Benjaminsen, Bjarne
Entry updated 20 November 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1980- ) Norwegian newspaper editor, journalist, poet, author and co-editor of the Norwegian Online Magazine Nye Nova ["New Nova"]; previous to his first book he had published comics, poems and fables in magazines and newspapers such as Psykose, Filologen, Klassekampen, Gateavisa, Lofot-Tidende and the Fanzine Kjærlighetsskjelv ["Love Quake"]. His first sf book was ... som duften av en drøm ... ["Like the Scent of a Dream"] (coll 2020): the ten cybernetic fables describe protagonists in persistent conflict with their technological surroundings, both virtual and real. "Kropp som faller til jorda" ["A Body Falling To the Ground"] is about preserving the few last remaining areas of wild nature by making them into a film. In "Dagens fangst i nebbet" ["Today's Catch in the Beak"] a woman living in an automated flat (see Automation) ends up diving out of the window after a drone. "Maskeløs" ["Without a Mask"] is an homage to Jon Bing and Tor Åge Bringsværd: before a date with his girlfriend a man is threatened by air Pollution and seeks shelter in a subway station on the corner of "Bing and Bringsværd Street". In "Hjerte av gull" ["Heart of Gold"] we learn that even virtual prostitution leaves marks on the body.
Benjaminsen's next book, Kalles Kopier ["The Duplicates of Kalle"] (2023 chap), is a novella containing more between the lines than its 80 pages imply. The story is written in a visual language with new word-constellations, conjuring up rich images that convey the experiences of the characters in Cyberspace. The story takes place in an unspecified Near Future, in the cross-over between reality and the Virtual Reality landscapes – here given the name Maxinet – not unlike William Gibson's Neuromancer (1984). Since childhood the protagonist Kalle Markussen has worked hard to become a "Maxi[net]-naut" together with his school mates Liss and Tore. They get involved in some activities turning everything upside down and inside out: a tour-de-force of surprises and plot twists. [CPe]
Bjarne Benjaminsen
born Oslo, Norway: 14 February 1980
works (sf and fantasy only)
- Kalles kopier ["The Duplicates of Kalle"] (Stamsund, Norway: Orkana, 2023) [chap: pb/Bjarne Benjaminsen]
collections
- ... som duften av en drøm ... ["Like the Scent of a Dream"] (Stamsund, Norway: Orkana, 2020) [hb/Thore Hansen]
previous versions of this entry