WHAT?

"Brent" is a two volume novel that takes place in the not so very far future. It may be called a crossbreed between a space opera and a road movie.

However, even though it takes place in the future, it is not a science fiction. It just takes place in the future, technology is not a participant, just props and surroundings for a story that in principle could have taken place several hundred years ago, say, aboard a pirate ship, on the high seas.

Another answer to the question "what", is that "Brent" signifies the end of my apprenticeship. So far, in all my books, I have been trying to grasp the craft of the novelist. Even my most popular books have never been shaped by content. I could in principle have written three novels, or five, for that matter, with totally different stories and characters. My novels have so far just me efforts.

Which is why I felt the need to close a chapter, so to speak, in my authorship. When I signed up in 1995 with Norway's largest publishing house Cappelen, or CappelenDamm as it now is called, I gave my publishers an apprenticeship plan, which ended with "Brent", having previously concluded the two first novels on my list.

"Brent" is thus my third novel for CappelenDamm and my fourth in all, and my book no. 6. It is my "exam", and I have included a maximum of factors that makes it extremely hard to write. I have done so on purpose, as "Brent" is designed to be as difficult to write as possible in every sense of the word. It has to be well-composed and well-written for even to function as a piece of reading.