kurt as they were halfway up the biggest pyramid.
– No one knows, responded John.
– They sacrificed young women and babies to their God of the seas, said John. He pointed to some skyscrapers on the horizon.

As John had arrived at the top of the pyramid, Anastasia started to scream.

– What’s up, asked Kurt. He still had a few meters left to go before he reached the top. Watch out, screamed Petter as John came falling towards Kurt in at a furious pace with his back first.

He held his hands to his throat and landed in the arms of Kurt with such speed that Kurt almost toppled from the impact. Kurt laid down John Fredly and stood over him with a worried expression on his face as Petter’s and Karl’s faces emerged from the top of the pyramid.

– Are you all right down there, Petter and Karl shouted to him.
– He’s shot in the chest, said Kurt. He was dead when he landed in my arms.

A few hours later, Kurt Hammer found himself in a dark glass building in General Vidal Street number 250. More specifically, in a whitewashed interrogation room. Two young police officers with black caps pulled well down on their foreheads sat across a small table with a microphone in front of them.

Because Kurt didn’t know much more than tourist-Spanish, the local police station had spent almost an hour finding an officer who knew more than primary school English.

Eventually, they found one that looked as if she’d barely finished the Police Academy.
Now she stood in a corner and simultaneously translated the ongoing conversation. She looked at them with weary, slightly triangular Peruvian eyes.

– … what makes you believe he is shot, Mr. Hammer?
– The fact that he has a bullet hole through his chest?
– … So why was he dead when he landed in your arms?
– Figuring that out is not my job. But he held his arms to his throat when he hit me.
– Well, señor Hammer. That’s all for now. You may go, but until you are checked out of the case you may not leave the country.
– Wasn’t planning on it.
– Senorita Lopez can follow you out.

Kurt stood up. He took out a cigarette from his breast pocket and put it in his mouth before going to the young lady in the corner.

– Excuse me, but this is a non-smoking area, señor Hammer.

Kurt just nodded and walked out of the door. Behind him, he could hear a resigned sigh as the young lady closed the door.

When Kurt was standing on the street, he looked at his watch as a black cab with a yellow and black checker pattern on the side stopped to pick him up. The time had crawled to two AM.

As Kurt entered the whitewashed reception of his hostel, a sleepy French man with dreads sitting behind the counter greeted him.

– Kurt! Where have you been? Not on the wagon again, are you?
– At the police station.

The French man had presented himself to Kurt, when he arrived, as Jean-Luc. Now he rolled his eyes.

– Haha, very funny.

Kurt was too tired to explain further, so he left the lobby, heading for his room.
When he had locked himself in the red room, he sat down on the edge of the double bed and began to undress. He put his light blue Hawaii shirt and jeans in a neat pile on the floor beside the bed.

Finally, Kurt put his head on the pillow. He knew that he was not going to be able to sleep.

Murder in Lima - Cover

Murder in Lima - Cover

Second chapter from Murder in Lima

December 25, 2016 / / 0 Comments

By Felicia Alvdal and Frank Hansen
The paintings Several Circles and Autumn in Bavaria by the Russian artist Vassily Kandinsky (1866 – 1944) sold during the weekend for 15 and 18.9 million pounds, respectively, at Sotheby’s in London.

– Kandinsky is a very popular artist, and I expected that these came to be sold for much. Yet we are overwhelmed by the result, said auctioneer David Bennett NTB weekend.

Record

The previous record for a painting was 11 million pounds, and was beaten by the sale of Several Circles. This record was then beaten again by the sale of Autumn in Bavaria. At the end of the bidding process there was a fight between an unknown Russian buyer and the Norwegian tax fugitive John Fredly.
Fredly’s spokesman Hans Eriksen said to NTB;
– John Fredly has been interested in art for all of his adult life, and Kandinsky is his favorite artist. That the price he paid for these works is a record is just a footnote in the grand scheme of things.

Unsure

Asked whether Fredly would like to lend the paintings to a museum to share the works with a larger audience, he replied;
– This is something he has not yet considered. It is not impossible that it will happen in the future, but if so it  will be to a Peruvian museum in Lima, where he lives.
The Russian buyer refused to be identified, but said through his spokesman;
– We are very disappointed with the result. Kandinsky is a part of Russian national history, and does not belong in South America. We are willing to pay Fredly twice the purchase price over ten years if he wants to sell, and informed him of this.

Won’t happen

For Fredly, this is unacceptable.
– Fredly is going to keep the paintings at his home in Lima, Peru in the near future, where he will enjoy them with his family and guests, concluded Eriksen.

 

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