Olsen, Per G
Entry updated 3 November 2023. Tagged: Author.
(1944-2016) Norwegian author born Olsen who later changed his name to Hvidsten but continued to publish as Olsen. During the sixties and the following decades he was involved in almost every imaginable activity, both professionally and fan-related. He started as editor of the Fanzine Alhabor and a member of several APAs, and later turned to film-related fanzines such as Filmfan and Filmforum with Roar Ringdahl. The Filmindex 1966 (1966 chap), also with Ringdahl, reviewed some 500 US horror, sf and fantasy films. Another interest was Comics; he participated in the founding of Norsk Tegneserieakademi ["The Norwegian Academy of Comics"], which in 1980 became Norsk Tegneserieforum ["The Norwegian Comic Forum"]. Later trained as a cinema technician, he was a member of different film clubs and an advisor for Oslo Kinematografer ["Oslo Cinematographic Organization"].
As important was his occupation as an author, translator, manuscript consultant, and member of the editorial staff of Science Fiction Magasinet (later Nova), Algernon and other small magazines. He made several Radio shows for the Norwegian Broadcasting Company, NRK. In the eighties he wrote many scripts for the comics Fantomet ["The Phantom"] and Pink Panter ["Pink Panther"], and was the secret Sjefen ["The Boss"] for the Fantomet-Klubben ["The Phantom's Club"], a fan department in Fantomet.
Olsen's first published stories were "Kasus" ["Kasus"], "Snø" ["Snow"] and "Et fengslende program" ["A Mind-Consuming Programme"] – the last in collaboration with Roar Ringdahl – all appearing in the early Norwegian anthology Malstrøm: Norsk scienc fiction 1972 ["Maelstrom: Norwegian Science Fiction 1972"] (anth 1972) edited by Jon Bing, Tor Åge Bringsværd and Sigmund Hoftun. With Ringdahl he wrote the novel Nazna ["Nazna"] (February-December 1976 Algernon; 1977); based on unpublished short stories, it tells of the planet Asylet ["The Asylum"], where after a nuclear war (see Post-Holocaust) an orphan, a huntsman and a Werewolf girl fight to stay alive among Mutants and Kryptoautarks, as a travelling carnival comes to town. One of the strangest and funniest Norwegian sf novels of all time, Nazna won the Nova-Statuetten ["Nova Prize"] for the best sf of 1977, voted on by Nova's readers. The sequel "Frack/Fraque" ["Frack/Fraque"] (1977-1983 Algernon) was never completed or published in book form.
With Peter Haars, Olsen edited and translated the anthology Nattjegere ["Night Hunters"] (anth 1974) containing stories about Vampires and Werewolves – the only anthology in the Lanterne SF series not edited by Jon Bing and Tor Åge Bringsværd. His only solo book was the collection Død og ved godt mot i New York ["Dead and in Good Spirits in New York"] (coll 1979); this was hugely influenced by the New Wave. In the eighties he translated the first two volumes of Isaac Asimov's original Foundation trilogy, whose third and later volumes were never released in Norway. [CPe]
Per G Olsen [later Per G Hvidsten]
born Oslo, Norway: 1944
died Oslo, Norway: 11 October 2016
works (selected)
- Nazna ["Nazna"] (Oslo, Norway: Stowa, 1977) with Roar Ringdahl [in the publisher's Nova science fiction series: pb/Terje Nordberg]
collections
- Død og ved godt mot i New York ["Dead and in Good Spirits in New York"] (Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk, 1979) [coll: in the publisher's Lanterne Science Fiction series: pb/Peter Haars]
nonfiction
- SF Guide 1963 (place not known: for the authors, 1963) with Roar Ringdahl [nonfiction: chap: Fan Language: pb/]
- Filmindex 1966 (place not known: for the authors, 1966) with Roar Ringdahl [nonfiction: coll: chap: pb/]
works as editor
- Nattjegere ["Night Hunters"] (Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk, 1974) with Peter Haars [anth: in the publisher's Lanterne SF series: pb/]
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