Stockholm. Early summer, 1989. Johan is a young waiter working at the Hard Rock Café. His nights are filled with parties, drugs, booze and MTV. An endless chase of the next girl, the next high. . the next music video. The first book in a loose trilogy, when Cigarette was first published in Sweden it heralded the arrival of a bold new voice in contemporary nordic literature. A troubadour of 1990s"™ metropolitan nightlife, Nordisk Books is delighted to publish Per Hagman"™s electric début in English for the first time, thanks to Elinor Fahrman"™s crisp translation. Tom introduces me to a couple of girls that I recognise from Dailys and they turn out to be Tina and Mimi. He asks if I want champagne and hands me a bottle of fizzy wine. I open it and when the cork hits the ceiling with a bang Viktor turns around and says hello and I say hello as I lift the bottle to my mouth. Just as I"™m lighting a cigarette a champagne cork lands on my head and I turn around and Micke is laughing out loud and asks how things are and I say fine and he asks me if I have any coke and I say no and he says maybe you want some of mine then. He turns to Tom and smiles and asks if he has a free mirror and Tom laughs and says sure. Jocke enters the room and asks me how things are and I say splendid and watch Tom as he grabs the girl on the table who"™s still on the phone. He stands her up and starts looking for a mirror amongst the ashtrays and bottles. I notice that both the TV sets are on but no one is watching. One of them is showing some music video and the other a black and white film. Tom hands Micke the mirror and he chops up some lines and one of the girls (Tina?) rolls up a tenner and Micke hands her the mirror and she snorts a line.
