A.E. Hellstorm's Blog

Author Note, April 8, 2020

Around 2009-2010, while writing Lost, I began to get several Field Researcher stories popping up into my head, and it was around that time that the whole FR-universe really began to take shape. Characters stepped up, craving attention, and I listened. One of the books that wanted to be written is Not For Your Eyes, the book that will end the whole series. I knew roughly what would take place, and when I say roughly, its in the most generous sense of the word. Were going to follow André from...

Author note, January 5, 2020

It’s interesting how characters work when you’re writing about them. In ‘Of Darkness Born’, I kind of introduced a Field Researcher named George. He was only mentioned, and we never got to meet him. However, I did have a quite specific idea of how he was supposed to be: flamboyant, funny, generous, and a womanizer. In “The Living Wall” which I’m currently writing, he has a bigger part to play, and yesterday, he began claiming his place. As I wrote, George developed and now he’s talking… and...

Author note, May 27, 2019

I had a wonderful and inspiring time at WordSpring this weekend. It was lovely to meet all the amazingly creative authors there and take part in workshops, panels, and award ceremonies. I even came to realize why it's been so hard for me to write 'Living Wall'. It’s because I still look at Larry from Henry’s perspective. Larry does have negative traits. He’s flawed just as all my characters, but Henry never took off his rosy-tinted sunglasses when looking at him, he never stopped admiring him...

Author Note, May 20, 2019

I usually try to avoid getting political, because politics is not what I want to focus on as an author. However, during the weekend, I read an article that made me drop my chin.I have rolled my eyes at the sensitivity movement before, but I’ve kept it as my personal opinion. Now, I feel that I need to speak up, because this is a very dangerous road we are travelling. If no one is allowed to write from another perspective than their own, and not allowed to draw from other people’s experiences,...

Author Note, March 22, 2019

I’m sitting at the computer, watching the rain hammering on the window and the trees’ branches dancing wildly outside. It’s PD-day and my children are at home, listening to their favourite music as they’re building train tracks and cities in the hall, while the seven fans downstairs half-drenches every sound.Somehow, it’s all very soothing. After a week full of construction workers demolishing our floors and walls downstairs – even though they gave my children the time of their lives by encou...

Author Note, March 12, 2019

I have always had a longing inside me of having a garden. Ever since my early teens, I used to collect gardening books and herbal medicine books and pour through them, longing for red currants, wild strawberries, cherries, gooseberries, and all the herbs you can think of. One of my favourite book series back then was the one about Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters; the protagonist a crusader turned monk, head of the monastery’s garden. I read them again and again, always envisioning the good ol...

Author Note, February 20, 2019

One of the recurring questions I get is how much research goes into my books. It's a great question which I appreciate a lot.Even though the stories are fictional, I want as much as possible to be true, which is why I spend a lot of time doing research.'Of Darkness Born', for example, took three years to complete. One of those years went wholly into research. The main part of what I studied had to do with how forensic units work, how autopsies work - especially brain autopsies, and how K9 uni...

Author Note, February 12, 2019

I’ve been thinking about the word ‘inspiration’ lately, and what it really means to people on a deep, personal level. Words are overall a very intriguing subject, because, depending on each person’s own experiences, they mean different things to different people. What ‘inspires’ me does not necessarily ‘inspire’ you.It’s a double-edged (s)word. It creates a longing in your soul, but sometimes, it also creates an astounding fear of never again feel that sensation. For an artist, lack of inspir...

Author Note, June 30, 2018

I have written three books and planned nine (plus a short-story-collection) in the Field Researcher Universe, but, let’s face it; I could go on and write books about them my whole life. The universe is so huge and so rich and all the people you meet in the books have a story worth telling.In ‘In the Hands of the Unknown’, for example, we get to meet a security guard at the Museum of Natural History. In a short passage, he tells Miriam and Carl about his father who served in WWII and who later...

Author Note, April 29, 2018

Music is an important part in everyone’s life. You usually have memories connected to certain songs, and when your ear catches a certain melody, feelings and images and even smells show up in your mind. It’s a wonderful medium. I myself have a very complicated relationship to music. It probably has something to do with me being highly sensitive to noise and light. In the mornings, for example, I can’t even stand people talking, and no lights can be on. If it is, it feels like my body is invad...