Åcon 5 Hotel & Travel Info Online

The ferry travel and hotel booking info (and prices) have been posted on the Åcon 5 web site. Go take a look and book your trip and stay now!

Finncon 2012 Website + Hotel

The web site for Finncon 2012 (next July in Tampere) is now in operation. There seems to be some minor glitches with the language selection, but I’m sure those will be worked out quickly.

A thing to note if you’re planning to attend the convention: Tampere hotels are pretty booked already, so it’s a good idea to take care of the hotel package, even if the price is a bit higher than is usual with Finncons (150&nbps;€/night for a 2-person room). If you want cheaper hotel rooms, the Omena hotel (very basic but clean and totally ok self-service hotel, the closest one is a couple of blocks from the official con hotel) still has some rooms for about 80 €/night/room (there are beds for four persons in a room), but I’d book them very quickly, because I think they might not be available for too long.

Update: links fixed after they’d been changed on the web site. Language selection and linking is now ok.

Festival of Living Literature 2012

The Festival of Living Literature will take place February 11 in Tampere. This year’s theme is “Nature and Creativity”. The program includes among others Markku Soikkeli interviewing authors Risto Isomäki and Tero tähtinen on how literature can save Earth.

Fantasy Feast Registration Open

The eight Fantasy Feast will be organized August 10–12, 2012, at Tippsund in Taivassalo. Registration is now open at the TSFS web site.

Attendance fee is 47 € to 57 € (depending on the type of accommodation), discounts for TSFS members and juniors plus volunteer are available. The fee includes accommodation plus five meals during the feast.

Iron Sky On Tour

The upcoming Iron Sky movie will be on a preview tour around Finland in March and April. Preview tickets cost 25 € and include, in addition to seeing the movie before the official premiere, a Q&A session with cast and crew, a signed poster, and an exclusive tour t-shirt.

Anne Leinonen Wins Portti Competition

Congratulations to Anne Leinonen who has won the Portti 2011 sf short story competition! Portti is a juried annual competition for new science fiction and fantasy short stories, with cash prizes. It’s organized by the Portti magazine.

This year’s top 3 was:

1. Oliverin kirja, by Anne Leinonen (2 000 €)
2. Luottokoira vain sinun rakkaudellesi, by M.G. Soikkeli (700 €)
3. (tie) Musta tähti, by Tuomas Saloranta (300 €)
   Pedot liikkuvat pimeässä, by Marika Riikonen (300 €)

The jury of the competition comprised Portti editor Raimo Nikkonen, professor Frans Mäyrä, and editor Kanerva Eskola. This year there were 214 entries in the competition (which is significantly more than in previous years).

Sinisalo Researched

A research paper about Johanna Sinisalo’s novel Sankarit has been published by the Research Centre for Contemporary Culture in Jyväskylä. The paper by Eliisa Pitkäsalo is titled “Kalevalaiset sankarit nykymaailman menossa” (“The Kalevala Heroes in Contemporary World”) and it can be downloaded from the centre’s site (only in Finnish, though).

Mariehamn in 2016

This is what happens when you let Eemeli out (in this case, to Smofcon) without proper supervision, is all I’m saying.

Åbocalypse Comics Anthology Announced

The Turku Comics Club has announced that the theme of next year’s comics anthology is very sfnal-sounding “Åbocalypse”. The black-and-white anthology will be published at the Helsinki book fair next October, and the deadline for submissions is April 30. More info from the anthology editor Maijastiina Vilenius.

Pépites Award to Seita Parkkola

Finnish author Seita Parkkola has won the “Pépites” award in the children/YA category for her novel Viima (“Une dernière chance” in French).

Viima is a middle-grade/YA novel that could be classified as “Finnish Weird”: the world in the novel is seemingly our everyday world, but soon it becomes clear that some things differ from our reality quite a bit. Viima, the main character, is 12 years old, and has been branded as a troublemaker. So he’s been sent to the School of Possibilities where “troubled children are put right”. The story turns towards the dystopian as the kids are constantly surveilled on and off school grounds, required to participate in mandatory after-school activities, and assigned friends and even girl and boy friends by the school. Parents are charged for every infraction of the child, and those whose parents can’t pay seem to disappear, never to be seen again.

Viima was nominated for the Finlandia Junior award (the Finnish equivalent of the Newberry award) in 2006. The novel has been translated in English as The School of Possibilities (review). A couple of excerpts (by a different translator) are available online.