Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.05.2014, Qupperneq 33

sushisamba
Þingholtsstræti 5 101 Reykjavík
Tel 568 6600 sushisamba.is
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Skólavörðust.
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Our kitchen is open
17.00–23.00 sun.–thu.
17.00–24.00 fri.–sat.
Amazing
6 course menu
Starts with a shot of the Icelandic
national spirit “Brennivín“
Arctic char
with cucumber andcoriander
Smoked puffin
with yuzu mayo
Minke whale
with celeriac purée
Reindeer burger
with portobello mushroom
Icelandic free range lamb fillet
with cinnamon potato
And to end on a high note ....
“Skyr“ panna cotta with white chocolate
and raspberry sorbet
6.990 kr.

A unique Icelandic Feast
MADE IN ICELAND www.jswatch.com
With his legendary concentration and 45 years of experience our Master
Watchmaker ensures that we take our waterproofing rather seriously.
Gilbert O. Gudjonsson, our Master Watchmaker and renowned craftsman,
inspects every single timepiece before it leaves our workshop.
33 Lemúrinn
Thorarinn Gunnarsson: Iceland’s
Forgotten Sci-Fi Superstar
Lemúrinn is an Icelandic web magazine (Icelandic for the native
primate of Madagascar). A winner of the 2012 Icelandic Web
Awards, Lemurinn.is covers all things strange and interesting!
Go check it out at www.lemurinn.is.
That, roughly, is the plot of the novel
‘Starwolves: Tactical Error’ published
by Thorarinn Gunnarsson in 1991.
Wait, what—Þórarinn Gunnarsson? Is
that an Icelandic name? Icelanders
write sci-fi?
Few Icelanders seem to know that
an Icelander living in the US in the
eighties and nineties published several
sci-fi and fantasy novels, in English! In
fact, between 1988 and 1996, this Tho-
rarinn wrote at least 13 such books.
In addition to the ‘Starwolves’ se-
ries, he published three books in the
‘Dragonlord Chronicles’ series about
a valiant young swordsman that fights
overbearing dragons in the D&D
world Mystara; two books somewhat
based on Nordic mythology (‘Song
of the Dwarves’ and ‘Revenge of the
Valkyrie’) and finally the 'Dragons'
series, four young adult novels that
— judging by their covers — deal with
dragons and skateboards, and maybe
even dragons on skateboards.
According to the article, “Don’t
Try This at Home: The Confessions of
Thorarinn Gunnarsson,” which was
published in the ancient sci-fi webzine
‘Hardwired’ in 1997, Thorarinn’s nomi-
nal father, Gunnar, was a fisherman,
his mother an actress, and his real
father (whose name is not provided in
the article), a celebrated Norwegian
film director.
Following in his parents’ footsteps,
young Thorarinn started acting in films
and even worked as an opera singer
in Europe before tragically losing his
voice. That’s when he relocated to
the US and started writing sci-fi. He
remained a great adventurer though,
traveling, for instance, all the way
to Antarctica. His sister, Halla Gun-
narsdóttir, was no less an adventurer,
abandoning a successful career as a
doctor to sing in a rock band.
If this is starting to sound a bit out-
landish, it’s because it's a load of bol-
locks. “Thorarinn Gunnarsson” is in
fact the nom de plume of an American
with no Icelandic blood whatsoever. In
his “Confessions,” he finally admits to
having invented the persona of Tho-
rarinn Gunnarsson to fight depression
and feelings of insecurity as a new
writer.
“As it happened, the perfect per-
sona was ready-made. I am a tall, Nor-
dic-looking Viking type (and Viking
aren't supposed to be good-looking in
the first place), and my interest in his-
tory had led me to teach myself a lot
of Scandinavian history and even a fair
amount of the Icelandic and Norwe-
gian languages when I was in college,”
he writes. “I quickly discovered, if by
accident, that the persona of my pen
name was like a suit of armor, and a
very comfortable one, against all of my
fears and self-doubts.”
We still have no idea what Tho-
rarinn's real name is and we have no
idea what became of him because he
has not published any new works in
17 years—at least not under this name.
What a shame!
Words
Vera Illugadóttir
With powerful AI-controlled ships, the Starwolves have
been defending the Republic against the numerically su-
perior but technically inferior Union forces, a decidedly
one-sided battle that has lasted for centuries. However,
that may soon change. The commander of the Union forc-
es is drafting a plan involving a new secret weapon that
is capable of destroying the Starwolves once and for all.