What inspires you to write?

Movies, music, video games, comics and other books, specifically Underworld, Aeon Flux, X-Men, Resident Evil, Ginger Snaps, Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Firebreak by Nicole Kornher-Stace.

Are you a full-time or part-time writer and how does that affect your writing?

Definitely a part-time writer, more like a once in a blue moon writer, to be honest, haha. I tend to write in the evenings and weekends and very irregularly, but I’m trying to form and maintain an actual writing habit.

What are some day jobs you have held?

Right now I’m head of the comic book department in one of Oslo’s biggest bookstores (this is the fourth bookstore chain I’ve worked at in Norway), and editor in chief of Spillbart – a website where we review video games and write about the video game industry, in addition to occasional guest lecturer at the University of Oslo and Kristiania University College. Previously I’ve been a subtitle translator, a technical writer of maintenance and operation manuals for offshore equipment, a customer success manager, editor in chief of the Norwegian edition of Dragon Ball and a comic strip translator for a big 4 publisher here in Norway.

What have you written so far?

I have written some short stories, three novels – one terrible, one published and one first draft, and hundreds of articles about video games.

How did you decide how to publish your books?

It’s always been a dream to be traditionally published as it feels like a sort of approval to be chosen by a traditional publisher, and I always knew I wanted some sort of support system to handle all the behind the scene stuff and marketing and such, but I chose indie publishing because it offers more freedom, a larger royalty and is bolder when it comes to the stories they publish. Like, there are so many stories and voices out there that never would have found their readers if it wasn’t for indie and self-publishing. But hooo boy, handling the marketing part myself is rough!     

Can you share with readers a little bit about your latest book?

My latest book Let Slip the Beasts, which is my debut, is about a ragtag group of genetic experiments who have escaped from the lab where they were made and are now plotting revenge against their makers. The main character, Kallie, sort of stumbles into this revenge plot due to some accidental murder, and is made into a pivotal part of it. If you want to know the how and why of it, then you just have to read the book! But I can promise a fast-paced science fiction novel brimming with feral women, evil corporations, cinematic action sequences and a hot shark man.

What made you decide to sit down and actually start writing this book?

Spite, haha. Through spite all things are possible! No, honestly, I was seeing former classmates of mine getting their books published and it sort of lit a fire under my ass. Basically, my competitiveness won over my penchant for procrastination. And also, I was missing the kind of narratives I loved from my favorite movies and games and wanted to recreate them in book form, if that makes sense?

Tell us more about your main character. What inspired you to develop this character?

My main character, Kallie, is a customer service nobody working for a megacorporation dealing in brain implants, who is impulsive and violent and really good at getting into trouble. She’s like a proto-version of the heroines from my favorite movies, comics and games (like Selene from Underworld), but less cool and polished, more of a trash goblin, really, and without the inevitable tragic backstory. Her parents are not dead and she’s had a pretty decent childhood. I wrote her because I wanted to see more unhinged disaster-women in books.

If your book was made into a movie, who would you cast?

A movie adaptation of Let Slip the Beasts would be awesome! That’s definitely the dream. As to who I would cast? That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? I think my choices would baffle some of my readers and maybe create some heated discussions, so I’m just gonna name a few actors and not say anything about who they would play, haha. So, here goes: Tatiana Maslany, Danai Gurira, Milla Jovovich, Daniel Dae Kim, Idris Elba and Tom Hardy.

Want to learn more about S. Berget?

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