Thomas Sand

Thomas Sand is an author born in Parainen, Finland in 1966. In his books he mixes several genres, such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, adventure, and sometimes also dry British-style humor.

It was, of course, J.R.R. Tolkien who opened my eyes and somehow blew my mind when I was a teenager. Besides the thrilling, sometimes very dark storyline, what fascinated me endlessly was the story's realism. It was quite easy to believe that those worlds were or are real in some dimension.

Another writer who has changed my world is Neil Gaiman. His Sandman comic book series alone represents the kind of talent in storytelling that any writer would sell their soul for, but especially his American Gods novel finally proved to me that a writer doesn't have to respect any artificial genre or other limits. Gaiman's stories can go anywhere – yet they always go to magical, mysterious, delightfully weird places.

Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea series redefined what fantasy fiction could be. The calm, frail, unique, sometimes a bit sad atmosphere in her stories differs a lot from most books in the fantasy genre. To me, they are pure greatness.

Terry Pratchett, who sadly just passed away, is one of my heroes in storytelling. One either loves his twisted humor or not, but to me his ability to see the funny, crazy, absurd, dark and sometimes sad colors of humanity, turning it all into immensely enjoyable, deep and often moving stories is something beyond my comprehension.

One true Master of Storytelling came from Finland. Tove Jansson, praised by Neil Gaiman himself, created something absolutely amazing with her Moomins books and comics. Their wild, warm, often wonderfully crazy anarchy especially in her original (not the "cutified" Japanese versions for children) works are still absolutely magical.

I could never write this "list" without mentioning two writers who have touched me deeply. Marta G. Wiley and Carlos Castaneda may not write books for everyone out there, but their insanely deep, multilayered stories can be true treasures and even real life changers for the right readers.

Stephen King says that he doesn't "invent" his stories. They simply exist somewhere, and we writers only try to dig them out as well as we can. I tend to believe him.

Easy? No, it's not. But when the right words are found, something unique is born. And if the reader – and even the writer – can’t stop thinking after the last page of the book, "What happens next?!" – then something has gone right. :)