Possible follow-up to Let The Right One In as a full novel.

[Milkman]

Hey everyone, before I start I just wanted to mention that I'm quite recent here, even though I've read a lot I still haven't posted anything. So, if I end up messing up in some way just tell me, please.

So, what I wanted to discuss with you guys is the fact that JAL, back in 2018, in his usual december "Seasons greeting" post, wrote:

I actually also have the embryo for a proper follow-up to Let the right one in, not a short story but a full novel

I go back there, time and again, just so I can feel the same joy that I felt the first time I read that. Now, the thing is that the reactions of the people that I saw there weren't what I thought would be. And it got me wondering, are you personally happy and excited for when it comes? Or is it indifferent to you? That's my first question to you guys.

In that same post I mentioned above (Seasons greeting no.10) , written by JAL, he also wrote:

First I want to write "The Kindness", and then a novel based on structure of the video game "Forbidden Siren" which will be kalled "Värdet" ("The Value"). But after that I just might return to Oskar and Eli, in the present day. We´ll see.

Now, the thing is, from what I can see the book "The Kindness" is already available in English. I think you know where I'm headed. It may not take that long until we hear some news about the follow-up, maybe this december on the next "Seasons Greeting"?
I'm not saying he's already writing it or anything like that, I don't think that, but since he has just finished one of the projects in which he was focused, maybe, you know...
So, do you think It may be close until we hear some news?

Just so you have some context, this was the first book I've ever read, I don't understand how these things work, I don't know how long it takes to write a book, nor how long it takes to translate it to english and other languages. You can call me a noob of sorts.

So, the last thing I'd like to read from you guys is what you're expecting from the possible follow-up to Let The Right One In. What do you think will happen with Oskar and Eli?
Personally, I don't have a clue of what will happen next, I really have no ideas. I hope JAL surprises us, and I hope it gives us the same vibes LTROI gave us.

Anyways, he hasn't said anything since 2018, so who knows if he even returned to the thought of that embryo. Sure hope so. I'm confident that this year he'll give some info about that.

[Siggdalos]

Welcome to the forum! (Also, nice avatar. )

He's mentioned the idea of a sequel in a couple of other places as well. He first alluded to it in the afterword to Våran hud, vårat blod, våra ben, a short story anthology he released in Sweden in 2016, when describing What Kept You So Long? (a short story that takes place in the same universe as LTROI and LTODD).

The Swedish title [Varför dröjde du?] doesn't have the same ring to it as the English one, What kept you so long?, which is yet another line in Morrissey's song Let the Right One In from which I derived the title of my first novel. I've also previously written a story based on the line Let the old dreams die. I'm starting to run out of lines from that song. Should I ever write a new vampire story, the only one that remains is Until my mouth dries, which admittedly isn't too shabby.

In an interview with the Swedish podcast Udda ting in April 2019, he said this (around the 30:25 mark):

JAL: [...] Then this that came later, when the film came out and got pretty big-- The common theory was that it was just a grooming story, that Eli-- Same as Håkan has been for Eli, now Eli needs to get a new one when Håkan is gone. That thought hadn't even crossed my mind, not even when I had finished writing the screenplay.
Henrik Möller (interviewer): But did you have anything against that idea?
JAL: Yes, I had something against it! [laughs] That's why I wrote-- It's a completely valid interpretation, and in Let Me In, the American version, things really are that way because there Oskar finds an old film strip where Håkan has been young together with Eli, so there the theory is really supported. But, precisely because that was not at all how I'd imagined things-- For me it was just love. The people who love each other get to be together in the end and ride off. That's it, nothing more. And therefore I wrote a short story called Let the Old Dreams Die, where the story continues. And then I also have-- I've finally gotten a-- But maybe it's a mistake-- but I actually have a proper idea for a novel, a sequel to it.

The most recent mention was in the foreword to a limited edition of the book released by Suntup last year:

Also one thing from the introduction that perked my interest...

JAL has apparently been thinking about the idea of a LTROI sequel featuring Oskar and Eli as well as the couple from Let the Old Dreams Die. The title would be 'Until My Mouth Dries'. He's still unsure about it given how sequels usually are but it's still something fun to ponder.

Personally, I practically fell off my chair when I first heard about it (in the Udda ting interview, before I started posting on this forum), and I know I'll try to get my hands on a copy as fast as I can if it ever gets written and released. That said, I also understand those who are wary of the idea. Writing a sequel to a beloved book after such a long time, when no sequel was originally planned, rarely turns out good. However, I'm confident that JAL is such a skilled author who has such respect for the characters and the impact the story has had on many people that he would be able to pull it off successfully.

I'll try not to get too disappointed if he announces that he's abandoned the idea, though. He's had a number of interviews lately where he talks openly about future projects he's planning after The Value, like this one with the talk show Babel from March or this one with the radio show Bokradion from May, and he doesn't mention Until My Mouth Dries in any of those. Maybe he's still unsure about the idea and doesn't want to get people's hopes up by mentioning it too often, or maybe he has just scrapped it entirely. I don't know.

The Kindness hasn't released in English yet. It was only released in Sweden in January of this year, and it tends to take a few years before the English translations get released. I Am the Tiger released in Sweden back in 2018, but only released in English a few days ago. JAL is still working on writing The Value last I heard, but he also tends to kept busy by lots of other projects besides his novels, mainly short stories and different film and TV projects. I don't think it's too unlikely we'll get an update on Until My Mouth Dries this year, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Milkman]

Thank you!! I'm really loving it here. Oh ahah, yeah, I couldn't manage to use any other avatars, so I downloaded someone's else's from here. I don't even know if it was yours, I hope there's no problem.

Well, it's refreshing to know that even before 2018 he was already thinking about a proper follow-up to the story, I'm not very good at keeping up with news so that's good the know.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. It's pretty common in the gaming and movie industry for that to happen. I don't understand how it is with books but I guessed it was the same, but I'm really confident as well. I'm sure that if he indeed goes ahead with it, it'll do justice to LTROI and will end up being a great sequel (fingers crossed).

It's a bummer to know that it usually takes that long for books to get translated. And also that he might have given up on the idea of a sequel. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Which, according to what you just told me, we'll have to wait a few years until we have the book in our own hands. Hey, maybe I'll start learning Swedish, no waiting for the translation that way xD

Right now, what's giving me hope that he will indeed write the sequel, is the fact that technically, he's been mentioning a possible sequel for quite some time now. Well, I don't know, I'm going to try and not get too hopeful. To try.

[Siggdalos]

Oh ahah, yeah, I couldn't manage to use any other avatars, so I downloaded someone's else's from here. I don't even know if it was yours, I hope there's no problem.

Hm, well, I think I would honestly prefer if you used a different one. If only because it gets a bit confusing to have two users with the same avatar. The size limit is 90x90 pixels, so any image larger than that needs to be shrunk down before it can be used.

[Unconditional]

Also in his latest seasonal greeting he said he was working on something so secret he couldn't even mention it (maybe not the same thing but I do hope so lol). Would be really exciting to see what happened to Eli and Oscar for sure

[Siggdalos]

Also in his latest seasonal greeting he said he was working on something so secret he couldn't even mention it (maybe not the same thing but I do hope so lol).

Maybe. Personally, I don't think that's referring to UMMD since he's talked openly about that in the past and I don't know why he would suddenly become all secretive about it if he's still considering writing it (especially when he's already told this forum about it).

Another reason I doubt it is that he said in Seasons greetings no. 10 that if he was going to write UMMD, it would be after he finished The Value. It's possible that he simply decided to switch around the order of the books, but given that he's so busy these days and seems to always be planning and working on at least 5 different projects at once, I think it's more likely that the super secret novel is something new and unrelated to LTROI.

I'd love to be proven wrong, of course.

[Milkman]

Also in his latest seasonal greeting he said he was working on something so secret he couldn't even mention it (maybe not the same thing but I do hope so lol). Would be really exciting to see what happened to Eli and Oscar for sure

Yeah I sure hope both things are related!!
To be honest I didn't even remember him writing that, It'd be awesome if he was indeed referring to LTROI! Anyways, we're probably still a long way from hearing some news, but just the very fact that he has thought about a follow-up it's an indication that he might be working on that right now.

[danielmann861]

He also mentioned it also in the introduction to the Suntup edition of LTROI that he had the germ of an idea on how to revisit Eli and Oscar in a full novel. But whether he gets around to it or not remains to be seen.