Finncon 2008 Wants You

Finncon will take over Tampere this year (or was it the other way around?) on July 26–27. Since the whole event is organized by unpaid volunteers, they would like you to participate in arranging the con! Become a gopher and help the organization by minding a venue for a while, taking care of running errands, helping the program participants, manning the info desk, or whatever you feel like doing—even doing stuff for only one hour helps (of course you can do much more if you wish). No sfnal qualifications or age limits for participating.

Depending on the amount of work done gophers will get perks like a special t-shirt, food, and of course an invitation to the dead dog party. So head over to the con web site and sign up!

Tähtifantasia Award Nominees

The short list for the second Tähtifantasia award has been announced. Tähtifantasia is given annually to the best fantasy book translated into Finnish in the previous year.

The nominees are:

• Haltiamaan kuninkaantytär (The King of Elfland’s Daughter) by Lord Dunsany (Vaskikirjat)
• Locke Lamoran valheet (The Lies of Locke Lamora) by Scott Lynch (WSOY)
• Variksen velho (Mũrogi was Kagogo) by Ngugi wa Thiong’o (WSOY)
• Matkijalintu (Mockingbird) by Sean Stewart (Karisto)
• Húrinin lasten tarina (Children of Húrin) by J.R.R. Tolkien (WSOY)

In the jury this year are: critic Jukka Halme, critic Aleksi Kuutio, writer/editor Anne Leinonen and fantasy fan Osmo Määttä. The winner will be announced at Finncon 2008 in July.

Atorox Nominees 2008

The Atorox nominees list was announced today. There are 30 short stories on the list this year competing for the title of the best Finnish sf short story published in 2007.

On the list are:

• Carita Forsgren: Trio Org (Portti 2/07)
• Vesa-Pekka Herva: Paikka rannalla (Portti 1/07)
• Boris Hurtta: Doktor Kronburgerin muistikirja (Portti 3/07)
• Katariina Juntunen: Pohjavirtoja (Usva 2/07)
• Jussi Katajala: Vetehinen (Usva 2/07)
• Natalia Laurila: Maitosoturit (Tähtivaeltaja 4/07)
• J.K. Miettinen: Jäytää (Portti 1/07)
• J.K. Miettinen: Todellinen kenokas (Portti 3/07)
• Tiina Männistö: Ensimmäinen tapaamani noita (Spin 3/06)
• Heikki Nevala: Herra Tvist (Usva 3/07)
• Heikki Nevala: Ihmisten sankarit, jumalten äpärät (Usva 1/07)
• Heikki Nevala: Kauhun kaksi huonetta (Kosmoskynä 2/07)
• Tiina Raevaara: Sudenkorento (Usva 4/07)
• Marcus Rosenlund: Varde mörker (Enhörningen 12)
• Mari Saario: Ensimmäiset kahdeksan ruutua (Spin 2/07)
• Mari Saario: Keveät (Spin 3/06)
• Mari Saario: Sateenkaari 2256 (Tähtivaeltaja 1/07)
• Mari Saario: Toiset uneksivat runonsa (Usva 1/07)
• Timo Saarto: Ruusumiehen aika (Spin 1/07)
• Petri Salin: AY0938 (Enhörningen 12)
• Petri Salin: Exit only (Usva 1/07)
• Petri Salin: Metsämiehen tarina (Finnzine 2/07)
• Tuomas Saloranta: Lihan lapset
• M. G. Soikkeli: Jos haluat rakkautta, varaudu sotaan (Tähtivaeltaja 4/07)
• M.G. Soikkeli: Maan langat, Marsin hiekat (Portti 2/07)
• M.G. Soikkeli: Marsin ikävä (Marsin ikävä, turbator 2007)
• Piia Tirronen: Karuselli (Usva 3/07)
• Jani Torvinen: Poika (Usva 3/07)
• Mirka Ulanto: Heijastuksia (Portti 4/07)
• Susi Vaasjoki: Taruntekijä (Portti 4/07)

The list was compiled by a preliminary jury plus votes of fandom. The Atorox award will be given at Finncon in Tampere next summer (July 26–27).

FSFWA Library

The Finnish Science Fiction Writers Association has a new library. Most of the books have been donated to the association in Leena Peltonen’s will and by Juhani Hinkkanen. The old library will also be incorporated in the new one that will be available to members in Tampere (the local section at Henriksson & Soikkeli, plus at local events and conventions by request).

(By the way, FSFWA needs to re-think their web strategy—or start to think about having one. Having info scattered on two separate sites plus additional pages on members’ personal home pages is just so 1990s.)

March Mafia

Back from the pub meeting (early because it was my turn to babysit). There was quite a crowd this time, I counted some twenty persons in total. Talked about this and that, including the possible new membership options for TSFS, the state of Spin, the coming Atorox award, results from the “Finsmofcon,” the book fair, a planned sf exhibition in the library, and many other things, including a lot of unofficial topics I’m not going to repeat here. Bough a beer to a fine young gentleman who took part in the demonstration against the absurd censorship laws introduced in Finland a while ago. Ate a burger. Drank beer. Had fun. And hopefully convinced a couple of persons that they really, really want, no, need to go to Åcon.

Pub Meeting on Thursday

First Thursday again, so welcome all to Bar Bremer tomorrow at six!

Atorox Nominations Deadline Less Than a Week Away

It’s time to send in your nominations for candidates for the Atorox award. The deadline to send your candidates is March 9.

Everyone can participate at this step—no membership of TSFS (or any other society) or other formal qualifications required. Also, you don’t need to read every short story published in Finland last year: as long as you have read at least one short story that you think is good enough to be an Atorox candidate, you can nominate that story (or stories).

Details on the announcement on the TSFS site. There’s now also an Atorox FAQ, which answers some questions about the nomination process (inspired by the questions posed at the findom meeting last weekend).