I’m Janos Honkonen, a 40-something writer of speculative fiction and video games. After a career spanning rainbow trouts, computational linguistics, TV production, a psychogeriatric ward, sniffing acetone and grading it on a scale,  journalism (technology, games, science and adult entertainment), wrangling Moon Nazis and diving as a marine biologist, I finally landed in the games industry as a writer and narrative designer. In addition to squeezing out words I make occasional noise with a theremin.

I write both in Finnish and in English, so this page is an unfortunate mix of both.

Bibliography

Novels

  • “Kaiken yllä etana” – Finnish, Osuuskumma-kustannus 2013

Interactive Fiction

  • “The Rocket Man From The Sea”, 2012

Comics

  • “The Big Wind Up”, 2014 – English, Torsobear Volume 1: Yarns from Toyburg
  • “…But When Geppetto Talks to You”, 2015 – English, Torsobear Volume 2: All Stitched Up
  • “Red Flag, Black Flag, False Flag” – English, Torsobear Volume 3: Back on the Blocks

Short Stories

  • “Zeppelin II”, 2010 – English, Hilobrow.com – Finalist for the radium age flash fiction competition
  • “On The Beaten Path”, 2010 – English, Black Static #17 – one of the Campaign for Real Fear winners
  • “Walking Past My Life”, 2012 – English, Out of Place, Out of Time  anthology, Telling of Tales podcast
  • “Vespula”, 2013 – Finnish, Ruumiittomat, an anthology of ghost stories in Finnish.
  • “Ajatustason ohjausvirhe”, “Tiedä mitä haluat”, “Dinosaurukset rääkyvät ulkona” – Finnish, Kummalinnun munia series. Drabbles.
  • “Itse ilma syttyi tuleen”, 2015 – Finnish, Käärmeenliekit – an anthology of Finnish dragon stories.
  • “Formicidae”, 2012 – English, Usva International 2015
  • “Maailmanlopun meininki”, 2015 – Finnish, ROCKNOMICON – an anthology of heavy rock & metal stories
  • “Piru erehtyi vuodella”, 2015 – Finnish, Kristallimeri – an anthology of pirate stories
  • “Ne ovat niin helppoja saaliita”, 2017 – Finnish, Varjoisilta kujilta – an anthology of spefi cat stories.
  • “Eläimet huutaa, ihmiset ei huuda”, 2017 – Finnish, Tämä jalka ei ole minun – Kauhuja omasta kehosta – an anthology of body horror stories.
  • “Toiseksi tulleita ei lasketa”, 2017 – Finnish, Meliwas ja muita kaupunkeja – an anthology of urban fantasy.
  • “Kello ei ollut mitään, ei minään päivänä” – 2017, Finnish, Murtumia maisemassa – an anthology of urban exploration stories.
  • “Sadan vuoden huuto”, 2017 – Finnish, a standalone story published in Portti 4/2017 magazine and the winner of the yearly Portti competition.
  • “Sen silmärei’istä paistoi tyhjyys”, 2018 – Finnish, Naamiot – an anthology of stories about masks.
  • “Me kaikki nähdään sut”, 2020 – Finnish, Haloo? – an anthology of stories about problems with online communications
  • “Paljon tavaraa yhdelle miehelle”, 2021 – Finnish, Kuolon tähti – an anthology of stories about the end of the world
  • “Kuin peileistä heijastuvia auringonsäteitä”, 2021 – Finnish, Aurinkosydän – an anthology of stories about positive visions of the future

Download Sadan vuoden huuto: pdf, epub. Print copies are 3€+postage and free for libraries etc., contact me via this site or on Facebook.

Translations

Non-Fiction

  • Näin tehtiin Iron Sky – eli kuinka lakkasin olemasta huolissani ja opin rakastamaan internetiä – 2012, Finnish, contributor
  • Hyvinvoinnin muotoilu – 2013, Finnish, editor
  • Designing for Wellbeing – 2013, English, editor

Awards & Nominations

  • 2010 Campaign for Real Fear, one of the winners with “On the Beaten Path”
  • 2010 Radium Age Apocalypse Microfiction Contest, finalist with “Zeppelin II”
  • 2012 Spring Thing 2012, 1st place with “The Rocket Man from the Sea”
  • 2017 Portti, 1st place with “Sadan vuoden huuto”
  • 2018 Best Story / Storytelling, Game Connection Europe 2018 Development Awards, “Thief of Thieves: Season One”
  • 2019 Best Creative Achievement of the Year 2018, The Finnish Game Awards, “Thief of Thieves: Season One”
  • 2019 Atorox, “Sadan vuoden huuto”
  • Several Atorox nominations.