Book Talk

I met my books' publisher recently. I promised to submit her the first draft of The Left Hand Path, the English translation of the original Finnish Vasemman Käden Polku, soon. I did it today. The draft is not about the entire book, so there is still plenty of work with it. It has taken much longer to get the book translated than was originally planned. I have just been way too busy with my studies on pedagogics and with other projects to get the translation already completely done (I have been happy being busy though). As a general rule, things take their time and reach completion at the right time if one just keeps busy working for them.

In the meeting we also put another project a step forward, something that has been talked about every now and then. My second book, Saatanan Mustat Nahkasiivet, eli Sodoman 104 päivää, eli San Franciscon päiväkirja, a travel book with an initiatory twist, is most likely turning into an audiobook later this year. If the stars will be in so weird positions as they are often in H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, the audiobook might get published even before the translation of Vasemman Käden Polku. We’ll see.

It has been amusing to think about who I would like to get to read the audiobook. Jouko Turkka would be great. Jari Tervo, Vesa Vierikko, M.A. Numminen and Ruben Stiller would be splendid choises too. A good friend of mine, Ensio Kataja, Finnish senior of the Rune-Gild and the author of Riimujen Viisaus, suggested that Heikki Kinnunen would be the best pick. Tommy Tabermann would undoubtedly make a soulful interpretation of my nietzschean poem Säkenöivä Tähti that is part of the book too (page 124). Just a thought of that cracks me up.

But maybe I should ask if our president, Mrs. Tarja Halonen, would do me a favor here. She sort of owes it to me after receiving a free first edition copy of Vasemman Käden Polku from my publisher and after getting my vote for her presidency, both in 2000 CE and today, when she was elected for her second term (by the way, my American friends might be curious about why Conan O’Brien has been gung ho for our president’s second term. You can read about it from here).

Oh well, I guess I will transform the book into an audiobook myself. Unless you come up with some superb suggestions (you can drop them in the "comments" below).

When it comes to other books I am associated with, I am pleased to tell that Musta Kana, the Finnish translation of a classic grimoire La Poule Noire (with my foreword and covers), a charming little book of magical fiction, is again available from Voimasana, and that my recently released intra-Temple of Set book Aletheia I is still available for setians.

My current writing work includes (in addition to getting The Left Hand Path completely translated) another translation project (more of that later this year) and writing my forthcoming Aletheia: In Search of Self-Remembering. Before I am going to drop some of my own thoughts about aletheia here, you might find Martin Heidegger's interpretations about the same concept interesting. You can read about them from here.

These musings were served to you mainly by the staff of my third floor of consciousness on a day they have been doing their job pretty well.