Willy Ustad
Encyclopedia
Willy Ustad is a Norwegian
novelist.
. The Authors' Union has a literary council that has to judge that at least two works have literary value before a writer is allowed to enter.
He has written several series, the main one is Fire søsken (Four Brothers and Sisters) (42 books). Others are Opprør (Uprising) (about 1960s type radicalism, 7 books) and Vokterne (The Guardians), an X-files-like Science Fiction
series of 6 books for teenagers.
Ustad grew up in a heavily forested part of Trøndelag
. He was an army employee until he was past 30, and later a metalworker and active union member. Health problems forced him to stop working in the factory, and he started writing full time. His books depend heavily on this background, as well as extensive research.
They are often placed in Trøndelag, both in the largest city Trondheim, in smaller industrial cities, the countryside and unpopulated forests and mountain landscapes. They may continue into the large forests of Sweden
on the other side of the border, or occasionally go on anywhere else in the world, the Soviet Union
, Japan
, the United States
. He is good at describing work with machines like rebuilding of cars, aircraft maintenance, the building of factories etc.
Military and security personnel, industrial workers and working women - often unwed mothers - as well as small farmers and city criminals are among those who populate his books. Most of them have female heroes.
His tales mix well-documented historical and social realism with the fantastic in the form of ghost stories, local legends and science fiction. Many have spy themes from the Cold War
. Some are realistic crime stories, some fantasies, several are airplane thrillers (among them a book about the U-2 Crisis of 1960
), some are documentary novels about historical themes, one or two are erotic novels.
Most of his books are tied up with each other through common characters, places, themes etc. A single novel that is a pastiche about the Norwegian prewar detective hero Knut Gribb describes the building of a factory that is important 40 years later in Fire Søsken. Characters from that series participate in the series Vokterne. A priest described in a historical novel about the Black Death
makes an appearance as a ghost several hundred years later in a Fire søsken novel. In one sense, they might be regarded as parts of a still expanding mega-novel.
One of his early non-series books, Ulvetid (A Time of Wolves) describes the flight of a slave girl during the late Viking age, into a forest where she joins a group of wolves. This is based on a local legend. On her way she passes through a large battle, and she meets the hulder, a supernatural woman that belongs to the subteranians still feared in remote parts of Norway.
The novel was sold in the museum shop at Stiklestad
in Trøndelag, that commemorates the Battle of Stiklestad
in 1030, where Olaf II of Norway
fell. He was later sainted as St. Olav, Norway's patron saint, with a wide cult around the North Sea
in catholic times.
The curators of the museum regarded Ustad's reconstruction of the battle in his novel as probably the best one ever made.
This illustrates Ustad's literary method of combining research, studies of history, local knowledge and a sense of the ancient unpopulated forests and mountains, with legends, folk beliefs and popular thriller writing.
Ustad has also written a couple of non-fiction books about flying saucers.
Social indignation has been the driving force behind many of Ustad's books.
The Fire Søsken series started with the novel Tyskertøs (a derogatory word about girls who went with Germans during the Nazi occupation), about a girl who has an out of wedlock baby with a German soldier on the day the war ends in 1945. It tells the story about the persecution of these women during the liberation days, which has been a taboo theme in Norway.
The book set a record as the up to then best-selling first novel in a series, and was made into a radio play for the official Norwegian channel NRK
.
The main protagonist in Tyskertøs, Lena Karlsbu and her very diverse brothers and sisters (a resistance fighter sister who becomes a school teacher, a semi-criminal brother who collaborated with the Nazis for profits, who become a major factory owner, and a torpedoed war sailor and communist who becomes a union leader and then a member of parliament for the ruling social democratic party), then become the heroes (and sometimes antiheroes) of the rest of the series. A vehicle who allowed Ustad to excavate several taboo real life stories in later books. As he continued exploring this in the series, he received death threats from people who thought he was writing about abuse they had been involved in during the 1940s.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
novelist.
Biography
He is a productive writer of popular novels, mainly in paperback, with close to 80 titles published since 1989. Their quality as literature has made him a member of the Norwegian Authors' UnionNorwegian Authors' Union
The Norwegian Authors' Union is an association of Norwegian authors. It was established in 1893 to promote Norwegian literature and protect Norwegian authors' professional and economic interests. DnF also works in solidarity with persecuted writers internationally.As of 2004 the association had...
. The Authors' Union has a literary council that has to judge that at least two works have literary value before a writer is allowed to enter.
He has written several series, the main one is Fire søsken (Four Brothers and Sisters) (42 books). Others are Opprør (Uprising) (about 1960s type radicalism, 7 books) and Vokterne (The Guardians), an X-files-like Science Fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
series of 6 books for teenagers.
Ustad grew up in a heavily forested part of Trøndelag
Trøndelag
Trøndelag is the name of a geographical region in the central part of Norway, consisting of the two counties Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag. The region is, together with Møre og Romsdal, part of a larger...
. He was an army employee until he was past 30, and later a metalworker and active union member. Health problems forced him to stop working in the factory, and he started writing full time. His books depend heavily on this background, as well as extensive research.
They are often placed in Trøndelag, both in the largest city Trondheim, in smaller industrial cities, the countryside and unpopulated forests and mountain landscapes. They may continue into the large forests of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
on the other side of the border, or occasionally go on anywhere else in the world, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He is good at describing work with machines like rebuilding of cars, aircraft maintenance, the building of factories etc.
Military and security personnel, industrial workers and working women - often unwed mothers - as well as small farmers and city criminals are among those who populate his books. Most of them have female heroes.
His tales mix well-documented historical and social realism with the fantastic in the form of ghost stories, local legends and science fiction. Many have spy themes from the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. Some are realistic crime stories, some fantasies, several are airplane thrillers (among them a book about the U-2 Crisis of 1960
U-2 Crisis of 1960
The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on May 1, 1960, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union.The United States government at...
), some are documentary novels about historical themes, one or two are erotic novels.
Most of his books are tied up with each other through common characters, places, themes etc. A single novel that is a pastiche about the Norwegian prewar detective hero Knut Gribb describes the building of a factory that is important 40 years later in Fire Søsken. Characters from that series participate in the series Vokterne. A priest described in a historical novel about the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
makes an appearance as a ghost several hundred years later in a Fire søsken novel. In one sense, they might be regarded as parts of a still expanding mega-novel.
One of his early non-series books, Ulvetid (A Time of Wolves) describes the flight of a slave girl during the late Viking age, into a forest where she joins a group of wolves. This is based on a local legend. On her way she passes through a large battle, and she meets the hulder, a supernatural woman that belongs to the subteranians still feared in remote parts of Norway.
The novel was sold in the museum shop at Stiklestad
Stiklestad
Stiklestad is a village and parish in the municipality of Verdal in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located east of the municipal center of Verdalsøra and about southeast of Forbregd/Lein. The village is mainly known as the site of the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030...
in Trøndelag, that commemorates the Battle of Stiklestad
Battle of Stiklestad
The Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway was killed. He was later canonized...
in 1030, where Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
fell. He was later sainted as St. Olav, Norway's patron saint, with a wide cult around the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
in catholic times.
The curators of the museum regarded Ustad's reconstruction of the battle in his novel as probably the best one ever made.
This illustrates Ustad's literary method of combining research, studies of history, local knowledge and a sense of the ancient unpopulated forests and mountains, with legends, folk beliefs and popular thriller writing.
Ustad has also written a couple of non-fiction books about flying saucers.
Social indignation has been the driving force behind many of Ustad's books.
The Fire Søsken series started with the novel Tyskertøs (a derogatory word about girls who went with Germans during the Nazi occupation), about a girl who has an out of wedlock baby with a German soldier on the day the war ends in 1945. It tells the story about the persecution of these women during the liberation days, which has been a taboo theme in Norway.
The book set a record as the up to then best-selling first novel in a series, and was made into a radio play for the official Norwegian channel NRK
Norsk Rikskringkasting
The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation , which is usually known as NRK, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organisation in Norway...
.
The main protagonist in Tyskertøs, Lena Karlsbu and her very diverse brothers and sisters (a resistance fighter sister who becomes a school teacher, a semi-criminal brother who collaborated with the Nazis for profits, who become a major factory owner, and a torpedoed war sailor and communist who becomes a union leader and then a member of parliament for the ruling social democratic party), then become the heroes (and sometimes antiheroes) of the rest of the series. A vehicle who allowed Ustad to excavate several taboo real life stories in later books. As he continued exploring this in the series, he received death threats from people who thought he was writing about abuse they had been involved in during the 1940s.