A 2025 update from JAL

[Siggdalos]

JAL's apparently (unfortunately) no longer making his yearly "Seasons greetings" posts here (the last one was in 2022), but he does usually make a New Years post on his site and social media, so I guess I'll share that here on his behalf as a substitute. The subpar translation is my fault and not his, naturally.

https://www.johnajvidelindqvist.com/article.php?id=380

Happy new Summer of 1986!

Now it's done, "The Summer of 1986 - Lovisa & Melinda". 446 pages at the moment. Half a brick, maybe a brick tile. Now it'll get to rest for a month, then be pruned and edited, test-read, looked over by my editor and be recorded as an audiobook in the studio. And then! Planned release in late summer or autumn 2026. I'm cautious about using the word, but I LOVE this book. It was a number of years since I felt that way about anything I'd written.

During 2025 I've primarily been working on this book, an as of yet secret film screenplay, a theater monologue, some poems, as well as me and my wife's now half-finished novel, a feelgood with supernatural elements. "The little store that refused to die" is its name. Jenny Colgan moves into Hill House.

And so now comes 2026. As mentioned, there will be some working on "The Summer of 1986". In parallel with this, I'm going to write short stories, as well as rework my film screenplay "The World Council of Magic" into a novel. The TV series "Svärtan" - based on "The Summer of 1985" - will air on SVT come summer. Write some more on "The little store".

After that I don't really know. Maybe I'll return to "The Value", where I've written 70 pages or so, a number of them being very graphic death scenes. Or my Bloodstorm spinoff with Astrid Helander as the main character. Or "The Summer of 2025" to examine what happened to all of them, forty years later. Or something totally different. A novel with the provisional name "The Order" is near the forefront of my mind with many images calling for attention.

I have plenty to do, and to all of you who are dedicated enough to have bothered reading this text all the way through: thank you for coming along and [in Lotta & Krister's dialect from "The Pigs"] have a happy new year. Jaow maddelfackels!

While on the topic, I would personally like to add that I hope all the Infected had a good 2025. I did, even if not a lot of it took place in this forum, and I didn't post as much FF as I wanted to, but I'm always grateful that this community continues to exist. I'll see you all in 2026.

[intrige]

It was bound to happen, this forum is but the bare bones of its hayday. Still I lurk and slumber at intervals, watching on as the last trace of the old internet churns its gears into abscurity.
He's also quite busy, per usual, writing a lot! Kind of reminds me of Stephen King, actually. XD

[I_Am_Nobody]

Thank you very much for posting this. I was a bit saddened when JAL stopped posting updates on here. Then again, English likely isn't his first language.

Just started reading "I Am the Tiger", really excited to see how it turns out.

[Siggdalos]

It was bound to happen, this forum is but the bare bones of its hayday.

I was a bit saddened when JAL stopped posting updates on here. Then again, English likely isn't his first language.

Honestly, I think he just forgot about the tradition. I don't think he intentionally decided to stop posting for whatever reason. No offense to the man, of course, but from interviews I get the impression that he can be a little, well, scatterbrained. And as apparent from the above, he's always juggling at least half a dozen projects at the same time. Plus from previous seasons greetings posts it sounds like he's especially busy over the holidays on account of his big family, so naturally it was always low priority.

[PLrc]

Thank you for that!

I waited for a word from JAL. I hope you've just started a new tradition on this forum