Stieg Larsson

(August 15, 1954 – November 9, 2004)

Karl Stig-Erland “Stieg” Larsson, a Swedish fan active in the 1970s, is best known for his post-gafiation career as a journalist and crime novelist. His bestselling The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the rest of his Millennium trilogy were published posthumously, starting in 2005, after Larsson died suddenly of a heart attack. By the end of 2022, the three books had passed 100 million copies sold worldwide, making him per book the most read Swedish author in history.

An avid science fiction reader from a young age, Larsson became active in fandom around 1971; after moving to Stockholm in 1977 he became active also in the Scandinavian SF Society, of which he was a board member in 1978 and 1979, and chairman in 1980. With Rune Forsgren, he published the fanzine Sfären with four issues in 1972–73; and attended his first science-fiction convention, SF 72. Through the 1970s, Larsson published around 30 fanzine issues; the most highly regarded one was Fijagh, also co-edited by Forsgren; it was a personalzine, often with heated debates in the lettercolumn, and had nine issues 1974–77.

In his first fanzines, 1972–74, he published a handful of early short stories, while submitting others to other zines. An account of this period in Larsson's life, along with detailed information on his fanwriting and short stories, is included in the biographical essays written by Larsson's friend John-Henri Holmberg in The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of Our Time, by Dan Burstein, Arne De Keijzer and Holmberg, St. Martin's Griffin, 2011.

In early June 2010, manuscripts for two of his short stories, as well as fanzines with one or two others, were "discovered" in the Swedish National Library (to which this material had been donated a few years earlier, mainly by the Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Foundation, which works to further science-fiction fandom in Sweden). This discovery of what was called "unknown" works by Larsson generated considerable publicity. One of his fanzine stories, translated as "Brain Power", is included in John-Henri Holmberg's anthology of Swedish crime stories, A Darker Shade of Sweden, GroveAtlantic/Mysterious Press 2014.

Larsson from 1974 was in a relationship with fellow fan and architect Eva Gabrielsson, with whom he co-edited some fanzines. She published a memoir, There Are Things I Want You to Know About Stieg Larsson and Me, in 2011. Because the two never married, and he died without a valid will, under Swedish law she inherited nothing, and his estate, estimated at more than US$100 million, instead went to his estranged father and brother.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• FANAC (some issues, with Eva Gabrielsson) [1977–79]
• Fijagh (with Rune Forsgren) [9 issues, 1974-77]
• Långfredagsnatt (annually, 5 issues, late 1970s)
• The Magic Fan (with Eva Gabrielsson) [1980]
• Memorafiac (personal recollections, 3 issues, late 1970s)
• Sfären (with Rune Forsgren) [4 issues, 1972-73]

See also: Celebrity Fen.

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Person

1954—2004

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