Johanna Sinisalo 2009 Interview
Johanna Sinisalo is nominated for her novelette “Baby Doll.”
Could you share with us a bit about yourself? Your background and life in Finland?
I’m fiftyish, a full-time writer since 1997 (before that I worked in advertising, as a copywriter/executive and a shareholder of the agency; I left to follow my muse). I have an university education, majored in literature and drama, and I also had side studies in journalism and social psychology. I’m living with a soul mate, have an adult daughter with a life of her own, and I’m a very keen mountain hiker – I have hiked, among other routes all over the world, half of the Appalachian Trail in USA in 2007.
I live in a town called Tampere, which is big by Finnish standards, having about 200 000 inhabitants, and it is very beautifully situated between two large lakes, surrounded with forest land.
Your novelette “Baby Doll,” which was recently on the final Nebula Award ballot, concerns the sexuality of prepubescent children who are forced to grow up too soon. I found it relevant to modern life with its emphasis on sexuality and exploitation. What compelled you to write this story?
Everyone who keeps one’s eyes open can see how the adult world has infiltrated the world of children. I have seen eight-year-old girls who wear clothing that, in earlier years, would signal “Hi, sailor!”
I’m not a prude – I know that playing an adult is a very important phase in childhood – but somehow I find it very disturbing that parents do allow their children to be mini-adults at the age when kids themselves do not really realize what kind of signals they’re sending around.
I had observed that phenomenon for quite a time, but what compelled me to do the actual story was when I was asked to write a short story for a crime fiction anthology. The brief was: combine crime with sexuality and/or eroticism. I did not want to write the obvious passion crime story or the story of erotic blackmail etc., and I gave the brief a lot of thinking time – and then I saw Repo Man, in which the petty criminal, when finally caught, said “I blame the society.” And I thought: hell, what if I wrote a crime story where the society really was the guilty party? The society – and the media? The peer pressure? And so “Baby Doll” was born.
To you, what makes this a speculative fiction story? Or is it?
To be honest, it is not a speculative fiction piece at all. Most of the feedback I have got has been like “I hated to read it because it was just like things are” or “It truly repulsed me and then I looked around and realized that omigod, we are living in that reality.” It is a comment on present day, but I had to write is as projected to the future, because it is the only way to make people to accept the premise – we do not want so see the obvious unless it’s somehow alienated.
English is a second language to you and since you write in your native Finnish language your work is often translated. Tell us about that.
Actually, English is not my second but my third language (Swedish is the second) and I have learned English at school like most Finns. I am not fluent enough to write fiction in English, so it’s obvious I’m depending on translators. “Baby Doll” was translated by David Hackston, who is British, but James and Kathy Morrow helped us edit the story to suit the American market (mostly language-wise).
Because in Finland we have just five million inhabitants, it’s crucial to know other languages. In addition to Swedish and English, I can get along with German and French, and I can speak and read even some Italian. For me, I’m often envious that you Americans can go almost anywhere in the world and be understood in your own native language!
I’m very proud of the Nebula nomination, because it seems extremely rare that a translated work gets nominated. As far as I know, there has been only two translated stories nominated for a Nebula before” Baby Doll”, and both of those were by very renowned writers, namely Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges. It’s a tremendous honour to be in that kind of company.
What is the speculative fiction scene in Finland like? How is it different than in English-speaking countries.
Actually, we have a very active sf/f community in Finland. Our national con, Finncon, is the biggest speculative fiction festival in Europe and attracts several thousand visitors. I have to mention that in spite of the fact that it is a three-day long con with foreign GoHs and a very ambitious program, Finncon is free to attend for everyone (and thus even mundanes drop in and have fun), the expenses are covered by sponsors, advertisers and public grants (and the volunteers who arrange all this are to be hailed highly). In other aspects, the scene is very similar to English-speaking countries – we have lots of sf/f clubs, websites, some very good prozines, etc.
It is true that in Finland the tradition in literature and cinema has been mostly realistic, but in past few decades we have seen more and more of speculative fiction and slipstream, and this trend has become more and more accepted in the literary circles in the past years.
How would you describe your fiction?
This is a tough question. I have some favourite themes that seem to surface regularly, like the question of equality in society (feminist touches here and there, of course), our domestic mythology, and the dichotomy between nature and culture. Sometimes I like to experiment with structure – compile polyphonic stories, or otherwise break the narration with fictitious or genuine documents, citations, etc. My novel Troll – A Love Story is a good example of this technique.
Of course I want my stories to have several layers – they are not just the plot. I was so glad that the jury of James Tiptree, Jr. Award (coming up later) realized exactly that.
Do you have a set writing schedule or do you write when the muse strikes you?
As a professional writer, I have to set schedules. I actually prefer working with a deadline, because that makes me sit down and write, even if I don’t particularly feel like it just then. When I have too much freedom with my schedule, I find myself being very creative – namely coming up with excuses why not to work just now.
Your novel, Troll—a Love Story, which tied for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award in 2004, has been translated into English and published in the USA. What can you tell us about it?
It is set in an alternate history Finland which is, in every other aspect, just the normal Finland, but there is this large wild beast, troll, living in our forests. All the troll mythos and stories and fairy tales we know are thus based on this actual living animal species. In the beginning of the novel, a young photographer finds a sick troll pup and takes it home – and after that everything changes.
The novel was quite a success – it won the national Finlandia Award, the most prestigious literary award in Finland in 2000, and has thus far been translated to almost 20 languages. That’s not very usual for a Finnish book. Even the movie rights option has been bought in the USA.
You edited an anthology called “The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy.” When compiling these stories, what were you looking for?
I was looking for stories and novel excerpts that would be somehow very Finnish. We have our share of post-Tolkien standard fantasy like most western countries, but I tried to search for literature that would reflect Finnish themes and the Finnish way of thinking. We have a very strong, original, and unique mythology, in which nature plays a remarkable role, and our history produces interesting points of view as well. I also wanted to do a historical cross-cut, so there are samples of both the very old and the most modern works, and everything in between. There’s also one story of my own included (requested by the publisher), so, if you are interested, go for the Amazon!
Who are a few of your literary influences? Who do you like to read for pleasure?
I particularly like some authors who have experimented with both of the sf/f /slipstream and so-called contemporary fiction, like Margaret Atwood and Michel Tournier. Some classic writers like Jane Austen and Vladimir Nabokov never cease to charm me. Of genre writers I, of course, have to mention Ursula K. Le Guin. But there are hundreds of sf/f authors who have written things that have impressed me a lot: China Miéville, Lucius Shepard, Jeff Noon, Connie Willis, Gene Wolfe. I recently read David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, and just adored it. It’s not perfect, but it represents that kind of post-modern writing I just appreciate.
As a comics fan and writer, I also have to mention Neil Gaiman and his brilliant Sandman.
What are you working on now?
I’m writing the script for a movie, an internationally produced sf comedy, titled Iron Sky. It’s currently in pre-production. The premise is “In 1945 the Nazis went to the Moon. In 2018, they are coming back.” Go to www.ironsky.net and watch the trailer – it’s worth it! Some of you may know a sf parody movie Star Wreck, which was distributed online, and has had like 9 million downloads this far. Iron Sky is made by the very same garage Kubricks, but this time they have professional producers and four million funding euros from Germany (!) and Britain to help! It has been a lot of fun to work with these awesome guys. Their special effects skills are to watch out for, and the story is nothing like the usual stuff (to be a bit arrogant, here).
What are your plans for the future? Goals? Aspirations?
I’m working on a new novel and have negotiations on the way to perhaps join the team of an animated TV show for kids. As I have written a lot for television and do know a thing or two about screenwriting, I really would like to work on more scripts – more movies, or, to be very ambitious, some HBO-style slipstream TV series.
Johanna Sinisalo was born in 1958 in Sodankylä, Finnish Lapland, and now lives in the town of Tampere. She has studied theatre and drama and worked in advertising for 15 years before becoming a full-time writer. She started her writing career with sf/f short stories, and has this far been awarded with the national Atorox Award for the best domestic sf/f short story seven times. She has also written a generous amount of reviews, articles, comic scripts and screenplays, and edited two anthologies, including The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy.
Sinisalo’s debut novel Not Before Sundown a.k.a. Troll – a Love Story got the most prestigious literary award in Finland, the Finlandia Prize in the year 2000, and tied the James Tiptree Jr. Award in 2004.
She has published three other novels and a story collection and her works have been translated to almost twenty languages.
Marshall Payne has worked as a touring musician, music producer, sound technician, a salesman, and a waiter. He has written over 100 short stories and his fiction has or will appear in Aeon Speculative Fiction, Brutarian, Talebones, Fictitious Force, to name a few. He has a website at http://marshallpayne.com/ and a blog at http://marshallpayne1.livejournal.com/.
