Partial Recall

Åcon 5 Hotel & Travel Info Online

2012-01-27T14:28:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-20T18:52:00.001+02:00

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

2012-01-11T15:44:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-11T15:39:00.000+02:00

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

2012-01-11T15:34:00.000+02:00

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

2011-12-14T21:29:00.000+02:00

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:

Oliverin kirja, by Anne Leinonen (2 000 €)
Luottokoira vain sinun rakkaudellesi, by M.G. Soikkeli (700 €)
(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

2011-12-09T14:56:00.000+02:00

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

2011-12-04T21:50:00.001+02:00

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

2011-12-01T12:50:00.001+02:00

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

2011-12-01T10:33:00.000+02:00

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.

Rajaniemi on The World SF Blog

2011-11-18T16:15:00.000+02:00

Hannu Rajaniemi talks.

[…] I shamelessly handwave or bluff a lot of things that aren’t mathematics or physics (and a lot of things that are). TQT is often described as hard SF, but I’m not really trying to write hard SF in the vein of Egan or Benford: I don’t work out the equations as I go. For me, the more important consequence of having a scientific background is a degree of speculative rigour: trying hard to work out the consequences of the assumptions one begins with.

Krohn on Weird Fiction Review

2011-11-15T15:46:00.000+02:00

Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s Weird Fiction Review has published The Bystander—a self-contained excerpt from Leena Krohn’s excellent novel Tainaron. Go read! (Also, take a look around the site while you’re at it; there’s lots of interesting stuff there.)

Routasisarukset is a Finlandia Junior nominee

2011-11-08T12:16:00.001+02:00

The nominees for this year’s Finlandia Junior literary prize (for YA and children’s literature) have been announced. One of the nominees is Routasisarukset, the first in a series of novels set in a dystopian 24th century by Eija Lappalainen and Anne Leinonen. Congratulations!

Pub Meeting on Thursday

2011-11-02T10:39:00.000+02:00

The Turku pub meeting for November is this Thursday. We’re back in Teerenpeli for the winter.

The pub meeting starts at six; the reading group gathers at that time to discuss this year’s Atorox-winning short story Nahat by Anne Leinonen. If you want to participate but don’t have last year’s issue 3 of Portti handy, you can get the story from me, courtesy of Anne.

Welcome!

Kuvastaja Award to Pasi Jääskeläinen

2011-11-01T11:16:00.003+02:00

Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen has received the Kuvastaja award for his novel Harjukaupungin salakäytävät. The award is given annually by the Finnish Tolkien Society for the best Finnish fantasy book published in the previous year.

The award was announced during the Helsinki book fair last weekend. There isn’t any more information about this on the Tolkien Society web page, but Pasi has commented the award on his blog. Kuvastaja is a juried award (I haven’t seen a press release, so I don’t know who were on the jury this year), often given to books that are of high literary quality and—despite being administered by the Tolkien Society—represent the non-traditional side of the fantastic (thus again in this year soliciting some comments from book bloggers that the book can’t be fantasy because they liked it and they don’t read fantasy). This is the second time Jääskeläinen has won it (his debut novel also won the award).

Congratulations!

Krohn in ODD?

2011-10-12T13:32:00.001+03:00

The first ODD? anthology by Ann & Jeff VanderMeer has been published and contains the short story “The Night of the Normal Distribution Curve” by Leena Krohn.

ODD? is available as an e-book in the Wizard’s Tower Bookstore (also Weightless books and other indie distributors). Up to tomorrow (Friday), you can also subscribe to the first three volumes of ODD as either e-book or print editions (or both) at a discounted prize directly from Cheeky Frawg.

Petri Hiltunen in Turku tomorrow

2011-10-05T15:13:00.001+03:00

Petri Hiltunen is speaking in the Turku city library tomorrow from 5 PM to 7 PM as part of the comics meetings series for young people. The event is organized by the library and the Turku comics club.

Pub Meeting on Thursday in Koulu

2011-10-04T13:37:00.001+03:00

The Turku sf pub meeting is this Thursday. We meant to move back to the regular place (Teerenpeli) but they are celebrating their birthday on Thursday, which probably means the place will be packed (and everybody would have to get an invite), so the pub meeting will be held in Koulu. Starting the usual time, at six. Welcome!

Grant to Toni Jerrman

2011-09-28T12:00:00.001+03:00

Congratulations to Toni Jerrman for receiving a 1-year critic grant from the Arts Council of Finland!

Star Wars Uncut in Turku

2011-09-27T14:20:00.002+03:00

On Saturday, October 8, the Turku 2011 foundation will host a Star Wars Uncut mini festival in Logomo.

Star Wars Uncut is a project where the movie was cut into 15-second segments that were then recreated by fans of the film and edited together. The father of the idea, Casey Pugh, won the Participative Media category of the Turku 2011 Foundation’s competition last year.

Before the screening, there will be a discussion featuring Professor and creativity researcher Alf Rehn and Star Wreck scriptwriter Jarmo Puskala. The day’s program will also include other winning entries from the Live 2011 Grand Prix media art competition and a concert featuring 8-bit video game–inspired band Desert Planet, and local X-Rust with Transistor Rhythm, Burdock, and Pepeto.

Doors open at 2 PM, there is no entrance fee but attendance is capped at the first 1 000 visitors.

Virtual Flea Market for Fandom

2011-09-27T13:59:00.001+03:00

Turun fandomkirppis is a virtual flea market where you can sell or donate your old stuff and let other people know if you’re buying something.

The market uses Facebook, but you can browse the content without logging in. The title says “Fandom flea market for Turku”, but it can of course be used from outside the area as well.

Noviisi 2011 Competition Announced

2011-09-27T13:53:00.001+03:00

The third Noviisi short story competition for young writers has been announced. Noviisi is a juried competition meant for writers aged 13 to 17 years, and is organized by the Finnish Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, the Turku Science Fiction Society, and the Science Fiction Culture Cabinet at the University of Turku.

Rare Exports Awarded with State Prize

2011-09-27T12:56:00.002+03:00

The makers of the movie Rare Exports have received the State Prize for Cinema in recognition of their work. The State art prizes are awarded annually by the Central Arts Council and the National Art Councils. The prize is worth 15 000 €.

Sinisalo Shortlisted for Prix Escapades

2011-08-31T12:01:00.002+03:00

Johanna Sinisalo’s Oiseau de malheur (French translation for Birdbrain) is one of the nominees for the Escapades literary award along with five other books by Nordic writers. The winner is to be selected by popular vote and announced next March at the Vernon Book Fair (Nordic literature is their theme next year). Congrats to Johanna for the nomination!

via Helsingin Sanomat

Arts Council Grants to Sf Writers

2011-08-10T15:43:00.001+03:00

The Arts Council of Finland has awarded their annual grants for artists, and there are familiar names among the writers given grants this year. So congratulations to Sari Peltoniemi (5 year grant), Jukka Laajarinne (3 yr), Johanna Sinisalo (3 yr), Marko Hautala (1 yr), Tiina Raevaara (1 yr), Anu Holopainen (½ yr), and Miina Supinen (½ yr) for the grants! (Plus, of course any others I might have missed.)

Tsunami Fiction

2011-08-09T20:15:00.001+03:00

The members of the Paperiarkki writers forum have published an anthology called Suolaa hiuksissa (”Salt in the Hair”). The anthology has a collecting theme of a tsunami that hits the Canary Islands. The anthology is edited by Venla Lintunen and Saara Kuha, and includes such writers as Jussi Katajala, Anne Leinonen, Tarja Sipiläinen, and more. The anthology can be downloaded as a pdf at Paperiarkki.

Roadside Picnic

2011-08-07T16:33:00.001+03:00

Just got back from this year’s Roadside Picnic & accompanying Smof Brunch in Tampere. The idea was that on Saturday, there was the actual picnic, which is the annual relaxacon of the Finnish fandom, and on Sunday, some of the people continued with an informal meeting.

The picnic was fun as ever, although it had to be cut a bit short this year due to an unexpected concert that took over the Viikinsaari island. But that only meant that the barbecuing + regular programming (basically just a couple of filks, really) was done a bit more hastily than usual and that we moved on to a restaurant to carry on a bit earlier.

The terrace of the restaurant Tillikka was a bit damp but otherwise fine, and the food they served good as always (no beets for beer exchange this year, though). As some people thought it got a bit chilly outside, the gang migrated to Amarillo for more beers (and food) and conversation, which all continued well into the wee hours. With drinks called (among others) Endless Summer or Kinky Queen, and an authentic Birthday Monolith, how can you but have a fun evening!

Sunday morning started in a leisurely manner with breakfast at Café Siilinkari (highly recommended—an inexpensive breakfast buffet, delicious pastries, an they even sell a good decaf cappucino, yay!) which stretched into a brunch and then an afternoon of conversation. Lots of topics got covered, and progress was made on quite a few fronts. These kinds of events are something I value highly—you can get a lot done when people from many associations and events committees sit together. A wealth of information shared and good ideas planned further together. In my opinion, it is essential for fandom to have these info sharing and brainstorming meetings a couple of times a year (in addition to conventions, e-mail lists and discussion forums, of course).

Things discussed and planned included:

ways of promoting Finncon internationally (and making it consistently foreigner-friendlier)
the evolution of NoFF (the Nordic fan fund)
a fandom portal project (and its cooperation with existing resources)
different ways of getting funds for interesting fandom projects
ideas for upcoming Finncons, sharing information
developing the “Finnsmofcon” into a bigger event that would be even more useful to fandom in the future

These are all pretty much in the planning stage, but you will definitely be hearing more about these projects in the near future.

TSFS Looking for Fantasy Feast Organizers

2011-08-05T12:27:00.002+03:00

The Turku Science Fiction Society is planning to organize another Fantasy Feast (a pseudo-medieval fantasy gathering) next year and is looking for volunteers to participate in the organizing of the event.

Linkage: Jani Saxell on Sf

2011-08-05T12:02:00.001+03:00

Author Jani Saxell talks (in Finnish) about his writing and science fiction on Kirjahylly.

Pub Meeting, Roadside Picnic this week

2011-08-01T09:03:00.003+03:00

This Thursday is the first of the month, and that means the Turku pub meeting. For the summer, we decided to move the meetings outside, so the meeting will be at the Brewery Restaurant Koulu at six (outside if the weather permits). The book circle meets 6:30, this month’s book is Pimeyden reunalla (a new pulp anthology). There will also be a new issue of the Turu Mafia Zine—free for everyone who shows up.

On Saturday, Spektre organizes the traditional relaxacon Roadside Picnic in Tampere Viikinsaari. The first ferry from Laukontori leaves at noon; I’ll be taking the 10 AM train to Tampere which probably means making the 1 PM ferry. Bring your own picnic; there’s a fireplace for barbecuing on the island.

The Tampere trip continues on Sunday with a smof brunch at Café Siilinkari, probably starting around 10 AM. Come discuss things like conventions, fan funds, creating a fandom portal, and everything eles!

Linkage: International Mind Meld

2011-07-23T17:00:00.001+03:00

The SF Signal’s Mind Meld series’ latest question is, Who are your favorite international sf/f authors. Among those who’ve answered with tips about good sf outside the usual anglo circles is our own Jukka Halme. Who, naturally, gets to mention a few Finnish authors (among many others).

Anne Leinonen Wins Atorox Award

2011-07-21T19:18:00.002+03:00

The Atorox Award for best Finnish sf short story published last year was announced at Finncon last weekend. The winner, for the third time, was Anne Leinonen for her short story Nahat (“Skins”), published in the Portti magazine.

This was a great year for Anne: she also took the second prize with Sanojen mahti (“The might of words”). The top three was:

Anne Leinonen: Nahat (Portti 3/10)
Anne Leinonen: Sanojen mahti (Portti 1/10)
Hanne Martelius: Stuttgart ennen talvea (Portti 2/10)

In addition to Anne taking the top places, the Portti magazine ruled supreme this year. Four of the top-5 stories were published by Portti.

Congratulations, Anne and all the other top-placing candidates!

The Atorox Award is voted by members of the Finnish fandom from a longlist of stories selected by a pre-selection jury. The award is given by the Turku Science Fiction Society.

Teos Science Fiction Competition Results

2011-07-21T19:06:00.001+03:00

The Teos publishing house announced the winners of their novel-length fantasy and science fiction literary contest at Finncon. Over 350 manuscripts took part in the competition.

The jury selected as the winner a manuscript called Veden muisti (“Memory of Water”) written by Emmi Itäranta. The winner received a cash prize of 5 000 € plus a publishing contract from Teos—the novel will be published next year.

Veden muisti tells a story about choices and responsibility in an original totalitarian future society. “The winning manuscript is, in terms of language as well as the vision of the future it constructs, a polished and impressive work. Like all good science fiction, this piece is in dialogue with our current reality: it makes visible a world which we may already be unwittingly heading towards,” the chair of the jury, Johanna Sinisalo, comments.

Of the other manuscripts submitted to the contest, Sudenveri (“Wolfblood”) by Jenny Kangasvuo received an honorary mention. Sudenveri is a surprising and moving tale about a werewolf community. “The manuscript awarded with an honorary mention unravels and reconstructs the well-known myth thoroughly and skillfully. The writer, who knows her subject extremely well, approaches it with attention to detail and expertise. She uses her material to build a realistic and arresting world, which is at the same time deeply Finnish,” Sinisalo says.

The jury of the competition comprised, in addition to Sinisalo, publisher Silja Hiidenheimo, editors Maarit Halmesarka and Jussi Tiihonen, and author Mikko Rimminen.

Tähtivaeltaja Short Story Competition 2011

2011-07-21T18:57:00.001+03:00

The Tähtivaeltaja magazine announced the winner of their short story competition at Finncon. The theme of the competition this year was “generation ship”. There were 49 stories sent for the competition. The winner received a cash prize of 400 €.

The top three of the competition is:

Lukantyttäret (Luka’s Daughters) by Heli Määttä
A beautifully told tale where the protagonist leaves their loved one on Earth, boarding a generation ship. A romantic tale surpises with a stylistic 180 turn and a plot twist. A clear winner with quality storytelling, a tight whole, with beautiful language and a skilled structure.
Valkoisen kanin tapaus (Case of the White Rabbit) by Jussi Katajala
A story that explains the lifestyle of Sherlock Holmes distinguished itself from the competition in both style and plot. A humorous tale with a mystery waiting in the end.
Lihan sukua (Flesh Relative) by Petri Laine
The only competitor that had people clearly different from what we’re used to. The story presented a fascinatingly different society, and used the tight bond between the passengers and the ship with great skill.

The competition was organized by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society and the Tähtivaeltaja magazine. The jury consisted of Tähtivaeltaja editor Toni Jerrman, editor Jukka Halme, and author Tiina Raevaara, with researcher Irma Hirsjärvi and author Anne Leinonen in the pre-selection jury.

Tähtifantasia Award 2011

2011-07-21T18:43:00.001+03:00

The Tähtifantasia Award for best fantasy book translated into Finnish and published last year was announced at Finncon 2011. The award goes to a short story collection Viimeinen toivomus (“Last Wish”, book 1 of The Witcher) by Andrzej Sapkowski, published by WSOY and translated by Tapani Kärkkäinen.

The jury commended the book as an unique and riveting read that skillfully utilizes the East-European folklore. The book tackles the themes of heroism and duty without going for the easy solutions. The book demonstrates how fantasy transcends the cultural borders and speaks about what it is to be human. The author servers the reader a collection of intelligent, imaginative drama infused with humor.

The Tähtifantasia Award is given by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society, this was the fifth time for the award. The jury comprised critic Jukka Halme, critic Aleksi Kuutio, author and editor Anne Leinonen, and the Risingshadow forum representative Osmo Määttä.

Ajan Polut Short Story Competition

2011-07-21T18:33:00.001+03:00

Ajan polut (”Paths of Time”) was the first alternative history story competition held in Finland. It was organized by the Finnish Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and the Science Fiction Culture Cabinet at the University of Turku.

There were 86 short stories in the competition, from established writers as well as new names. The texts varied from the beginning of Finland’s written history to very close to the present day. World War II and the Finnish Civil War were the most popular time periods.

The competition was very tight, with the judges ultimately unable to choose a clear winner. Therefore, three stories were declared tied winners, and also the second place was a tie between two stories:

Jotta taidat suomen kielen (“So you’ll know the Finnish language”) by Jussi Katajala Presidentin elokuut (“The President’s autumns”) by Jussi Katajala Uusi maailma (“A new world”) by Anne-Mari Halonen
Sankariäidin häpeä (“The shame of the hero mother”) by Jaakko Poikonen Toven menestysreseptit (“Tove’s recipies for success”) by Sirpa Kalliokoski

The winners received a cash prize of 200 € each, and 100 € for the second place. The top stories will be published in an anthology. The jury comprised sf critic Pasi Karppanen, author Juha-Pekka Koskinen, and researcher Mari K. Niemi, with a pre-selection jury of Pasi Karppanen, student of history Virpi Luoma, and student of political history Juho Oksanen.

Jaana Lehtiö Wins Nova Competition

2011-07-21T18:15:00.001+03:00

Several awards were given at Finncon in Turku last weekend. The Nova competition is a short story competition for beginners (no publications of their own yet). The competition was organized for the 12th time this year.

This year’s Nova top 3 is:

Jaana Lehtiö: Palmikko
Jenni Kauppinen: Taikarasia
Sanna Varis: Lievo

The winner gets a prize sum of 200 €; everyone in the top 10 receives a cash prize (ranging from 200 € to 40 €). The winning short story will be published in Spin.

81 writers participated in the competition with 108 short stories. The jury consisted of Marianna Leikomaa, Natalia Kisnanen, Heikki Nevala, and Saara Henriksson, with Kirsi Saaros, Henna Sinisalo, and Natalia Kisnanen acting as a pre-selection jury.

Finncon 2011 Photos

2011-07-18T22:56:00.001+03:00

Once again, Finncon is over. There will be comments on it later (I’m sure that this year will generate a lot of comments from lots of people), but for now you can enjoy some photos from the convention.

Visiting Turku

2011-07-12T23:08:00.001+03:00

Yesterday I wrote about some tips for eating. Today I thought I’d continue with some other assorted tips about visiting Turku.

Getting About

The center of Turku is relatively small, and you can walk to just about everywhere. Walking from the center of the town to the con site takes about 20 minutes (the distance is 1,6 km). If you don’t want to walk, or are planning to take trips within the city but outside the immediate center, I’d recommend getting a Tourist Card. You load the number of days you want on it at purchase time (it can’t be reloaded later), and it allows you to ride the buses as much as you like during that time. For example, a 4-day card costs 13,60 € (single fare is 2,50 so it saves you money even if you take just two trips a day). You can buy the card at the local traffic service office (Aurakatu 5), or at the department stores Wiklund or Stockmann, all of which are right at the center of the city (Wiklund is across the street from the Hamburger Börs hotel). Lines 50–54, 4, 28, and 280 (and probably some others as well) all take you from the market square to the convention venue (get off at the University stop, 115 / Yliopisto).

Wi-Fi

The odds are your hotel is going to have free wi-fi. The convention also has wi-fi passes available at the info desk. There are some cafés and restaurants that have wi-fi, but if you are at the city center and need to do some work, check your e-mail, etc., I recommend visiting the Turku Main Library. They have computers for people to use, and you can also use their wi-fi with your own computer (ask at the info desk for a temporary user account). There are plenty of desks for working, and chairs and sofas for reading and relaxing. The library has an extensive collection of newspapers from around the world, and they also have a very nice café that servers refreshments, pastries, and also pasta and salad lunches.

Miscellaneous Things

Especially if you are coming from abroad, the following tidbits might be useful:

The ATMs are marked with orange signs that say OTTO.

”Apteekki” means pharmacy. I hope you have no need for these, but if you do, there are several around the market place.

If you need to exchange currency, there is a Forex exchange bureau at Eerikinkatu 13. (Opening hours are limited on Saturday, and the place is closed on Sundays.)

Things to See

Some things you can do in Turku (besides attending the convention of course).

The market square is the center of the city. It is the center for local buses, and it also has a food market on weekdays and Saturdays (morning to early afternoon). If you want to taste fresh Finnish produce or berries, this is where you can get them. It is the season for peas and strawberries, and the blueberry season is also just starting. And by the way, the ice cream stands on the market square (the white-and-blue ones marked with a penguin logo) have both tar ice cream and liquorice ice cream in their selection nowadays. If you’re interested in Finnish delicacies, that is.

There are several museums near the city center. Depending on your interests, I’d recommend the Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova museum which combines a historical setting of the unique ruins of a medieval town quarter and a museum of contemporary art, or the Luostarinmäki Handicrafts Museum, an outdoor museum of historical Turku from early 19th century (one of the rare places saved from the great fire of 1827). Not too far away is also the Logomo cultural center which hosts several exhibitions (for example, the Tom of Finland exhibition, ”Alice in Wonderland”—an exhibition of contemporary photography, and an exhibition about the science and history of fire.

If you want to go sightseeing, I recommend taking a cruise on the river Aura. Guided tours are available in Finnish, Swedish, and English. For longer trips, there are also steamboat cruises to the city of Naantali or lunch cruises in the Turku Archipelago.

During the weekend, there is an antiquarian book event called Booktori on the Puutori market place. There’s lots of book and collecting–related programming, and of course old books for sale. Most of these will be in Finnish though, but if you love old books no matter the language, this might be worth a visit.

Or, you could have a sauna. As part of the Cultural capital program, four art saunas have been built around Turku. These include a transparent ”Solaris” sauna and ”Sauna Obscura” where you can bathe inside a camera.

Traveling with Family

If you have a family (with young kids) with you, there are a couple of places I recommend visiting.

If your kids like the Moomings, the Moomin World in Naantali is the place to go. There are recreations of many of the places in the Moomin books, and the kids can meet the Moomins. The place also has restaurants and a swimming beach, so it’s definitely a whole day trip.

In the city center, there’s an Adventure Park in the Kupittaa Park which has lots of things to do for kids, such as climbing, playing in the wading pool, workshops, theater shows, a bouncy castle, etc.

Escape from the Castle of If

2011-07-12T16:55:00.001+03:00

Hannu Rajaniemi’s talk about Constraints and Creativity in Mathematics and Fiction at the International Science Day, held in Turku in June, is now online (along with other talks given at the event).

Eating and Drinking in Turku

2011-07-11T23:20:00.001+03:00

Finncon is almost upon us, and since many of you will be visiting Turku, I thought I’d share a couple of tips of places to eat, drink, and be merry during the weekend. This is not a comprehensive guide, but just some suggestions for places I think might be worth visiting.

Most of the places mentioned are either in the city center, or close to the convention site. I’ve created a Google map where you can see the convention site and some other places of interest, plus the places mentioned in this article at <is.gd/fc11tku>.

Food

Baan Thai (Kauppiaskatu 15). If you find yourself wanting Thai food, this place is generally considered the best in Turku.

Blanko (Aurakatu 1). Italian–Asian fusion kitchen. Good food, menu more interesting than in many restaurants. On Sundays, a popular brunch is served from noon to 5 PM. Voted as best restaurant 2011 in Turku by the City magazine.

Cantina Azteca Mexican Bar & Grill (Eerikinkatu 8). Excellent Mexican food.

China Thai (Kauppiaskatu 1 A). I haven’t visited this relatively new Chinese & Japanese restaurant myself, but have heard good things about it (especially that it is less “fast food style” than most of the Chinese restaurants in Turku).

Delhi Darbar (Hämeenkatu 8). A nice Indian restaurant quite close to the con site. Voted as the best ethnic restaurant 2011 in Turku by the City magazine.

Dennis (Linnankatu 17). The oldest pizzeria in Turku still has excellent pizzas and pastas. Get the garlic bread as an appetizer if you go here (but it’s probably best to share it with a friend unless you are really hungry).

Harald (Aurakatu 3) may be familiar if you’ve visited Turku, Tampere, or Jyväskylä before. It is a Viking-themed restaurant (which is not as kitchy as it sounds) that has a very nice decor. The food, while not authentic viking food, is pretty nice, and a bonus is that they use lots of traditional Finnish ingredients such as root vegetables and berries. To go with your food I’d recommend their honey beer.

Kuningas Kebab (Itäinen pitkäkatu 90). The oldest and, in my opinion, the best kebab restaurant in Turku (if not the cheapest—a kebab here costs almost twice what you pay in the run-of-the-mill kebab/pizzeria, but is definitely worth it). If you want spicy, the ”superhot” sauce is your friend, but for others the place is famous for their garlic dressing. Also serves burgers.

Pinella (Vanha Suurtori 2) is a mix of old and new: the oldest part of the restaurant dates back to mid-19th century but the whole place was recently renovated and reopened after a few year’s break. I’ve only eaten lunch at the new Pinella, but it was excellent. The location between the old marketplace and the river Aura, across the street from the Turku Cathedral is beautiful. Pinella also has a couple of terraces, plus a champagne and coctail bar.

Pippurimylly (Stålarminkatu 2). A traditional Finnish family restaurant, founded in 1974 (and still looks pretty much the same, so if you want to see what Finnish restaurants used to look like a couple of decades ago, this is the place). Serves some of the best steaks in town.

Shamrock Café (Eerikinkatu 10) is not an Irish pub/cafe, despite the name, but a restaurant and bar that is part of the big chain restaurant block near the market place. It has very tasty burgers and pizzas.

If you want scenery, there are some nice restaurants by the river, many with riverside terraces. The menu varies from just a salad or a pasta to pizzas and some very fine dining (If you’re in for the latter, Mami or Rocca, side by side at the beginning of Linnankatu are probably what you should look into. Both have lovely terraces for eating outside if the weather permits).

Lunch: Many restaurants serve inexpensive lunch dishes on weekdays (usually from 11 to 2 or 3 PM). The regular price for lunch varies from seven to nine euros. A couple of places near the convention venue are: Kiinanmuuri (Vähä-Hämeenkatu 1—huge portions of basic but ok Chinese food—especially a takeway lunch serves 2 to 3 persons easily), Resepti (Kiinamyllynkatu 5—a bakery café that also has tasty salads and very nice home cooking–style lunch dishes), and Delhi Darbar, mentioned above.

Coffee

Arnolds (Eerikinkatu 15 and Aurakatu 8). If you want to eat something small, Arnolds has very tasty bagels and smoothies. Also, delicious donuts and good, inexpensive coffee.

Café Art (Läntinen rantakatu 5) is probably my favorite coffee shop in Turku. They have absolutely delicious pastries, and the coffee is lovingly prepared by award-winning baristas. Has a nice riverside terrace. Definitely woth a visit.

Café Brahe (Aurakatu 10 and Yliopistonkatu 27). Coffee, huge cinnamon rolls, yummy pastries, and also baguettes, ciabattas, soups and salads if you’re feeling a bit hungry. Also a good selection of different kinds of mineral water, fruit juice and smoothies if you’re not big on coffee. Big terraces (in Yliopistonkatu, and inside the Hansa mall) good for people-watching while you have your cup of coffee.

Fontana Café (Aurakatu 1). A very nice café with a selection of goodies from their own bakery. Serves also lunch on weekdays, and a brunch on Sundays.

Nuvole Gelateria (Eerikinkatu 13). If you want ice cream, this is the place. Absolutely delicious Italian ice cream, enjoyed while sitting in comfy armchairs. What more could you want?

Beer

The closest place to the convention site is the pub Proffan kellari (Rehtorinpellonkatu 6), just across the street. It’s a nice neighborhood pub that is used to serving the students and staff of the university. They were kind enough to come back earlier from their summer vacation to open the place just for Finncon, so it is advisable to reward them by visiting them during the convention. Open from noon to 6 PM, Friday to Sunday on Finncon weekend.

The Old Bank (Aurakatu 3) is one of the better (and more expensive) pubs for beer aficionados in Turku. They have around 150 different beers in their selection, some of which are exclusive in Finland, so if you want to sample many different kinds of beer, this is your spot. The Thursday evening pre-Finncon gathering will be here.

The Brewery Restaurant Koulu (Eerikinkatu 18) has a room booked for the convention for most of Friday, and the Friday evening party is also there. As the name suggests, they have their own beers (the wheat beer is especially recommended, if they happen not to be out, which they sadly often are) and ciders. You can also eat here (there is the restaurant side plus a separate pub menu). The place has the biggest outside terrace in Turku (where you can also play pétanque or Mölkky, and, if you’re traveling with children, it’s the only one that also has a playground for kids).

Teerenpeli (Eerikinkatu 8) is another brewery pub. It’s where the Turku pub meetings are held. The place is a chain pub (the brewery is in Lahti), so it’s not local. It has lots of small tables that accommodate groups of different sizes. And if you feel adventurous, their selection also includes their own whisky.

Cosmic Comic Café (Kauppiaskatu 4) is a curiosity among pubs: it has a large selection of comic books you can read while having a coffee or a beer. They also feature exhibitions by Finnish comics artists. The place has rather a good selection of bottled beers, and also (going by what I’m told) a very good selection of ciders for all you suspicious non-beer-drinking types. The prices are probably the consumer-friendliest of this lot of pubs.

Tähtivaeltaja Award to Maarit Verronen

2011-07-04T18:34:00.001+03:00

The 2011 Tähtivaeltaja Award for best science fiction book published in Finnish last year went to Maarit Verronen for her novel Kirkkaan selkeää (“Bright Clear”), published by Tammi.

The jury commended the novel’s unique voice and the alarming dystopic vision of how the world will be if the well-being of nature and other humans continues to be ignored. The novel was described as an important literary commentary of current society’s more worrying aspects and a thematically solid whole.

The Tähtivaeltaja Award is given to a book either originally published in Finnish or translated to Finnish. This is only the ~~second~~ third time a Finnish book has been awarded in its 26-year history. The award is given by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society; the jury consisted of critic Hannu Blommila, editor Toni Jerrman, critic Elli Leppä, and journalist Vesa Sisättö.

Finncon Program Announced

2011-06-27T14:52:00.003+03:00

Finncon 2011 has announced their program schedule. (The link points to the English-language page which is still lacking translations, but those will hopefully be updated soon.)

The program maps have the English program items marked in them, but here’s a list of Finncon & Animecon’s English-language items for easier reference. (Copied from the handy list Jukkahoo posted on Facebook. Thanks, Jukka!)

(PS I notice that the Finncon web team has switched the site to use much nicer and linking-friendly URL on the web site. Yay!)

Friday

14.00–14.45 On Writing
Matrix (Kauppakorkea)
Guests of Honour Nalo Hopkinson and Richard Morgan talk about writing speculative fiction.
16.00–16.45 Black Widow
Mythos (Kauppakorkea)
An interview with Richard Morgan about his comic projects. Morgan has written the story to two Black Widow miniseries for Marvel Comics.
16.00–17.45 Do it with Jordan... Part 1: Cover up
Endor (Kauppakorkea)
A trilogy in four parts during the weekend. Playful competitions to get you acquainted with the brick-like works of Fantasy literature.
20.00 Fandom Bar
Brewery restaurant Koulu

Saturday

10.00–10.30 Opening Ceremony
Caribia Areena
Opening spectacle of the con! Useful information!
11.00–12.45 Guest of Honour speech: Nalo Hopkinson
Matrix (Kauppakorkea)
11.00–11.45 Do it with Jordan... Part 2: Walk with
Endor (Kauppakorkea)
12.00–12.45 Reading + signing: Tom Crosshill
42 (Kauppakorkea)
12.00–13.45 Medieval Music
Endor (Kauppakorkea)
The Medieval society of Turku, Unikankare, delights you with musicians. Let the flutes and drums guide your feet to dance with the help of the lovely ladies of Unikankare!
13.00–13.45 Kaffeeklatsch: Nalo Hopkinson
42 (Kauppakorkea)
Chat with the author over a cup of coffee
13.30–14.30 Interview with HIMEKA
Tsuki (Educarium)
Canadian singer HIMEKA is interviewed. After the interview, you can ask for HIMEKA's autograph on her concert's programme book or on HIMEKA merchandise.
15.00–16.45 Guest of Honour speech: Richard Morgan
Matrix (Kauppakorkea)
16.00–16.45 Hugo-nominees of 2010
Xoth (Kauppakorkea)
Panel discussion. Marianna Leikomaa, Jukka Halme, Cheryl Morgan, Tommy Persson
16.00–16.45 Do it with Jordan... Part 3: Show it
Endor (Kauppakorkea)
17.00–17.45 Kaffeeklatsch: Richard Morgan
42 (Kauppakorkea)
Party at Kåren
- Finnconkampen table-top hockey tournament, sign up at the con!
- Masquerade, sign up in advance or on location as soon as possible.

Sunday

11.00–12.45 Cultural Appropriation in SF
Matrix (Kauppakorkea)
What is the difference between culture as window dressing and culture as essential background in speculative fiction? How do stories transcend treating the foreign as the exotic, especially if the culture in question is not the author's?
13.00–13.45 Reading + signing: Richard Morgan
Matrix (Kauppakorkea)
14.00–14.45 Reading + signing: Nalo Hopkinson
Matrix (Kauppakorkea)
16.00–16.45 Do it with Jordan... Part 4: Go deeper
Endor (Kauppakorkea)
16.00-17.45 Piratism Panel Discussion
Xoth (Kauppakorkea)
Nalo Hopkinson (Note: This item isn’t shown in the schedules but is mentioned in the program listing, so maybe it is still unconfirmed.)

In addition to the items mentioned here, the schedules show a few items that have been marked ”English–Finnish”—I guess that means the program is more free-form and the content is shaped by who is attending it.

Hannu Rajaniemi in Turku

2011-06-03T00:37:00.001+03:00

The author of the acclaimed sf novel The Quantum Thief and quite a few fine short stories, Hannu Rajaniemi is visiting Turku this weekend. On Saturday June 4, he will be interviewed in the Akateeminen book store at 11.30. After the interview (probably around noon) people have an opportunity to meet Hannu over a cup of coffee at Café Art. Welcome!

On Sunday, Hannu is one of the speakers at the International Science Day, which is this year held at Logomo. ISD is a one day festival of science aimed at the general public and especially focused on the intersection of science and art. The program has several talks, a couple of exhibitions, and the premiere of the Documentary Film Inside the Light: the mystery of light in quantum physics. The event is free, but you need a ticket (which you get via the event’s web site).

Finncon 2012 GoHs Announced

2011-06-03T00:20:00.001+03:00

Finncon 2012 has announced their Guests of Honor. The foreign GoHs are authors Liz Williams and Lois McMaster Bujold. The Finnish guest of honor is sf researcher and conrunner Irma Hirsjärvi.

Finncon 2012 will be held in Tampere, July 20—22 at the University of Tampere.

Park Meeting Tomorrow

2011-06-01T20:30:00.001+03:00

The Turku mafia (pub meetings) has migrated to Pinella (park side) for the summer. Welcome all tomorrow to meet others over drinks and sfnal discussions starting at 6.

The reading circle discusses Hugo nominated short stories at six thirty. There will also be a new issue of the Turu Mafia Zine tomorrow (somewhat later than usual—I’m out of town for the day and will arrive probably some time after eight with the zines).

Welcome!

Book Your Finncon Accommodation Now

2011-05-28T21:09:00.001+03:00

I just got information from this year’s Finncon that ~~some of the hotel quotas will be released at the end of the month~~. ~~Some~~ rooms will be available until the date announced earlier (June 14), but if you want to make sure you get the room you want, you should book now. More info on the convention web site. Update: the convention staff confirmed that all the rooms will be available until the announced cutoff date after all—their earlier info was premature.

Note: the reservation codes don’t work for Internet booking (at least for every hotel)—you need to e-mail or call the hotel to get a room for the (very good) Finncon rate. Update: The reservations made with the convention code can be cancelled without penalty up to the previous day before the check-in date.

There will also be floor accommodation offered by the convention if you want a very inexpensive place to sleep. The accommodation is at a couple of schools very close to the convention sites (about half a kilometer away); the price is 5 euros/night. There are showers and microwaves at the accommodation, but bring your own sleeping bag and other stuff you need—only floor space is offered at the place. To sign up, fill the form and pay to the Finncon bank account in advance. The floor accommodation will be open on Friday and Saturday nights, from 6 PM to 10 AM next morning.

SF Translation Awards Finalists

2011-05-24T22:37:00.002+03:00

The finalists for the first Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Awards have been announced. There are two categories, long form and short form. In the short form category, three out of the four finalists are by Finns: Wagtail, by Marketta Niemelä, translated by Liisa Rantalaiho (Usva International 2010); Elegy for a Young Elk by Hannu Rajaniemi, translated by Hannu Rajaniemi (Subterranean Online); and Bear’s Bride by Johanna Sinisalo, translated by Liisa Rantalaiho (The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People). Big congratulations to all the nominees!

Åcon 5 Announces GoH

2011-05-24T19:42:00.003+03:00

Next year’s Åcon Guest of Honor has been announced:

Catherynne M. Valente is an American writer, critic and editor. She has written several novels as well as short stories and poetry, and has won, among others, the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Rhysling Award, the Mythopoeic Award, and the Andre Norton Award for her work. Her novel Palimpsest was a Hugo and Locus Award nominee and won the Lambda Literary Award in 2010. Her latest book, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, debuted at number 8 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Her critical work has appeared in the International Journal of the Humanities as well as in the essay anthology Chicks Dig Time Lords. Since last year, she is also the fiction and poetry editor of Apex Magazine.

The latest issue of Tähtivaeltaja (1/2011) has a Finnish translation of the short story A Buyer’s Guide to Maps of Antarctica

Åcon 5 will take place in Mariehamn on May 17–20, 2012. (Still a year to go, alas!)

Vandercon Blogging Round-Up

2011-05-16T13:30:00.003+03:00

Jeff VanderMeer has a good round-up post on his blog about all the amazing blogging he has done about the Vandercon trip to Finland. The coverage includes two posts on the Amazon book blog, interviews with Johanna Sinisalo, Toni Jerrman, Viivi Hyvönen, Anne Leinonen, Saara Henriksson, Sari Peltoniemi, and me, plus links to his posts during the travel.

Vandercon was a great experience, and has generated wonderful publicity for Finnish sf writers and fandom in general (and started some real things happening to get Finnish writers published abroad). A big hand for the Finnish Literature Exchange and the many Finnish sf societies who made this happen—you can be proud of the accomplishment!

Finncon Fundraiser

2011-05-16T12:37:00.001+03:00

The Turku SF Society, one of the organizers of this year’s Finncon, is having a fundraiser party this Friday in the Turku-sali and the club house Terrakoti. The event starts at noon and continues for the whole day and evening.

There will be an official info session at 1 PM, so everybody who is interested in how Finncon is doing, this is the place to be listening and asking questions. After that, there will be a book auction, raffle, coffee, and other activities.

If you want to have lunch in sfnal company, the Turku mafia monthly lunch is also on Friday, at 12.30PM in the restaurant Hus Lindman. It’s pretty close to the fundraiser venue, so you can come have lunch first and continue to the party afterwards.

Finndom Amazoned, Part 2

2011-05-12T22:34:00.000+03:00

The second part of the article about Finnish sf is up on the Amazon book blog, courtesy of Jeff. Mentions of many Finnish authors, and quotes from several members of the Finnish fandom. It’s a good read, go take a look!

Jeff also has the next interviews up on his blog: he talks to Saara Henriksson and Sari Peltoniemi.

2011 Locus Award Finalists

2011-05-12T17:10:00.003+03:00

Locus has posted the list of the 2011 Locus Award Finalists. Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Quantum Thief is shortlisted for best first novel. Go Hannu! Also on the list is the anthology The Beastly Bride that contains the short story Bear’s Bride by Johanna Sinisalo.

By the way, you can meet four Locus finalists in Eurocon in Stockholm this June: GoHs Elizabeth Bear (best novella) and Ian McDonald (best science fiction novel) are nominated, and Hannu Rajaniemi (mentioned above) and Charles Stross (nominated for best fantasy novel) will also be at the convention!

Vesa Sisättö Talk on Thursday

2011-05-12T14:54:00.000+03:00

Vesa Sisättö speaks about the many worlds of fantasy on Thursday, May 12 at the Sello library at 3 PM. Go visit if you’re in the neighborhood!

Summer Pub Meetings; Hugo Stories in June

2011-05-10T13:31:00.003+03:00

In the pub meeting last week it was decided to enjoy the summer and have the pub meetings at a terrace restaurant. The newly-reopened Pinella was chosen as the venue. So, in June (and also July and August, if the place proves suitable) the Turku pub meeting will take place on the Pinella terrace (park side), or inside if the weather does not endorse our outside activities.

Also, the reading circle decided to tackle the four Hugo-nominated short stories for June. So, June 2 at 6:30 PM we’ll be discussing the following:

Amaryllis by Carrie Vaughn
For Want of a Nail by Mary Robinette Kowal
Ponies by Kij Johnson
The Things by Peter Watts

Come join us and tell your opinion! (Of course, everybody is welcome without reading the stories as well!)

1984 in Theatre in Helsinki

2011-05-10T13:16:00.001+03:00

Thespians Anonymous present a play of George Orwell’s 1984 in the Gloria Cultural Arena in Helsinki this week (Tue–Thu). Tickets are from 9 to 13 €, more info at the link.

Linkage: Anne Leinonen Interviewed

2011-05-10T09:58:00.002+03:00

Jeff interviews Anne Leinonen on his blog.

Linkage: Viivi Hyvönen Interviewed

2011-05-07T23:18:00.001+03:00

Jeff interviews Viivi Hyvönen.

Finndom Amazoned!

2011-05-06T10:37:00.002+03:00

Jeff VanderMeer talks about his trip to Finland on the Amazon.com book blog. Sinisalo, Rajaniemi, Moomins, and a video chat with Jukkahoo. Linked to this, there’s also an interview on Jeff’s blog where I get to talk about me! (Well, and a little bit about sf and fandom too.)

Linkage: Worldbuilding

2011-05-04T19:54:00.001+03:00

The SF Signal Mind Meld discusses lessons learned from master world-builders. Among good company with Michael Moorcock, Alastair Reynolds, Jeff VanderMeer, and others is also Viivi Hyvönen.

Vandercon Blogging

2011-05-02T11:14:00.002+03:00

Jeff has produced several blog posts during his Vandercon trip:

Ann posted a photo album of Finland and Amsterdam (with comments).

Eurocon

2011-04-21T10:31:00.004+03:00

If you’ve been thinking about going to Eurocon, now is the time to arrange your trip! The convention will be held in Stockholm, June 17–19, and it looks like it’s going to be one of the biggest Swedish conventions ever, with members from over 20 countries.

The convention membership fee is 40 € until the end of April, so go over to their site and join up! (If you will be under 26 when the convention starts, you get a free membership; you just need to fill the membership form and you’re all set.)

The convention will have programming from Friday noon to Sunday evening, from morning to well into the evening. GoHs are Elizabeth Bear, Ian McDonald, John-Henri Holmberg and fan GoH Jukka Halme.

There will be a group trip from Finland with programming: Båtcon, from Helsinki to Stockholm on Thursday evening and back on the Sunday evening ferry. Båtcon membership 116 € includes the trips, the Båtcon program on Thursday, dinner on Thursday, plus a 20 € coupon for the trip back. And of course the wonderfully sfnal company on the trip! Båtcon signup deadline is Monday, April 25.

There will be over 20 Finns going to the convention, so you don’t need to worry about having to go alone. So come along!

More information about going to the convention from Finland, Båtcon, where to stay, etc. can be found at <euroconiin.wordpress.com>.

Sands of Sarasvati: The Play

2011-04-20T18:52:00.001+03:00

A stage play based on Risto Isomäki’s novel The Sands of Sarasvati opens today at the Rovaniemi Theater. In the play, “actors read Isomäki’s text, think, interpret and re-imagine its message and challenge the audience to participate”.

The play that promises to give you space to think about your own relation with global warming is directed by Vihtori Rämä and also includes samples from “The Daily Sarasvati” audio play and a moving image installation during the intermission.

Tähtivaeltaja Day 2011

2011-04-18T00:23:00.001+03:00

The Vandercon tour culminated in the Tähtivaeltaja Day minicon, held in Helsinki this Saturday. Twelwe hours of fantastical programming, starting with more serious panel discussions on new sf trends, translating sf, etc. and gradually gearing towards the more silly side of underwater nazi zombies, quiz shows, and comics karaoke.

The GoH of Vandercon, and Tähtivaeltaja Day, were of course Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Happily discussing books, authors, writing, weird, the weird, odd (or was it the odd?), squid, mushrooms, bears, and other weird tales, Ann and Jeff had spent the week touring Finland, but were still lovely as always.

Before Ann & Jeff’s cryo couch interview, Jukka and Juha interrupted the program for a quick announcement.

Jeff had been taunted for the whole week about having to give a repeat performance of his interpretative dance. You can see from his expression he was expecting the worst.

However, Juha started talking about the hockey team in their home town of Tallahassee. And not the one they had heard about before…

…but the Tallahassee Tentacles! The team shirts feature a gorgeous logo designed by Ninni Aalto.

The very familiar star players of the team.

The Weird fiction today panel

After navigating the maze of twisting passages to find the basement of the basement, the Domus Academica was a pretty good place for a minicon such as this. The program room was just large enough, there was enough room to hang out and talk with friends, and the bar prices were extremely wallet friendly.

The program items that I managed to catch were very good. The “sell a book” contest was once again extremely entertaining; poor Jeff had to read aloud an excerpt of a book… in Finnish. He did very well, considering. The quiz show was pretty unusual this time: you got points for correct answers, and the team with the most points actually won the game. Jeff got shanghaied into once again practicing his Finnish. In the tight match between Finland proper and the rest of Finland, the team comprising Shimo and me was victorious. And there were actual prices too. Yay us!

After a great day catching up with friends, discussing much science fiction, fandom, and plenty of other things, smoking a couple of doutniks in good company, and general merriment, it was time to say teary-eyed goodbyes, send the guests home, and go catch some sleep. A big hand to the organizers of the day—the con was a success and I had a blast! And once again huge thanks also to Ann and Jeff, tirelessly traveling to educate and entertain. You guys are the best!

Go Tentacles!

Vandercon in Turku

2011-04-17T23:17:00.001+03:00

A week ago, the amazing Vandercon landed in Finland. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer visited us for a tour of lectures, workshops, and fan meetings.

On the way from Helsinki to Turku we stopped at the Fiskars Village for a quick tour of the place, a cup of coffee with Kenneth, an eclectic book shop, and some gourmet chocolate. Plus a very weird (and a bit scary) cryogenic toilet…

Sunday was a rest day in the middle of all the traveling, so there wasn’t any official programming then. After arriving in Turku we had lunch, visited a museum, and had a quiet evening with a couple of friends. The plan was for the travelers to get a decent night’s sleep before spending the whole week hopping from city to city.

On Monday, before the programming started, there was time for some local activities, including a quick visit to a gym with Jeff, and visiting the Logomo exhibition center, where the guests were subjected, among other things, to the fire exhibition.

The first official programming item was a kaffeeklatch-style meet & greet at CaféArt, an excellent art café in the center of the town. A dozen local sf people were present, among them the renowned sf, horror and pulp author Boris Hurtta. The guests were interesting (as always), and the conversation flowed very easily between them and the locals. The cakes and coffee were extremely tasty.

The main event was a talk / multimedia show / interview, organized together with the International Institute of Popular Culture of the University of Turku. Ann and Jeff discussed their projects, and showed a lot of interesting material (many of their works are very visual, for example the Steampunk Bible, The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, and of course the Weird Tales magazine, so this kind of a presentation was very well suited for the occasion), followed by an interview and a Q&A session.

At dinner, at the viking restaurant Harald. Plenty of food, all of it good. The honey beer wasn’t bad either.

The evening continued at Cosmic Comic Café with beers and lots of itneresting and fun discussion.

On Tuesday, it was time to say goodbye (for a while), as Ann and Jeff contined their tour to Jyväskylä.

MorfoCon in Tampere

2011-04-14T16:58:00.001+03:00

The FSFWA “living room con” MorfoCon (Metamorphosis in sf) takes place in Tampere May 7.

The program starts at 2 with a “Pimp your monster” workshop for writers, and at 4 there will be a talk about insects as the master race in sf. Other programming will include a new issue of Kosmospenaali, gaming, and discussion.

More from FSFWA Tampere.

Comics Finlandia 2011 to Kati Kovács and Heikki Paakkanen

2011-04-08T12:37:00.002+03:00

The annual Comics Finlandia award for best Finnish comics album was announced today at the Tampere Kuplii comics festival. This year, there are two winners: Kati Kovács for Kuka pelkää Nenian Ahnavia? and Heikki Paakkanen for Amerikka.

The winners were selected by artist M.A. Numminen who said about the winners,

Kati Kovács’s work is close to the ideal Numminen held in his youth: strange and surprising. The improvised-looking style is also charming enough to be a winner.

Heikki Paakkanen, in his book Amerikka, creates intriguing contrasts on the United States and uses cliches to his, and the reader’s, advantage. The art is as fine as always in Paakkanen’s works, and personal enough to stand above the masses.

The award sum is 5 000 €. The Comics Finlandia award is given by the Tampere Kuplii ry. and Luova Tampere.

Press release

Vandercon

2011-04-04T18:31:00.001+03:00

Ann and Jeff VanderMeer are visiting Finland on their European tour. They will be in Turku on April 11, with a kaffeeklatsch, a public presentation at the university, and later a meeting at a pub for some beers and chatting.

From Turku, the tour continues to Jyväskylä and Tampere on Tuesday the 12th and Wednesday the 13th, respectively, with programming in Kirjailijatalo and Metso, plus pub meetings later in the evening. On Thursday, there will be a public lecture at the University of Helsinki, plus the Helsinki pub meeting afterwards.

On Friday, Ann and Jeff are the GoHs of ESCON 2011, a minicon in Espoo with the emphasis this year on writing sf (see link for details of the program).

The main event is the Tähtivaeltaja Day minicon in Helsinki on Saturday, where Ann & Jeff will also be starring as GoHs. These minicons are always a hoot, and having such great GoHs will definitely not hurt either.

Go check out the links for the Vandercon, coming soon to a city near you, and participate! And then head to Helsinki for the next weekend for Tähtivaeltaja Day! You won’t regret it!

BaCon IV

2011-03-31T10:40:00.004+03:00

BaCon, “the meatiest con in Finland,” is organized this Sunday (April 3) in Terrakoti. The theme of the minicon is “men & women”—or possibly “women & men”.

The BaCon programming includes:

2 PM movie: Some Like It Hot
4 PM start of official programming: meaty music video
~4 PM to 7 PM: eating bacon (vegetarian alternative also available), watching Star Trek, possibly other programming
7 PM movies: Zardoz, Barbarella, plus possibly some Danish short films

The con is free to attend. Inexpensive food will be for sale, along with peculiar (and possible normal) soft drinks.

BaCon is arranged by FUI (Åbo Akademi’s society for peculiar interests) with the help of Tutka. For more information, contact Vilgot Strömsholm.

Tähtivaeltaja Award Nominees 2011

2011-03-30T14:31:00.002+03:00

The shortlist for the Tähtivaeltaja award for best science fiction book (original or translated) published in Finnish in 2010 have been announced. The nominees (with the jury’s comments) are:

Herran tarhurit (The Year of the Flood) by Margaret Atwood (Otava)
Description of an apocalypse of biblical proportions that preaches against humankind’s endless greed and immorality
Mielenpeli (Mindplayers) by Pat Cadigan (Avain)
Self and personality are written anew in a book that looks deep into the foundation of identity
Tohtori Veriraha (Dr. Bloodmoney) by Philip K. Dick (Like)
Little people look for their place in a post–nuclear war described in a surprisingly warm and humane way
Muste (Ink) by Hal Duncan (Like)
A metaphorical novel dives vigorously into a breathtaking network of myth and reality
Kirkkaan selkeää by Maarit Verronen (Tammi)
A protagonist, fallen outside the society, witnesses the rising class distinction and destruction of nature in a wrenching vision of the near future

The jury for the award, given by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society, comprises reporter Hannu Blommila, editor Toni Jerrman, critic Elli Leppä, and critic Vesa Sisättö. The winner of the award will be announced this summer.

Sf Activity in Oulu?

2011-03-18T14:23:00.002+02:00

A conversation has been going on in Risingshadow to find out if there is interest in rejuvenating the sf activities in the Oulu region—either by resurrecting the Oulu sf society, in cooperation with some other association (for example at the university), or by founding a new group. If you have an interest in the matter, pop over there and take part in the discussion!

Update: The new Oulu sf activities have a blog with more info.

Booking a Hotel for Finncon

2011-03-15T20:57:00.004+02:00

Finncon 2011 has announced their hotel deals (only in Finnish, at least at the moment).

All the hotels (except for Caribia, which is the closest to the convention) are located in or very near the center of Turku, about a 20 minutes’ walk (or under a 10 minutes' bus ride) from the university campus area where the convention is held. The official con hotel (where the GoHs will be staying, unless I’m mistaken) is the Hamburger Börs, smack down in the city center (Note: see Mirka’s comment below—the official con hotel is still being negotiated).

Update: The reservation code for at least the Hamburger Börs (possibly for others as well) doesn’t work for internet reservations—to book with the special Finncon price, send the hotel e-mail or call them.

Hamburger Börs (reservation code BFIN110715): 90 €/double room, 75 €/single
City Börs (reservation code BFIN110715): 76 €/double, 61 €/single
same hotel as Hamburger Börs, cheaper rooms across the street, services at the main hotel
Seurahuone (reservation code BFIN110715): 72 €/double, 57 €/single
Holiday Club Caribia (reservation code FCAC 2011): 143 €/double, 119 €/single
spa hotel about 900 m from the con site; some Animecon programming at the hotel)
Radisson Blu Marina Palace (Reservation code FCAC): 125 €/double, 105 €/single, 157 €/double with extra bed
Scandic Plaza (reservation code FCAC150711): 99 €/double, 90 €/single, 135 €/3 persons’ room

The special Finncon prices are valid until June 14 (or until the room quota runs out). All prices include breakfast. Most Hamburger Börs and all City Börs, Seurahuone, Marina, and Plaza rooms have free wi-fi. Caribia rooms have free broadband (wi-fi not specified).

If you’re looking for something more special, there are a couple of other options I can recommend. (Free wi-fi included in the room price with all of these as well.)

Centro Hotel is a boutique hotel that is famous for its excellent breakfast. Double room during the summer is 96 €/night
Omena Hotel is the most inexpensive alternative outside of hostels. The self service hotel has no staff present, but the hotels are clean and modern. Rooms go for 68 €/night at the moment (the prices go up as the event draws nearer), but each room has beds for four persons. Omena prices don’t include breakfast.
Park Hotel is a very charming small art nouveau hotel built in 1902 as a private villa. Each room in the hotel is individual. Double rooms go from 125 to 145 €/night, but if you want something special, this is a good choice.

Turku is full of events this summer, so it is probably a good idea to reserve your rooms soon!

Grants For Sf Zines

2011-03-15T20:16:00.001+02:00

The Ministry of Education has once again announced the cultural grants for magazines for “having a discussion in society about culture, science, arts, or religion”.

Kosmoskynä (FSFWA) 800 € (same as last year)
Portti (TaSFS) 15 000 € (same)
Sarjainfo (The Finnish Comics Society) 17 000 € (last year 17 500 €)
Spin (TSFS) 2 500 € (last year 3 000 €)
Tähtivaeltaja (HSFS) 15 000 € (last year 17 000 €)

Reading Circle at Turku Pub Meetings

2011-03-13T16:28:00.001+02:00

At the mafia pub meeting this month, we agreed on starting a reading circle where those who want to participate can read an sf story and then discuss it at the next meeting. This might not go on every time, but at least occasionally.

The first story to read is Ted Chiang’s Nebula-nominated The Lifecycle of Software Objects. The text is available online, so everyone can read it before April’s meeting. Come join the discussion!

Tähtivaeltaja Day 2011

2011-03-10T15:45:00.003+02:00

The program for the Tähtivaeltaja Day minicon has been announced. The convention takes place in Domus Academica (Hietaniemenkatu 14 B) in Helsinki, on Saturday, April 16. The Guests of Honor are Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Admission is free.

The program (mostly in Finnish) covers such diverse topics as superheroines in comics, realfantastik vs. dystopias, translating sf, underwater nazi zombies, speculative books (i.e. books that don’t exist), and sci-fi comics karaoke (where the participants perform their favorite comics book page in front of the audience). These things are always great fun, and this year the GoHs are extraordinary—don’t miss this for the world!

12.00 Ovet auki
12.15 Supermimmit ja miehet, jotka haluavat saada heiltä turpiinsa
Miksi sarjakuvien supernaiset ovat niin paljon parempia kuin oikeat?
Rami Rautkorpi (pj), Petri Hiltunen, Toni Jerrman, Pekka Manninen, Otto Sinisalo
13.15 Reaalifantasiaa vai dystopiaa? Kotimainen spekulatiivinen fiktio nyt.
Millaista on suomalainen tieteis- ja fantasiakirjallisuus vuonna 2011?
Vesa Sisättö (pj), Saara Henriksson, Eija Lappalainen, Tiina Raevaara, Petri Salin
14.15 Cryo Couch Live (in English)
And and Jeff VanderMeer bare their minds in front of a live audience!
Toni Jerrman interviews
15.30 Kuinka The Quantum Thiefistä tuli Kvanttivaras
Spefin suomentajat keskustelevat ammattinsa erityispiirteistä
Juha Tupasela (pj), Antti Autio, J. Pekka Mäkelä, Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo
16.30 Vedenalaiset natsi-zombiet über alles!
Miksi natsit ovat yhä hyviä vihollisia – tulivat he sitten Kuusta tai merenpohjasta?
Toni Jerrman (pj), Petri Hiltunen, Ilja Rautsi, Syksy Räsänen sekä yllätysvieras
17.30 Weird Fiction Today (in English)
The panelists dig deep into strange genre literature
Jukka Halme (pj), Hannu Blommila, Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer
18.30 Profeettoja ja velhoja
Miksi suosikkisarjakuvien tekijät muuttuvat tämän tästä mielipuoliksi?
Otto Sinisalo kertoo ja näyttää mallia
19.15 Pelimiehet avautuvat
Tietokonepelit alfasta omegaan
Petri Hiltunen (pj), Henri Hakkarainen, Jyrki J. J. Kasvi, Veikko Laeslehto, Mikko Rautalahti
20.15 Nyhjää tyhjiöstä
Spekulatiiviset kirjat
Syksy Räsänen (pj), Hannu Blommila, Aleksi Kuutio, Tiina Raevaara, Ilja Rautsi
21.15 Myy kirja -kisa
Juuri sinä voit voittaa! Ota mukaan haluamasi kirja ja lue siitä pätkä lavalla niin haltioituneesti kuin mahdollista. Show-elkeet sallittu! Max 2–3 minuuttia per esitys. Voittajat palkitaan ruhtinaallisesti.
Juontajana Vesa "Strippari" Sisättö
22.00 Scifi-sarjakuvakaraoke
Eläydy Hopeasurffariksi, Halo Jonesiksi, Teräsliljaksi tai Kapteeni Hyperventilaattorimieheksi. Valitse suosikkisarjakuvasivusi ja esitä se itse tai kaverisi kanssa. Halutessasi voit tuoda mukana myös oman sarjakuvasivusi. Parhaat suoritukset palkitaan hulppeasti!
Juontajana Vesa Kataisto
22.45 Tiedon väärti
Turkasen totinen tieteistietovisa
Vetäjänä Jukka Halme
23.45 Kalkkunatrailereita
Maistuvat einekset pitävät aivonnälän loitolla
00.15 Ohjelma loppuu ja hupi alkaa
Vapaata seurustelua avaruuden käymättömillä korpimailla
02.00 Ovet kiinni

Tähtifantasia Award Nominees

2011-03-09T11:54:00.003+02:00

The Helsinki Science Fiction Society has announced the shortlist for the Tähtifantasia award (for best translated fantasy book published in Finnish last year). The nominees are (accompanied by the jury’s comments):

Yövartiosto (Night Watch) by Terry Pratchett (Karisto)
“One of the best tales by the master of humoristic fantasy deals with the essence of time and unjustice in society”
Tuulen nimi (The Name of the Wind) by Patrick Rothfuss (Kirjava)
“A debut novel that honors the traditions of fantasy and is of high literary quality, deals with the magic in words and music”
Viimeinen toivomus (Ostatnie życzenie) by Andrzej Sapkowski (WSOY)
“A thought-provoking short story collection that utilizes the eastern European fantasy tradition with skill”
Hiljaisuus soi H-mollissa (The Earth Hums In B-Flat) by Mari Strachan (Karisto)
“A description of a family that transforms from a murder myster into a growth story; enchants with its magical realism”
Kuolemattomien kaarti (The Year of Our War) by Steph Swainston (Like)
“An original, genre blending novel that doesn’t shy away from the brutal”

The Tähtifantasia award winner is decided by a jury of experts, comprising critic Jukka Halme, critic Aleksi Kuutio, writer and editor Anne Leinonen, and the representative of the Risingshadow fantasy fan forum Osmo Määttä.

Hannu Rajaniemi in Helsinki

2011-03-07T17:21:00.001+02:00

Hannu Rajaniemi visits Helsinki this week and gives a talk in the Pasila library on Wednesday March 9 (auditorium, 2nd floor).

Finnsmofcon 2011

2011-02-22T12:04:00.001+02:00

On Saturday, many of the Finnish fandom’s active members gathered in the Tampere winter swimmers’ sauna cabin for the annual smoffing meeting. This year there were more people than I remember there ever being (someone said they counted 70 participants), and it showed a bit; the building was bursting at the seams.
Before the traditional general co-operation meeting, there was the annual meeting of the Finncon association. It was business as usual—closing of the previous year, looking at the plans for the current year. A new board for the association was elected. Karo Leikomaa continues as chair, and Harri Kiiskinen and Pasi Vihinen continue as members of the board. New members this year are Ari Seppi from Tampere and Saija Aro from Espoo (but also representing Jyväskylä).

The co-operation meeting went smoothly, thanks to Jukkahoo who chaired the meeting very efficiently. This year most of the societies present had also done as was asked, and prepared their presentations beforehand, so there was much less going back-and-forth, remembering activities bit by bit, than in the previous few years. This is a practice I hope will continue in the following years. I would like to see the meeting be a bit more efficient still: in my opinion it’s not necessary to go over all the standard stuff that continues from year to year: publishing a club zine, having regular pub meetings, etc. These things could be collected in a info letter, for example, and use the meeting time for discussing things that aren’t exactly the same each year (such as bigger events, and also changes to the usual routines of course).

The usual activities took place after the meeting: sauna + swimming in the lake (quite a few braved the icy lake, despite the freezing weather), filking, raffle, announcing the NoFF delegate (Susanna Leppälahti from Turku will be attending a convention somewhere in the Nordic countries this year), the NoFF auction (which, if I remember correctly, took in about 400 €; a great result), informal meetings, and of course eating and drinking with friends from all over Finland. We also saw a sneak preview of material from the long awaited Iron Sky movie. And had a meeting of the Señor Humidor’s Wondrously Scientifictional Cigar Society. Nice cigars in good company—who cares if it was cold enough to freeze the beer I was drinking while smoking the cigar.

This year the meeting time was longer than before, and I thought it worked very well. The Finncon association meeting was held before the regular meeting (which is excellent, because it takes a while and not everybody needs or wants to be present for it), and also the evening ran longer because the place for reserved for the whole evening. This made for a much more relaxed evening—there are so many activities that the evening has felt very rushed. What I’d like to see in the future would be making the evening less strictly programmed. For example, I would reserve the sauna for a longer period, not just a couple of hours. I’m sure there are people, for example, who aren’t that interested in the hour-long raffle, or the filking session, but would like to relax in the sauna instead. I see no need to try to put all the activities back-to-back, thinking everyone will want to participate in every one of those.

# # #

On Sunday, a few of us met for the now quasi-traditional brunch. As always, this was more of a nice and relaxed meeting of friends, taking a couple of hours before heading home. Something said during the brunch caught my attention, and we discussed the idea further with Harri on the way back. Jukka suggested that the co-operation meeting could officially be a two-day event, and I think this would be an excellent idea. It would allow for more time to have smaller meetings (such as a board meeting for the Finncon association) without having to try to cram it all in one evening—and naturally also leave more room for socializing on Saturday. Not everyone who attends the general meeting on Saturday would want (or need) to attend the Sunday part, so a much smaller venue would do.

Sunday’s schedule could be something like:

brunch, 10–12 (enough time so that those who don’t want to be up at 10 can attend, but I’d still say start earlier so that us who are up earlier can take our time with the brunch—and please find a place that actually does open when announced, unlike the venue used this year)
meetings, starting at noon (those who prefer to sleep in can skip the brunch)
end the day around 5 or 6 (with perhaps a pizza break during the day)

My idea of the ideal Smof Sunday would be a very relaxed, loosely programmed day. There could, and should, be some scheduled meetings (the aforementioned Finncon association board meeting would be a good candidate, and perhaps for example a FSFWA meeting as well), but there should also be plenty of time for informal smoffing. This would be a great opportunity for discussing the upcoming events in more detail (Finncon planning), bouncing ideas off other “smofs”, and just socializing. Does this sound like something people would like to try? I’d be game for trying this on for size next year. How about you?

My thanks for the organizers! Next year the meeting will be held on Saturday, February 25. See you in Tampere!

Finns on Locus Recommended Reading List

2011-02-08T16:56:00.001+02:00

This is a few days old (I’m somewhat behind on my feeds reading), but worth noting: There are two works by a Finn on the latest Locus Recommended Reading List: Birdbrain, by Johanna Sinisalo (in the science fiction novel category), and The Quantum Thief, Hannu Rajaniemi (in the first novel category). Hannu also has a short story on the list (Elegy for a Young Elk, published in Subterranean Spring issue). Congratulations to Johanna and Hannu!

By the way, the Finnish edition of The Quantum Thief (“Kvanttivaras”) has just been published. Go get yours!

Tiina Raevaara Wins the Runeberg Award

2011-02-06T15:31:00.001+02:00

The Runeberg literary award was given yesterday to Tiina Raevaara for her short story collection En tunne sinua vierelläni (“I don’t feel you beside me”). The stories play with reality, their world closely esembling ours but the strange events take on a dreamlike logic.

The Runeberg award is worth 10 000 € and is given by the Uusimaa newspaper, the City of Porvoo, the Finnish writers association, the Finnish critics association and the Finland-Swedish writers association.

Congratulations, Tiina!

Sf Writing Course in Tampere

2011-01-06T09:33:00.001+02:00

The Sampola science fiction and fantasy writing course starts on January 17. The course emphasis this spring season is a ”chain story” where the story production is divided into movie production–style roles (writer, producer, editor, etc.); there will also be gothic horror story writing. More info on the Sampola site.

Linkage: Finnish Tolkien Society and Kontu Merging?

2011-01-04T11:24:00.001+02:00

The Finnish Tolkien Society and the net community Kontu (“Shire”) are discussing merging into one association. The discussion is going on in the Kontu forum, comments are welcomed.

Nova 2011 Competition

2010-12-22T13:48:00.001+02:00

The Nova short story competition for new writers for the next year has been announced. The deadline for the stories is February 28. More info from the Nova page at TSFS.

Heli Määttä Wins Portti Competition

2010-12-20T14:29:00.001+02:00

Anne has the low-down on the 2010 Portti short story competition. This year’s winner is Heli Määttä from Oulu. The second place went to Maarit Lejon, and the third was a tie between Anna Malinen, and Petri Laine & Anne Leinonen (who collaborated on a story).

The Portti competition is the biggest sf short story competition in Finland. The first prize is a cash award of 2 000 €; the total sum of the prizes is 4 200 €. The competition is organized by the Tampere sf society, and the winning stories are published in their zine Portti. This year’s award jury comprised professor Frans Mäyrä, editor Kanerva Eskola and Portti editor Raimo Nikkonen.

Birdbrain Reviewed

2010-12-15T11:03:00.003+02:00

Johanna Sinisalo’s 2008 novel Linnunaivot ( Birdbrain) has been translated into English. It is reviewed in Salon Futura, and Sam Jordison quite likes it:

Since it’s December, I don’t feel too nervous about declaring Finnish writer Johanna Sinisalo’s Birdbrain (translated by David Hackston) one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year. It is… well… the fact that it’s so hard to describe is part of its appeal."

Go read the full review—and purchase through the link in the review to get some excellent Finnish fiction to read and support the zine that told you all about it while you’re at it!

Jyrki Ijäs 1943–2010

2010-11-14T20:52:00.003+02:00

Sad news this weekend: Jyrki Ijäs, one of the stalwarts of Finnish fandom, died on the night between Thursday and Friday of an advanced cancer. Jyrki was very active in the early days of Finnish fandom, among other things he edited his own zine Ikaros and was a member of the organizing committee of the very first Finncon in 1986. He loved science fiction and movies and a good chat over a beer or two. Even though he was mostly retired from fandom activities, he attended Finncon this year. I’m kind of glad that his last convention was a rather traditional Finncon more in the style of “the old days”—and I’m happy I got one more chance to chat with him there!

Babek nabel has a thread for remembering Jyrki.

Photo by Johan Anglemark

Love of Books Award to Toni Jerrman

2010-10-28T12:55:00.002+03:00

The Finnish Fair Foundation has given the “For the Love of the Book” achievement prize to Toni Jerrman in recognition of his long-standing cultural work in the field of science fiction, fantasy, and horror literature. The jury commended Jerrman for a determined and sincere enthusiasm that has promoted awareness of genre literature for over 25 years. He has worked in the field as an editor, newspaper critic, radio journalist, and lecturer, and with his “rock spirit, anarchism, and courage” helped especially adolescent boys and young men find their way into the habit of reading books. Toni’s influence in the Finnish fandom was also recognized by the jury.

The Finnish Fair Foundation operates in conjunction with the Finnish Fair Corporation and aims to promote Finnish trade and industry, as well as Finnish business life in general. The Love of Books award is worth 5 000 €, and the winner is decided by a jury that this year comprised the chairwoman of the Finnish Book Publishers’ Association Anna Baijars, author Olli Jalonen, professor Laura Kolbe, author Sofi Oksanen, editor-in-chief Jarmo Papinniemi and cultural journalist Reetta Ravi.

Saario in Albedo One

2010-10-28T11:39:00.002+03:00

The Irish sf magazine Albedo One’s latest issue (#39) contains an English translation of Mari Saario’s short story The Horse Shoe Nail (Kenkänaula) which won the Atorox Award in 2009 for best Finnish sf story. The issue is available as a paper copy and also in pdf format—no ebook version, alas.

New Date for Finsmofcon

2010-10-15T12:10:00.001+03:00

Just a quick post to note that, to avoid a clash with a big fandom social event, the Finnish "smofcon" (yhteistyökokous) has been moved one week earlier than previously announced, to Saturday, February 19. The place is the traditional Kaupinoja sauna in Tampere.

His Master’s Voice Online

2010-10-06T14:15:00.002+03:00

The latest issue of the Redstone Science Fiction webzine features the short story His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi. This very cool story first appeared in English in Interzone #218. In Finnish, it was originally published in the Usva web zine, and came fourth in the 2006 Atorox awards (the annual fan vote award for best Finnish short story).

PS The latest issue of the excellent Tähtivaeltaja zine is out, and it contains an interview with and a new short story by Hannu. Among lots of other fine sfnal content, as usual.

Fantasy Evening at British Council

2010-10-06T13:24:00.001+03:00

From Risingshadow: an evening of fantasy at the British Council Finland on October 29, featuring fantasy writers Angie Sage, Seita Parkkola, Anne Leinonen, Eija Lappalainen, and Viivi Hyvönen.

Free admission, but the amount of attendees is limited—contact Sari Tuomaala (040 197 3997) if you want to go and for more information.

Turku Book Fair 2010

2010-10-01T15:17:00.001+03:00

The Turku International Book Fair started today. This year we have a special sfnal guest: to celebrate the publication of the Finnish edition of Ink, Hal Duncan is visiting Turku. You can meet him, along with many other interesting writers, today at the “Book Fair Evening Mass”, organized by the Like, Sammakko, and Savukeidas publishers, at Club Dynamo (from 7 PM onward).

Hal will also, naturally, be at the Book Fair. Below are some examples of the many interesting program items you can see this weekend:

Saturday

10:30 Boris Hurtta interview (Fiore-lava)
11:30 Boris Hurtta at the TSFS booth
12:10 Comics creators on stage / Ilkka Heilä, Pentti Jarla, and Juba Tuomola
13:00 Pekka Manninen at the TSFS booth
13:30 Turbator show / Boris Hurtta, Juri Nummelin, Petri Laine, Petri Salin, and others (Turku-lava)
13:50 Hal Duncan interview (Agricola-lava)
14:30 Myths in the arts (kokoustila 3)
15:00 Like & TSFS sf seminar “Spotlight on Hal Duncan” (kokoustila 1–2)
15:45 Hal Duncan signing at the Like / Rosebud booth
16:00 Hal Duncan kaffeeklatch at the TSFS booth
16:30 Limits of political humor in literature / Pertti Jarla & others (kokoustila 3)

Sunday

11:00 Women’s comics morning (Agricola-lava)
11:00 Jukka Laajarinne interview (Fiore-lava)
11:50 Jani Saxell (& others) interview (Fiore-lava)
13:10 Pertti Jarla interview (Arktinen Banaani)
14:00 The roots of Finnish horror literature (kokoustila 1–2)
14:50 Astronomy in Turku (Porthan-lava)
16:10 Kalevala and pop culture (Porthan-lava)

The full program (in Finnish) can be found on the Book Fair site.

Boris Hurtta Gets Critics Award

2010-10-01T14:45:00.001+03:00

The Finnish Critics’ Association has given its “kilon punnus” acknowledgement award to Boris Hurtta, a versatile author of several novels, short stories and fact articles. Hurtta has written many kinds of books from horror and adventure to role playing games, travelogues, and histories. He’s also an author of numerous articles, among others about early Finnish fantasy literature, the monasteries of Meteora, and second-hand book stores in Turku. He’s a known bibliophile and a very well-liked person in the Turku cultural circles.

The Apex Book of World SF Vol II

2010-09-27T15:47:00.001+03:00

The Apex book company has announced the TOC of the second volume in the Apex Book of World SF series. Among many familiar names (if you’ve been following the world sf scene lately), such as Fábio Fernandez, Nnedi Okorafor, or Ekaterina Sedia, (and many more that at least I’m not familiar with yet) is one very familiar to us Finns: the collection features Hannu Rajaniemi’s short story Shibuya no Love. That story is kind of special to me—I originally read it in Futurismic (if memory serves), and liked it so much I wanted to share it with people. This lead to me starting my current fanzine, Turu Mafia Zine, that published the aforementioned story in the first issue (with the author’s permission, of course).

The Apex Book of World SF, vol. II will be published in mid-2011. Check it out!

New Sf Line from Jalava

2010-08-23T17:08:00.001+03:00

Risingshadow reports that Jalava will start publishing a new line of sf books under the title “Saturnus scifi”. The series will comprise science fiction classics from the 1950s to the 1990s, the first books will be Jumalan moukari (The Hammer of God) by Arthur C. Clarke. I wish them luck and hope they find their audience for the books!

H.P.Lovecraft Historical Society

2010-08-20T10:50:00.002+03:00

This summer, the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society of Finland was founded “to promote interest in horror literature, honor the memory and works of H.P. Lovecraft, support the literary hobbies of its members, spread information about the world in H.P. Lovecraft’s time and support role-playing activities”. And they’ve got a web page.

Viikinsaari Picnic

2010-08-01T21:54:00.002+03:00

The Finnish fandom’s annual relaxcon, the Roadside Picnic at Tampere Viikinsaari, took place yesterday. It was really good to see people again—even though it’s only been a couple of weeks since Finncon, those are always so hectic that you never get to talk to as many people as you’d like to.¹⁾

This year, there weren’t quite as many people present as in the last few years. The closeness to Finncon was probably a factor,²⁾ but also there were a couple of other, overlapping events this year: the Usva writing camp was held over the same weekend, and the Turku sf society had an official meeting also on Saturday.³⁾ Also, summer vacationing probably still going on for some. Still, a good couple of dozen fen travelled to the familiar barbecue & picnic place on the Viikinsaari island to meet each other and have fun. And it was good.

The weather wasn’t nearly as hot as we’ve grown used to this July, but it wasn’t chilly either (don’t listen to the people who complained; it was a perfectly fine Finnish summer day). We roasted all kinds of things over the fire, chatted, took pictures, avoided the scary flesh-eating ducks and the hordes of thirsty wasps (who seemed to especially like to crawl in people’s cider and beer bottles—no doubt to stage an assault into the unsuspecting victim’s mouth from there⁴⁾). No casualties were reported (Ella’s ankle got nibbled on by a duck, but I think that was the worst of it).

Being fen, there naturally was some smoffing going on. Got a good initial response for Båtcon—organizing a minicon on the ferry en route to the Stockholm Eurocon.⁵⁾ A new literary project that Vesa talked about may also have nudged a bit towards becoming reality some day (if so, more on that later).

There was of course talk about Finncon. Some feedback on this year’s convention, as well as throwing ideas in the air about how to create an even better one. Too bad the Finncon 2011 committee members hadn’t showed up, but at least there were several people from the 2012 convention participating.⁶⁾

After sufficient picnicing⁷⁾ we continued in Ravintola Tillikka’s terrace that has good food and a very nice view on the river, overlooking the bridge. And there was also a surprise visit from Ellen & Delia, on their way back from their great Karelia expedition. It was lovely to see them again and hear the stories of their adventures.⁸⁾ The cultural exchange also covered comestibles: turned out, Ellen didn’t much care for the beer she had ordered, and Dr. Pasinen was unhappy with the bee troot someone had included in his pyttipannu dish;⁹⁾ thus, the traditional Finnish “beets for beer” program was invoked.¹⁰⁾

All good things come to an end, and so around 11 o’clock we¹¹⁾ had to leave the merry company and head back to Turku. See you all again soon, I hope!

Vesa L. has also written a report, with a lot of pictures included.

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¹⁾ Finncons are awesome. Relaxing with friends over a barbecue is awesome in a different way.

²⁾ Especially to some Helsinki area people, to whom venturing outside the Kehä 3 highway more than once in a month seems to be quite a hurdle.

³⁾ Dammit, people—these are just the kinds of things the annual co-operation meetings are supposed to prevent!

⁴⁾ And, to be swatted or bitten to death immediately afterwards. But nobody said wasps are very smart.

⁵⁾ If you want to know more, ask Hanna Hakkarainen or me about it.

⁶⁾ Seriously, these kinds of events are ones you really don’t want to miss when organizing a convention, provided you’re interested in how things have been done before or in doing cooperation with other people outside your own group, which isn’t a requirement for running a convention of course.

⁷⁾ In other words, when people started running out of stuff to drink.

⁸⁾ They showed us pictures of them practising their blacksmith skills, and of course the famous hedgehogs participated too.

⁹⁾ Tried to convince him pickled beetroot is delicious; he wasn’t having any of it.

¹⁰⁾ One might perhaps also say, invented.

¹¹⁾ Thanks to Jaana and Ben for the good company during the trip!

Tähtifantasia Award to Haruki Murakami

2010-07-28T15:17:00.002+03:00

Still catching up on news published at Finncon: The Helsinki Science Fiction Society’s Tähtifantasia award for the best fantasy book translated into Finnish and published last year was given to Haruki Murakami for Kafka rannalla (Kafka on the Shore), published in Finnish by Tammi.

In the press release, the jury complemented the novel of being easy to read and having a good rhythm despite being over 600 pages long. The plot has some surprising turns and the story is emphasized by warm humor. The visions of Murakami are fascinating; he presents riddles for the reader and challenges them to make their own decisions about the story. The style combines fluently the conscious and the subconscious, reality and another world. There are countless possibilities in the mind; the moral responsibility begins with dreams. Even though the novel describes a murder and the death of a loved one, it is basically life-affirming. The main characters meet people with big hearts who want to help them. Life can’t stand still; humanity comprises the actions we take and the choices we make in life.

The jury consisted of critic Jukka Halme, critic Aleksi Kuutio, writer and editor Anne Leinonen, and Risingshadow.net representative Osmo Määttä.

Usva Shortshort Competition Results

2010-07-28T15:08:00.001+03:00

The Usva zine short short story (under 1700 words) competition results were also announced at Finncon. The competition had five judges, but instead of jointly deciding the winner, each judge picked their own winner among the competing entries. The winners are:

Marissa Janhunen: Kauniit vihreät pilvet; picked by Tiina Raevaara
Tuomas Saloranta: Avaruusloinen, picked by Petri Salin
Tuomas Saloranta: Nuori mies nimetön; picked by Irma Hirsjärvi
A.C. Ross: Ruumis; picked by Sari Peltoniemi and Liisa Rantalaiho

The winners received a price sum of 100 € each. The stories and judges’ comments will be published in October in Usva 4/2010.

Heikki Nevala Wins Atorox 2010

2010-07-28T14:53:00.002+03:00

Slowly recuperating from Finncon, so this is already old news. But better late than never: the Atorox award for best Finnish short story published in 2009 went to Heikki Nevala for his story Koneesta sinä olet syntyvä (“From a machine shall you be born”).

The top ten looks like this:

Heikki Nevala: Koneesta sinä olet syntyvä (Portti 4/09)
J. Pekka Mäkelä: Kolmekymmentä vuotta (Tähtivaeltaja 1/09)
Anne Leinonen: Pienen rasian jumala (Portti 1/09)
Tomi Jänkälä: Keskikesällä Harri (Usva 4/09)
Petri Salin: Requiem sudelle (Portti 1/09)
Timo Männikkö: Miekkaa mahtavampi (Portti 2/09)
Marika Riikonen: Terveisiä älylliseltä elämältä (Tähtivaeltaja 4/09)
Jussi Katajala: Lemminkäisen kuolema (Tuhansien zombien maa)
Tomi Jänkälä: Veden vangit (Usva 2/09)
Mika-Petri Lauronen: Mäyränä nummia tonkii (Portti 1/09)

The Atorox award is decided by a popular vote by fandom, and is given out by the Turku Science Fiction Society, this year for the 28th time.