Not Before Sundown [Paperback]

Chillingly seductive . . . I was awed by the beauty of the translation Independent on Sunday, Best Reads of 2003 --Independent on Sunday

A wily thriller-fantasy . . . each discovery sounds like the voice of a storyteller reminding us of how the gods play with our fates New York Times --New York Times

I really enjoyed Not Before Sundown . . . it s a sharp, resonant, prickly book that exists on the slipstream of SF, fantasy, horror and gay fiction Neil Gaiman --Neil Gaiman

'Strange and erotic . . . Is the troll becoming more human or does he merely reveal our own trollishness?'

Mikael, a young gay photographer, finds in the courtyard of his apartment block a small, man-like creature. It is a young troll, known from mythology as a wild beast, now considered extinct. Mikael takes the troll, whom he has named Pessi, back to his apartment. But Mikael does not discover that trolls exude pheromones that smell like a Calvin Klein aftershave and that this has a profound aphrodisiac effect on all those around him. Shooting an assignment for the ultra-hip Stalker jeans, Mikael finds himself fast-tracked into a dangerous liaison with Martes, the art director of the advertising agency, while a couple of his friends in turn fall in love with him because he carries the troll's scent. What Mikael fails above all to learn, with tragic consequences, is that Pessi the troll is the interpreter of man's darkest, most forbidden feelings.

I wanted to write a book that would deal with themes bigger than life—the relationship between man and nature; the problems of different kinds of otherness; how our biological ancestry as hierarchical pack animals still affects us. But I also wanted it to work as a thrilling and emotionally charged story, something the reader could thoroughly enjoy.

Writing it, finally, was like a deep dive into dark unknown waters. Finishing it was like swimming up, breaking the surface, first breathing deeply and then noticing the way I could see that the world has, in a small but definite way, changed during the dive.

Johanna Sinisalo was born in Finnish Lapland in 1958. Even before publication of her first novel which was awarded the prestigious Finlandia Award she had built a stellar reputation as a writer of science fiction and fantasy stories and as an advertising guru. Also known in Finland for her television and comic strip writing, she has, in addition to the Finlandia Award, won the Atorox prize for best Finnish SF or fantasy story SIX times and has been the winner of the Kemi National Comic Strip Contest THREE times.