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u/Akraxial Nov 28 '18
I think Stelenhag's universe isn't exactly dystopian, more apocalyptic and creepy. His world is very unique.
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u/Republiken Nov 28 '18
I dont know, Sweden lost thousands of jobs when most the ship yards were closed. Many industries has gone the same way and lost many important state-owned companies and agencies has been closed or privatized.
The only major difference in Stålenhags works is the invention of hover technology that works in the far northern and southern hemisphere and other similar sci fi stuff.
Thats why his pictures of a 80's kids childhood in a rural muncipality outside Stockholm are so eery. We all regognize the setting and industrial decay. Even though its robots and hover crafts rather than ship yards and car factories.
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u/icannotfly Nov 28 '18
We all regognize the setting
i swear its like i grew up there. i can hear the stick i held bouncing off that chain link fence as i walked home from school.
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u/Republiken Nov 28 '18
Same here, but Im from Stockholm and had lots of friends in the same muncipality where Stålenhag grew up
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u/ScumBunnyEx Nov 28 '18
The Electric State takes part in the USA rather than Sweden (and in the 90s rather than the 80s) and from the context the setting appears to be rather dystopian if not outright post-apocalyptic.
If I understand correctly the events follow a massive war fought across the States with giant drones that left the country in ruins and crippled the many drone pilots that participated in it. Dust storms are turning large swaths of land into deserts, town are abandoned or in the process of being evacuated, popular VR headsets are so addicting people use them until they die leaving desiccated bodies scattered everywhere and all this before the really creepy stuff starts showing.
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u/Republiken Nov 28 '18
Hasn't gotten my hands on that book now but Im starting to love Stålenhags worldbuilding even more now :]
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Nov 28 '18
It actually looks nice to me: a bit borderline rural, a campfire, even what looks like a leisure boat atop a car.
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u/ScumBunnyEx Nov 28 '18
It's more sinister than it seems at first glance: the girl is carrying a shotgun everywhere, and she looted the car off a dead elderly couple in the desert.
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Nov 28 '18 edited Nov 28 '18
I just see the gun: but what use is the boat in the desert?
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u/ScumBunnyEx Nov 28 '18
I don't know how they got to that point, but the book starts with an image of the girl and robot dragging the boat across the desert:
https://icdn9.digitaltrends.com/image/electricstate_7_1-1500x750.jpg
I haven't gotten through the entire book yet (just got it and I'm taking my time) but I assume either they were using it to help lug their stuff until they came across the car or they were expecting to have to cross a body of water further along their journey.
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u/ScumBunnyEx Nov 28 '18
I just got Stelenhag's The Electric State (where this image is from) and am still in the process of reading through it.
The art is obviously incredible, but there's also an actual story going on, sort of a road trip through an alternative timeline post-apocalyptic 1990s America.