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It was late 2009 when I accidentally stumbled across Wallander late one night.  I think it was a Thursday, and I had just got home after another long day at the coal face and was channel surfing, looking for something worth watching until bedtime.  I landed on BBC Four - or it may well have been BBC Two, it's not really important now.  What is important is that I didn't immediately switch away from whatever channel it was.  I stopped and watched, and listened to the dialogue in Swedish, and read the subtitles, and stared at Ola Rapace's face and thought "Mmm..."

Once I got over my initial confusion (Wallander?  Isn't that the thing that Kenneth Branagh's in??) I was really enthralled with what I saw.  The characters were compelling, the scenery was amazing, the Swedish dialogue was enjoyable to listen to and - most importantly - the acting was very, very good.  It was very easy to get hooked, initially on Ola Rapace's portrayal of Stefan, then also on Krister Henriksson as Kurt, Johanna Sällström as Linda, and from there the original Wallander books and some of Henning Mankell's other writings and...  Well, you get the idea.

The major problem, however, was that there was NO fandom.  I went looking for information on the actors and characters (for instance I searched for pictures of Ola, tried to find out what else Krister and Johanna had been in, and searched for filming locations that I recognised from the episodes) and came up with very little in English.  And of course, most of the "Wallander" links and all of the fanfic I came across was for the Branagh version - most of it heavily featuring Tom Hiddleston as "Magnus".  Bleh.

Several years later things have improved somewhat, due to more recognition of Krister's portrayal of Kurt and the general surge of enthusiasm for all things Nordic Noir.  However, Swedish Wallander still remains a tiny fandom, even in comparison with British Wallander - which is still full of breathless fangirling over Tom Hiddleston as "Magnus".  Bleh.  And apart from my own love and enthusiasm for Swedish Wallander, it's this that fuels much of what I post online.  I post the kind of things I would have liked to find when I first started out in fandom, because I want it to be easier for other new fans than it was for me.  I share links and post screencaps, and look for news about Krister and the other actors because something as good as this deserves to be shared and be better known!  And every so often I find another like-minded fan, and then things don't seem quite as lonely :)

So what have I got so far?

Wallander-related posts on Tumblr
My collection of episode screencaps
Vagebond's Movie Screenshot collection (scroll down the list for the first 11 Wallander episodes)

In the Footsteps of Wallander official guide to locations

Wallander fanfic not including "Magnus"

There could be a lot more here, and when I have time I'm going to put together a master list of Wallander-related links. In the meantime, if anyone out there has anything to add, please please please drop me a line!!

Yesterday I finally finished working through my photographs from my trip to Ystad last September.  The final count is 430 of Ystad, Skåne and a detour to Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, but I had a couple of hundred more that I didn't keep.  This is the most photos I've taken of anywhere.  I wanted to document as much of what I saw as possible, but then again Ystad is amazingly photogenic anyway.

I've posted some of the pictures at my Tumblr blog, and a good few on Panoramio.  The hard task now is deciding which I want to have printed for my walls.  This is a strong contender:



as well as this:



Ultimately, though, it's just lovely to have so many reminders of a great trip.  I hope I'll be back there soon!

It's been good to get through all the photos, but now I really need to get back to writing.  I've signed up to pimp my beloved fandom on smallfandomfest, so I have to have something ready by April 30th.  I also need to get on with The Assignment and The Men From Stockholm.  The longer I leave them, the guiltier I feel, but on the other hand I'm relishing the thought of all this writing!

jellied-egg, I think I love you XD