Ingar Knudtsen's first book, published in 1975, was a collection of 28 science fiction short stories, entitled Dimensjon S (Dimension S). Since that time he has published nearly thirty books, and he has been referred to as a "working class writer" as well as "Norway's foremost writer of fantasy"!

He has written several realistic novels: about the civil war in Spain in Natt uten navn (Night Without A Name); about the persecution of communists in Norway after the second world war in I flaggets fold (In the Fold of the Flag).  However, most of his writing takes place in the twilight zone between realism and fantasy one of his books is even entitled Skumringslandet (The Twilight Country) and is very typical of his writing if a word like "typical" can be used about this author at all!

His most famous books are the trilogy about the amazons. These books changed the direction of his writing from science fiction to fantasy and then to "magical realism. The amazon books are at the same time brutal and realistic as well as full of beauty, love and magic. Ingar Knudtsen loves his amazons, he cries and laughs with them, and without any reservations he takes their side in their fight against authoritarian male priests, gods and warriors. No wonder his amazon books have gained a cult following especially among young (and even not so young) women...

Very little by this author has been translated into English. On this web site you will find a short story, entitled "Turnabout", originally published in his second collection of short stories, Lasersesongen (The Laser Season). The English version of this short story was published in 1981 in Richard D. Nolans anthology Terra SF.  (Unfortunately, the short biographical note in Terra SF somewhat offhandedly states that "he hopes to become a professional writer" this at a time when Knudtsen had in fact been a professional writer for six years!)

Over the years, Ingar Knudtsen has received several awards, and in August 2001 his achievement Mannen med steinhodet (The Man With The Stone Head) was awarded the Norwegian "Norcon-prisen" for the best science fiction novel in 1999/2000. His second latest novel, Gudinnas døtre (Daughters Of The Goddess), was published in 2002. This is an independent continuation of his popular amazons series. Rød Storm (Red Storm), his latest novel, is a tribute to female pilots and front soldiers in the Soviet Union during World War II.

Ingar Knudtsen, one of "the grand old men of Norwegian science fiction", according to Bjørn Tore Sund? Maybe. But his books are still as young and fresh as the day they were born. And if you see one lonely gray head in the middle of a crowd of young people, it may very well be his.