Simon Stålenhag

Simon Stålenhag (b. 1984) is the internationally acclaimed author and artist behind The Electric State, Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood. His highly imaginative images and stories depicting illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian and American landscapes have made Stålenhag one of the most sought-after visual storytellers in the world. Tales from the Loop was ranked one of the “10 Best Dystopias” by The Guardian, along with such works as Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca.

Simon Stålenhag & Anna Davour


Anna Davour (b. 1975) is a science journalist at one of Sweden’s most well-respected popular science magazines, Forskning & Framsteg. In addition to her journalistic career, Davour has worked in the field of astroparticle physics, joining the search for dark matter and so-called WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles). She has also worked for the science department of the Swedish national radio, Sveriges Radio.

Images from Deep Time is Stålenhag & Davour’s first non-fiction title.

Awards

The Kurd Lasswitz Award (Best Non-German SF Work) Germany – Ur varselklotet Tales from the Loop 2021
Shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award UK – Passagen The Electric State 2019
Shortlisted for a Locus Award (Art Book) US – Passagen The Electric State 2019
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Bibliography

Simon Stålenhag & Anna Davour

Related news

‘The Electric State RPG’ Kickstarter about to close with a bang

The Electric State Roleplaying Game is gathering attention on the Kickstarter platform, where it has gained close to 5.000 backers and topped its initial goal with more than 3,4 million SEK as the final date approaches on Wednesday, December 20.

The Electric State RPG is a tabletop RPG based on the art book The Electric State by acclaimed visual artist and author Simon Stålenhag. The Electric State RPG will feature never-before published art made by Stålenhag for the original art book project, and is written by Nils Hintze, who also worked on the Tales From the Loop RPG.

Giancarlo Esposito, Ke Huy Quan, Anthony Mackie and Billy Bob Thornton join cast of ‘The Electric State’

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo are expanding the cast of the film adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s The Electric State, their next film for Netflix, with Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian) and Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once). Anthony Mackie (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Billy Bob Thornton (The Gray Man) have also signed on in voice roles.

Set in an alternative America in the mid-1990s, The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown as a young girl traveling across the country in the wake of a civil war between humanity and the robots that once served them, looking to find her missing brother. Chris Pratt costars as a smuggler she meets along the way; Stanley Tucci and Jason Alexander round out the cast.

Esposito will play an antagonist known as the Marshall, a robotic drone manned by Esposito’s character remotely and tasked with hunting down the robot aiding Brown’s character on her quest. (The drone is played on set by a performance-capture actor; Esposito will shoot his side later in production.) Quan will play a doctor that Brown’s character needs to find; he’s taking over the role from his Everything Everywhere All at Once costar Michelle Yeoh, who had to depart the film due to scheduling conflicts. Mackie and Thornton will each voice sentient robots in the film. Mackie’s character is a sidekick for Pratt’s, while Thornton voices a key figure in the civil war.

The film is currently in production in Atlanta, with an eye to debut in 2024.

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‘The Electric State’ now filming

The Russo brothers’ adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s acclaimed The Electric State has begun filming in Atlanta, Georgia. The film, which will star Millie Bobbie Brown and Chris Pratt, focuses on an orphaned teenager who attempts to search for her brother as she travels across the American West with a mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter. While no premiere date has been set yet, Netflix acquired the rights to the film earlier this year.

Simon Stålenhag’s game trailer for ‘Dune Awakening’ unveiled

Visionary artist and author Simon Stålenhag has joined Goodbye Kansas Studios in producing a game trailer for Funcom’s Dune Awakening, a game inspired by the new feature film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classical sci-fi novel series. Stålenhag thus makes his debut as a game trailer director.

“The collaboration with Goodbye Kansas Studios and Funcom to create this trailer was an incredible opportunity for me to explore a tiny sliver of the legendary Dune universe. I really enjoy working with Goodbye Kansas Studios since they immediately understand what I’m looking for even though my ideas might seem strange at times. Every part of this project was a delight for me – from concepts, mocap to compositing, and to work on something as deep and rich as the Dune universe was nothing short of an honor and privilege,” says Simon Stålenhag.

Michelle Yeoh, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander and more join the cast of the ‘The Electric State’

Actors Michelle Yeoh, Stanley Tucci, Jason Alexander, Brian Cox and Jenny Slate are set to join the already impressive cast of the Russo Brother’s adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s The Electric State, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.
Production is set to start this fall.

Read the full article in Deadline by clicking “Read More” below.

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Netflix lands Russo brothers’ adaptation of Stålenhag’s ‘The Electric State’

Netflix has successfully acquired the rights to the film adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel titled The Electric State, which will be directed by Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo. The screenplay is written by Endgame scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and leading the sci-fi drama film is Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, who has been attached to the project since 2020.

The film is set in a retro-futuristic past, where an orphaned teenager (Brown) traverses the American West with a sweet but mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter in search of her younger brother. Production is scheduled to begin this fall.

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The official soundtrack to ‘The Labyrinth’ released by Lakeshore Records

The official soundtrack to Simon Stålenhag’s narrative art novel The Labyrinth, composed by Simon himself, has now been released by Lakeshore Records.
Lakeshore Records is the four-time Grammy Nominated record label behind critically acclaimed soundtracks such as Drive, Stranger Things and Moonlight among many others.

Please listen to the soundtrack by clicking ‘Read More’ below.

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Simon Stålenhag listed by NPR as one of Sci-Fi’s genre changers

NPR, America’s National Public Radio, raises Simon Stålenhag as one of seven authors who’ve changed and elevated the sci-fi genre during the last decade, exploring the new format of bite-sized yet profound fiction.

Jason Sheehan, the journalist behind the article, goes on to write the following about Stålenhag and his debut title, Tales from the Loop:

“I love [Stålenhag] for his words. The art is cool, no doubt. But the reason I keep three of his books on my desk at all times is because no other writer […] is better at telling huge stories in small spaces than Stalenhag. Tales From The Loop worldbuilds visually, but it comes alive for me in the small vignettes written into the margins. /…/ 143 words. A complete story, beautiful and haunting. And Stalenhag does this over and over and over again, on nearly every page. His work is both grounded and fantastical, perfectly suited to our modern tastes of ideas served in appetizer-sized portions. What’s more, Loop […] upended things both by proving the viability of crowd-funding in the increasingly siloed world of traditional publishing and presaged the boom we’re now seeing in genre flash and micro fiction.”

To read the full article and list on NPR’s website, just click “read more” below.

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Simon Stålenhag winner of the Kurd Lasswitz Award in Germany

Simon Stålenhag’s debut title Tales from the Loop is the winner of the 2021 Kurd Lasswitz Award in the category ‘Best non-German SF work.’ The Kurd Lasswitz Award is an annual literary award for science fiction. Since its insitution 40 years ago, authors, translators, editors, publishers, graphic artists and journalists working professionally in the sci-fi genre in Germany, Austria and Switzerland have been voting on the best new releases from the previous year to decide the winning titles and authors.

The award ceremony is planned to take place during the 12th Penta-Con in Dresden, in November.

Millie Bobby Brown to star in ‘The Electric State’

It is now official that Universal Pictures has landed the rights to the adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s international bestseller, The Electric State, and that Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things, Enola Holmes) is attached to star. Joe and Anthony Russo are on board to direct as well as to produce alongside Mike Larocca and Andy and Barbara Muschietti. The film will be written by AGBO’s Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Captain America: Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame).

Set in an alternative future, The Electric State tells the story of a teenage girl (Millie Bobby Brown) who realizes that a strange but sweet robot who comes to her has actually been sent by her missing brother.  She and the robot set out to find the brother in an imaginative world of humans mixing with all manner of robots, uncovering a grand conspiracy in the process.

To read more about the announcement in Deadline Hollywood, just click “Read more” below.

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‘The Labyrinth’ published in Sweden

A world covered in ruins and ash. An alien phenomenon has ravaged Earth’s atmosphere and forced its few survivors underground. But there are still secrets left to be uncovered. Matt, Sigrid and Charlie leave the safety of their enclave to go on an expedition into the wastelands of the surface world. During their journey, they will be forced to confront their hidden pasts from the time before civilization fell.

Simon Stålenhag is the internationally lauded artist and author of The Electric State, Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood. Now, Stålenhag returns with a hauntingly chilling tale of the ultimate cost of survival: The Labyrinth.

Simon Stålenhag makes his directorial debut with Duvchi music video

Simon Stålenhag – the No. 1 bestselling author and illustrator of Tales From the Loop and The Electric State – makes his highly anticipated debut as a director today. His first production is nothing less than the music video for Geronimo, the Grammy Award-nominated artist Duvchi’s new single from his upcoming album, This Kind of Ocean. The dreamily romantic pop / R&B tune Geronimo features the vocals of Nadia Nair, hailed by Clash Magazine and MTV as an “artist of the future to look out for.”

In the music video, Stålenhag also pairs up with the talented visual effects and post production team at Goodbye Kansas Studios (The Walking DeadChernobyl) to give life to everything from the video’s protagonist – the robotic yet dove-like figure of “Hector,” created by Stålenhag – to the fantastical beasts lured from the deep by the spellbinding tune.

To read more about Simon Stålenhag and Duvchi’s Geronimo, just click “Read More” below.

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