The Apex Book of World SF 4 edited by Mahvesh Murad is out now and our author features continue!
Nene Ormes has a past as an archaeologist and as a tour guide in Egypt and now lives in Malmö, Sweden. Her debut novel, Udda verklighet (Touched), is the first in a series of urban fantasies set in her home town. The second novel, Särskild (Dreamer) won her a culture award. “The Good Matter” takes place in the same world as the novels.
Read "The Good Matter" on io9.
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Tell us a little about your story in The Apex Book of World SF 4.
My story, “The Good Matter,” came about from a fond fantasy I nurtured through my archaeology days - what if I could touch an object and feel its history? I could get a window through time and a glimpse of the life and hand that had shaped it. That would have been really convenient, I thought, and exciting! But if you had that ability and was surrounded by objects with long histories every day, how would you handle it? And so Gustav, an antique dealer, entered my fantasy universe and this is the first story about him. He shows up in my novels as well, and his shop is in Malmö, albeit in my urban fantasy version of Malmö.
Why do you feel it is important to read stories from around the globe?
In Sweden about half of our published books every year are translated from another language, so for me that is the way literature should be. It gives access to other cultures, other experiences, other thoughts than your own, and you have to be aware of the many layered reasons why people do what they do. It's not just the situation in the stories, it's where that situation takes place and to whom it happens as well.
If you could tell people to read one author from your home country, who would it be and why?
One of my absolute favorites is Inger Edelfeldt. If she's at all available in your languages seek her out.
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