Pub Thursday

I just finished the latest issue of Turu Mafia Zine; that means the first Thursday of the month must be coming up again. So, if you are in Turku, come to Bar Bremer at six to meet other fen and drink beer!

Bubbles in Tampere

There will be a comics festival in Tampere on March 31, called Tampere kuplii. Organized by the Tampere comics society, the Tampere anime and manga society Hidoi, and Ropecon ry, the event will feature foreign guests Joakim Pirinen from Sweden and Achdé from France, and of course many Finnish comics creators.

 The event will take place at the Finlayson area, Finnkino, Werstas, Vanha kirjastotalo, Rupriikki and TTVO. There will be workshops, presentations, panel discussions, small press vendors, cosplay and more.

Loki Books Ceases Operations

Loki Books will stop publishing new books this spring. Founder and manager Niko Aula says, “Book sales circle around very few titles— —there is not much room for new books and so it’s time to stop being a publisher.”

This is very sad news. Loki was one of the best publishing houses in Finland and, despite its small size, produced some of the most interesting titles published in Finnish. During its almos 20 years in business, Loki has brought to us Finns such names as J.G. Ballard, Iain M. Banks, Stefano Benni, Italo Calvino, Jonathan Carroll, Simon Ings, Jonathan Lethem, Ken MacLeod and Jeff VanderMeer. It has also published Finnish sf authors, like Kimmo Lehtonen and Jyrki Vainonen (for example his novel Perintö which won the Kuvastaja award for last year’s best fantasy novel).

I raise my glass to Loki, and hope others (Kirjava and Like come to mind) will continue the struggle to get good sf out in Finnish.

Events in 2007

The beginning year is looking busy once again. Even though Snorfcon isn’t happening this February, there will be plenty of sfnal happenings in 2007.

The traditional smoffing event of the Finnish sf societies, yhteistyökokous, is already a tradition for Tampere in the winter. This year’s date is March 3, and the place once again the winterswimmers’ sauna.

The fourth Tähtivaeltaja Day celebrates the 25th anniversary of the zine Tähtivaeltaja, and also the Helsinki University sf club turning 20 this year. The minicon will happen on May 5, in Dubrovnik Lounge & Lobby (same place as last time). GoH is Christopher Priest. More info in the next issue of Tähtivaeltaja as well as on the web site in the near future.

The “Finnish convention with a twist,” Åcon, takes place on May in Mariehamn, Åland. Goh is Hal Duncan and the convention will be small, fannish, and fun.

Swecon will be in Gothenburg this year, with GoHs Richard Morgan and John Ajvide Lindqvist.

The Suomenlinna picnic hasn’t been announced yet, but it usually follows midsummer by two weeks, so that would make it July 7.

Finncon will be in Jyväskylä this year, on July 14–15. Guests of honor are Ellen Datlow, Joe & Gay Haldeman, Elizabeth Hand, Cheryl Morgan, and Ben Roimola. Together with Animecon, so expect lots of attendees once again. Hopefully there will be arrangements to allow the actual Finncon to take place also without being buried under the hordes of anime fans.

The traditional Roadside Picnic at Viikinsaari doesn’t have a date yet, but that will probably be either late July (after Finncon), or early August (before Ropecon, August 10–12). My personal, completely inofficial guess would be Saturday, July 28.

This year will also see the Eurocon in the Nordic for the second time. Copenhagen will host the European science fiction convention on September 21–23, with GoHs Stephen Baxter, Anne McCaffrey, David Hardy and Zoran Živković.

As always, there will be the Book fairs in Turku (October 5–7) and Helsinki (October 25–28). There should be something sfnal happening at both.

Snorfcon Postponed

Snorfcon (the Nordic smoffing event) that was supposed to take place in February has been postponed to the future. It was decided that as there already are several Nordic conventions where people meet this year, a speclialized conrunners’ event wasn’t really needed, and since no-one insisted that they absolutely want to organize a Snorfcon anyway, there won’t be one this spring. See you at Åcon, Swecon, and Finncon instead!

Snorfcon will definitely return at some point, maybe in early 2008.

Finncon 2007 Website Opens

This year’s Finncon has opened its website. Nothing much there yet except some very basic info.

Finncon 2007 will be held in Jyväskylä on July 14–15. Guests of honor are Ellen Datlow, Joe & Gay Haldeman, Elizabeth Hand, Cheryl Morgan, and Ben Roimola.

It’s Mafia Time

Yes, the monthly pub meetings in Turku continue in 2007 every first Thursday of the month. Come to Bar Bremer tomorrow to meet other fen, to eat, drink, and be merry.

There’ll be a new issue of Turu Mafia Zine in it for you. I think I was the first to put out an issue this year.

(Nevermind that I put out the least pages. The first!)