Free Finnish Weird Publication

Finnish writers now create fiction that is a phenomenal mixture of sf, fantasy, horror, surrealism, magic realism—you name it. It’s highly original, fresh and surprising, sometimes it celebrates elements of our rich folklore and mythos, sometimes it soars sky-high in sf worlds, sometimes the stories are almost realistic, but have that little weirdness or twist that makes them something other than mimetic writing.

(quote from Johanna Sinisalo’s introduction)

Finnish Weird is a free one-off (at least for now) magazine published by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society. It introduces the concept of “Finnish Weird”, showcases a few writers and also includes two short stories. The printed version will be available on select occasions (come and look for us at Worldcon!), but you can also get an electronic version, either as a pdf or an ebook (epub).

Maria Turtschaninoff in Denmark

The rights for Maria Turtschaninoff’s (who will be GoH at Fantastik in Turku in September) Maresi have been sold in Denmark (in addition to Sweden). Congrats!

Free E-book of Lovecraftian Fiction

Stepanin koodeksi is a very nice anthology of Finnish Lovecraftian short stories set in a shared corner of the world of Great Old Ones. And for the month of April, you can download it at the Aavetaajuus shop for the great price of free.

Pub Meeting & Terracon

This Friday is the first Friday of the month, and that means of course that it’s time for the Turku monthly pub meeting. So welcome to Cosmic Comic Café on Friday at six!

This month, I’m hoping to see some new faces there, as the pub meeting also serves as a pre-party for Saturday’s Terracon, a minicon organized by the societies that inhabit the Terrakoti club house. Terracon starts at 10 AM and continues until 4 PM, after which there will be a spring party at Terrakoti. There will be a few panel discussions, workshops, games, and a dealers zone at the convention. Terracon is free to attend.

Finncon Anthology Published

At last year’s Finncon there was a short story competition with the theme “opposing forces”. The top ten stories are now available as an ebook anthology.