It’s been a weird, challenging, and busy first half of the year. At the same time, it’s been absolutely incredible.

Coming into 2025, I thought the biggest thing I was going to do this year was to publish my Norwegian YA debut novel, FJORDBEIST. Having been picked up by my publisher in September, we spent the last few months of 2024 working on edits and revisions, before moving on to formatting, cover design, illustrations, and pre-orders at the start of 2025. By the time the book was released at the end of May, just over a month ago, I was so exhausted and worn out (but also incredibly thrilled and happy!) that I had no idea where the time went. What happened to the spring? Where did the weeks go?

Much of it is my own fault, I realize. Well, all of it, really. Because at the start of the year, I applied for a job. A job in Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago, basically located on the north pole (or at least at 78 degrees North). And in March, I was offered this job.

After a couple of days’ consideration – my wife and I basically just sat down to see if there were any good reasons to decline, and when we couldn’t find any – we said yes! We quit our jobs, began packing down everything we own (at least the stuff we didn’t ship up north), and we rented out the house. Sounds like an easy-breezy thing to do when you have 3 months to spare, right?

Well, we kind of forgot that I was also publishing a book; she was writing, producing, rehearsing and premiering a musical (my wife worked as a teacher at a school for art and culture); I was releasing an album with my band Maryon; and on top of this we were both training for an ultra marathon. Long story short – it’s been busy!

But no we’re finally here! Back in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and we couldn’t be happier.

You see, we’ve been here before. I moved up north for the first time back in 2019, and spent a couple of years (and most of a global pandemic) in the Arctic. I’ve actually written about this place a few times before, both here and here.

I was so smitten by this place, that I jumped at the chance to come back for a few months in 2022, and when I saw the job listing at the start of the year… well, I told you that story already.

We’re very excited to be back. There’s something relaxing about living at the edge of the world. Even when the sun shines 24/7 during the summer, or when it disappears for months at a time during the winter and the whole island is shrouded in darkness, there’s something freeing about being here. It’s difficult to explain, but it’s brilliant.

Also, it’s great place to write. I got my publishing deal for At The Gate while I lived up here last. I drafted more than a few books, including a sci-fi thriller that I signed a contract for with Inked In Gray just a few months ago.

It also inspired more than a few stories, among other things a short story that is inspired by real events that happened up here, and it was part of what drove me to finally write something in Norwegian (the aforementioned debut novel, Fjordbeist).

I’m looking forward to living here again. To bask in the midnight sun, and see the northern lights dance over me during the polar night. I look forward to writing long into the never-ending summer evenings, and to cozy up in the eternal darkness of winter. I look forward to the cold. To the majestic hikes in the rough, Arctic landscape. To stare into the distance and look over my shoulder, feeling the weight of my rifle as I scan the horizon for the white, lumbering creatures that we have to avoid.

Most of all, I look forward to freedom I feel up here. And I look forward to sharing it with all of you.

Aa always, please check out my books and stories. I haven’t stopped writing in English just because I’ve finally managed to get something out in Norwegian, and I’m actually working on a new exciting novella with Inked In Gray, the publisher whom I published At The Gate with. So if you’re into psychological horror, crime thrillers, or science-fiction and fantasy, be sure to check them all out below!

Find all my books and stories here