Friday Fiction: Christoffer Petersen (Interview)
Words from Denmark
Here’s the weekly Friday Fiction post, and this time it’s an interview with Christoffer Petersen. (Last time was David Wellington.)
We’re sat in a decrepit wooden cabin while the frozen wind howls outside. The view through the cracks between logs is endless, whirling snow, beneath a flat grey sky. You can’t see through the window panes because they’re covered in a fractal pattern of ice.
Both men hug dented tin mugs of weak coffee. Karl pressed record on the clunky device that sits in the dust on the bare floor between them.
Karl: Hello.
Chris: Hello, sir. Fancy meeting you here. Remember to watch your step when you stand up. Bit of blood over there.
Karl: Fresh red blood, too. I won’t ask. So, first of all, for the readers: who are you, and where do you live?
Chris: I’m Christoffer Petersen, which, of course, isn’t my real name but a mish mash of something Danish. I’m an author and I live in Denmark. Hence the “mish mash”.
Karl: Is your real name secret?
Chris: Absolutely top secret. You can call me Chris, if you like.
Karl: Already have. I like the secrecy, though. Probably also why you stretched my interview budget and insisted on meeting in this remote place on a melting ice floe. In terms of names, I face the opposite problem. People assume my real name is a pen name (especially when they find out I’m a pagan, since pagans often rename themselves as Aurora Treebeard, or Clover McRiver).
Chris: Right. I get it. Pagan, eh? Do you get out much? You know, spot of druidry on a Thursday, maybe some spirit fencing on the weekend?
Karl: Mostly just naked dancing around the gooseberry bush in the moonlight, hugging trees, and holding dumb suppers for my ancestors. All of which feels normal for 2025.
Chris: Yeah. 2025. I'm not feeling it. But I’m always up for a bit of naked gooseberry dancing. Just not in this weather.
Karl: Maybe also more acceptable in Celtic countries like Scotland, Ireland and Wales, home to the indigenous peoples who were originally pagan. So what’s it like in Denmark? (Oh, and you have to watch the thorns during naked gooseberry dancing.)
Chris: Thorns! Ouch. Forgot about them. Denmark actually has a lot in common with the Celtic countries, mostly because of the language. You’ll find a tonne of Danish names in Scotland, not least kirke for church. Also, Denmark is having a bit of a Tangerine Dream at the moment – more like a nightmare – abuse from a certain country about Greenland. However, if it’s okay to just acknowledge it, but not talk about it, then we can bypass a whole load of anxiety and get back to the gooseberries!
Karl: Also Scandinavian countries often have a pagan background, and a revival. In them the most popular type of paganism is known as Heathenry. By Thor's hammer, Greenland will stay free!
Chris: We have Asatro, which is belief in the Nordic gods. So your Thor’s hammer there really fits in. “Tro” is “belief” or “faith” in Danish. But Asa is not short for “ass”. It’s not like they believe in the god of butts or anything. Oh, I’m going to burn for that one.
Karl: You’ll be on the front line for Ragnarok, Chris the sacrificial pawn. But, taking it back to books: what do you write?
Chris: Yeah... oh, watch it... More blood than I expected. It’s on your elbow. You shouldn’t have leaned on the table. Nah, that’s never coming off. What? Books? Sure. I write books of all lengths and all genres, but my crime books and thrillers set in Greenland are the most popular. Bit of a pain, really, as I am a frustrated science fiction author.
Karl: Well, in terms of the biggies first: what is the best-selling book you’ve written, and what led to its success?
Chris: I had some success with The Ice Star, which is a thriller set in Greenland. So much so I quit the day job and started writing full time from January 1st, 2018. In February of that year I wrote and published Seven Graves, One Winter, which features a side character from The Ice Star. Seven Graves is more of a traditional crime novel and it continues to be my biggest seller. It’s been translated by traditional publishers into a few languages and is set to come out in German in October.
Karl: Translations are fun, you’ll be able to flick through it, trying to recognise how your favourite scenes sound in another language! You mentioned writing a range of things, so a different target: what is the book you’ve written that you are most proud of, even if it didn’t sell well?
Chris: I have a book called The Starlighter, which I would describe as a middle grade climate change sci-fi that adults should enjoy too. It felt “important”, and I really wanted to encourage the idea of “not looking away”. Another is Paint the Devil about German wolves crossing the border into Denmark, and the classic hate-filled fear response to the wolf on the doorstep. This is inspired by real life, and I was so frustrated when someone shot a wolf that I wrote a book. They say don’t drive angry, well, writing is the same. I wrote that sucker in five days. I was very angry. I love that book. It’s also in the present tense which was new for me. There are three in that series, so, yeah, I’m still angry. Actually, frustrated is the right word. I often write about things that frustrate me, and when I find readers who are just as frustrated, everything clicks.
Karl: Huh, I didn’t know about the wolves books, but I feel the pain, I’d be furious too. I have also written some things from anger. All books which are important have to come from things the author cares about, and hopefully that emotion reaches the reader. My collection, It Will Be Quick, was a lot about anger, but tempered with humanity (I hope). And yes, finding readers who click with our perspective is always the challenge. But I think it’s better to write from the heart and have fewer readers, than follow a mass-market template and have more success but books which are the equivalent of mental junkfood (in the worst cases): immediately satisfying, forgotten due to the shallowness within a week.
Chris: Sure, I appreciate a good book written from the heart. I’m trying to read a lot of thrillers at the moment, but I often get halfway or less and put them down for another. They’re just too formulaic. But the other day I literally inhaled a book called Quint, published last year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Peter Benchley’s Jaws. However, the author of Quint – a Brit called Robert Lautner –makes no secret that it was really inspired by the character of Quint from the film, not the book. I was sold, and I did not put the book aside. I experienced the same “problem” of getting wrapped up in a book with Lost Solace. Another British author. Pagan. Maybe you know him?
Karl: Lost Solace does seem to be one of my books that sticks in people’s minds! I consider that the fave of anyone who likes speculative fiction, just as Turner is the fave for those who like horror (and It Will Be Quick for fans of contemporary). I forgot to ask, what was your day job before The Ice Star?
Chris: I trained to be a teacher shortly after arriving in Denmark. My first job was teaching in Greenland – hence the Greenland connection. When I moved back to Denmark I taught at a boarding school. We have a tradition for boarding schools in Denmark. But they are nothing like a traditional boarding school in the UK. I taught for three years, took several months off to paddle the Yukon River from Canada into Alaska, and then went back to teaching. I indie published The Ice Star in January 2017, and quit my job in December of the same year to find my literary fortune. Still looking for the fortune, I must say.
Karl: Me too. Hopefully over yonder iceberg, just waiting. Talking of writing full time, what’s your writing method or routine? And are you a plotter or pantser?
Chris: I used to plot to the nth degree. Now I pants, all the way.
Karl: Why did you change?
Chris: Well, I write a lot. And I mean... a lot. I found that planning became boring, and my creative brain would start to ask too many “what ifs?” Then the characters rebelled and broke script, and I just gave up and let them lead. I like to be surprised when I am writing. Sticking to a plan, and already knowing – more or less – the book would end, was the biggest spoiler. Why should the reader have all the fun? I write into the dark because I want to be entertained.
Karl: “I write into the dark.” I like that metaphor. I suppose that, the longer we do this writing thing, and the more we want to grow, the more likely it is that we try new things. New methods, new approaches. All part of mastering the craft. All part of avoiding a rut.
Chris: Yep. I agree. Like changing tenses. I like the idea of doing a Cormac McCarthy and ignoring grammar. But that’s probably laziness on my part.
Karl: It’s a fine line. He removes apostrophes, and it leaves me annoyed that every time I get into a scene, I then get pulled out of the story in resistance to the (bad kind of) ambiguity that the loss of punctuation creates. What do you do to relax?
Chris: I’d like to paddle more. I really chill out on canoe trips into the wilds. But it’s been a little while. I also used to think I could only be wowed by big nature, such as whales and icebergs. But, honestly, I love this time of year (April) when the birds wake me up each morning. I live in a small forest looking on to a hunting area. The deer and pheasants find refuge in my garage and back garden, and I find that relaxing. And board games, the more thematic the better. So, a perfect relaxing evening might be having to pause a board game to watch the deer stroll past the living room window. I don’t need big nature anymore. Just nature, all sizes, and as much of it as possible. I mean, I’m the guy who’ll crouch by a mole hill that has some activity, waiting and hoping for a glimpse of the mole doing his best to destroy my garden. He’s welcome. I’ll take moles over a flat, boring lawn any day.
Karl: You see, that sounds like me, and a pagan heart. I just ate my dinner in the garden, then examined the flowers on the berry bushes, and watched a bumblebee, then enjoyed my cat and a blackbird having a stare-off with the water bowl between them (in the end the blackbird ignored her and got a drink anyway; Dolly showed great self control and looked away). Ponds are great, and I’m excited to see if frogs return to mine this year, or even to lie on the edge and look at the microscopic things swimming about. I also ate some magnolia petals and nettle leaves while I was out (you don't get stung by nettles if you do it the right way). Yep, flat lawns are boring. It’s why I planted stuff in mine (the aforementioned bushes, and a small apple tree). Whenever a patch of daisies springs up I mow around it, and let if become a small meadow area for the rest of the summer. Being able to pay attention to the small details is the sign of a poet, I think.
Karl: To see details, and describe them in a fresh way.
Karl: That’s good writing.
Chris: Agreed. Oh, and nettle tea is rather good. I love bees and again, spent a long time watching a bee digging a tunnel in preparation for winter. It took longer and longer for it to return, wiggling its sandy butt at me, before burrowing back to dig out the tunnel. It’s too easy to get blindsided by the big stuff, the pompous ass politicians pretending to know everything and doing nothing. We should be like the bees. Without them we’re toast.
Karl: Too true. The smallest can be the greatest. Next question. Apart from Quint, what book have you read recently that you recommend? (Not one of yours or mine!)
Chris: Damn... I hoped you wouldn’t ask that question.
Karl: You can say “pass”.
Chris: Nope. Too easy. Read recently, you say? Well, I recently read The Hound of the Baskervilles and really enjoyed it. I’m currently reading a lot, but bits and chapters here and there. If I find the time I have a list of books to reread, and there I would go for The Fellowship of the Ring – mostly because the birdsong in the mornings makes me think of it. And then, a book I love and need more copies on my shelves is The Shield of Mashona by Bill Russell. That book... well. It's brilliant. Just brilliant. Not sure you can get it today, though. Maybe from the library. And that segues me back into Danish stuff. I believe Denmark has the best library system in the world. And, in another interview, if we survive this cold, I’ll tell you why.
Karl: I often read old books. Currently Lovecraft’s work (but that is hard going by modern tastes). Talking of libraries makes me think of how many are struggling due to cuts, especially in the UK. Which artificially segues into: how are we going to fix all the things wrong in the world today?
Chris: I have a solution to that, i.e. all the things wrong in the world, but you won’t like it.
Karl: Oh. Not endless hugs and putting politicians’ heads on spikes, then.
Chris: No, but gooseberry bushes galore!
Karl: Lastly (maybe!): what question didn’t I ask, but you wish I had?
Chris: You never asked me about how often I use aquafaba in my cakes!
Karl: I would have assumed zero as I didn't know you were a chick pea person. But here goes: how many times?
Chris: As often as possible because then my wife is encouraged to make homemade hummus with extra jalepenos, chilli flakes, and black olives. So it’s a case of... “Do you fancy a cake?” which is code for, “Please, please make me more of that fancy hummus!”
Karl: That sounds amazing. I made a dish last night with fresh chillis (and ginger and garlic). I just have to remember not to put in my contact lenses afterwards.
Chris: Ouch!
Karl: Thank you for your time and patience, Chris!
Chris: My pleasure, Karl. Any time. Can you pass me that hand-axe?
Karl: Why?
Chris: Cryptids. I chose this place because it’s supposed to be the haunt of one of the bad ones, the kind that can infiltrate a mind and lead it towards violence. Always existed in the folklore of this region. I think its manipulating politicians to take us towards Doomsday.
Karl presses Stop on the tape recorder.
Editor’s note: Karl hasn’t been heard from since. The ice floe has melted, sinking the old log cabin to the bottom of the sea. But there is still hope that the authors will reappear, safe.
Insightful . . and FUNNY!! 😁