Fan Fund News

At the Finnsmofcon (the co-operation event of the Finnish sf people) this weekend a new fan fund was founded. We’ve had NoFF (the Nordic Fan Fund) for a few years to send Finnish fen to Nordic conventions, and it has been a success. Now it was decided to expand this a bit. So NoFF became OFF (with people). The NoFF delegate selection will continue to exist within OFF mostly unchanged, but in addition OFF will—if enough money has been raised—help fen travel to other conventions abroad. Funds can also be used for domestic purposes (such as sponsoring less expensive accommodation for Åcon, etc.). OFF will operate officially under the wing of the Finncon association.

At the meeting it was announced that the Finnish NoFF delegate for 2012 is Tomi “bgt” Mäntylä from Turku. Tomi will be traveling to a Nordic convention (which one, will be announced later) this year. Tomi has already been active and created a Facebook page where you can follow his NoFF activities. Congrats, Tomi!

Finnish NoFF 2010

The Finnish NoFF delegate was announced yesterday at Finnsmofcon: Mirka Ulanto will be the noffit this year, and will travel there (and back) to a Nordic convention some time this year.

Mirka is the chair of the Turku university sf club, and is also a member of the organizing committee of Finncon 2011. She has also published a few short stories in Finnish sf zines.

Finnish NoFF Delegate Announced

Senja Hirsjärvi is this year’s Finnish NoFF (Nordic Fan Fund) delegate. Senja has been active in fandom for several years, and has had a hand in a few Finncons, including many in Jyväskylä and this year in Helsinki. Senja was also one of the people behind the Finnish room party at Interaction. Senja will be traveling to Imagicon 2 in Stockholm in October.

NoFF Delegate Announced

The Finnish NoFF delegate for 2008 has been announced: Tampere fan Marianna Leikomaa was chosen to attend a Nordic convention of her choice during the year.

Marianna is a member of Smial Morel and has been actively involved with the TamFan fantasy con and Kuvastaja book award, and is also the Supreme Queen of Everything of this year’s Finncon in Tampere. You may also have read her critiques in Portti and Kosmoskynä, or seen her filking in many fannish events.

Congratulations to Marianna! Contributions for NoFF can be made to account 800027-36932210 (recipient is NoFF administrator Ben Roimola; put “NoFF” in the info field). More about NoFF.

NoFFer Calling

Denmark’s NoFF delegate has been chosen. Tue Sørensen will visit Finncon in July. Tue writes the following greeting to Finns:

Hello! This is Tue Sørensen, duly designated NoFF representative from Denmark! I am 35 years old, and currently the president of the Danish sci-fi/fantasy/horror society “Fantastik”. Our society is pretty new; it was founded in 2003. I was vice-president for three years, and have been president since April 2006. We are a very social organization with café meetings, writing groups, movie nights, summer excursions, and lots of email discussion <http://news.fantastik.dk/>. We publish a quarterly magazine called “Himmelskibet” (The Sky Ship).

Personally I have been a complete science fiction and comics maniac since I was very little. I passionately collect comics and movies and of course science fiction novels. A few years ago I was an editor of the Danish online Comics Journal, and back in the late ’80s and ’90s I used to write a lot of letters of comment to the letter columns of Danish and American comics.

I am a bit of a classicist as far as SF goes; I still consider Asimov, Clarke & Heinlein to be the three greatest SF authors ever, and most of the really good and groundbreaking stuff was written in the 1940s–1960s. Of more contemporary names, my favorite SF authors are people like Joe Haldeman, David Brin, Iain M. Banks and Bruce Sterling. My favorite SF genre is space opera (galactic scale world-building, inter-stellar empires, etc.) and utopian SF, but unfortunately not many current writers are really doing proper space opera, nor utopian SF. I'm very open to recommendations, though. Always looking for interesting new stuff. Like the next Asimov! :-)

Other background details: I have previously studied Biology, English and History at university without finishing, but I plan to resume and finish my History education very soon. I currently work part-time as a postal worker at an International Post Center (night shift). I am an aspiring writer, very slowly working on both sci-fi stories and non-fiction (literary analysis).

My favorite movie of all time is Highlander. There Can Be Only One!! :-)

Fantastic regards!

– Tue

NoFF Guest from Denmark

The Danish fandom is having a vote to send a NoFF (The Nordic Fan Fund) delegate to Finncon at Jyväskylä in July. The candidates are Tue Sørensen, Knud Larn, and Klaus Æ. Mogensen. More about the candidates on the Fantastik site. 

(via Fanspan)

NOFF 2007

This year’s Finnish NOFF delegate is Pasi Karppanen. Pasi is an active fan from Turku, and also the editor of the Finnish Science Fiction Writers Association’s zine Kosmoskynä. Pasi will be going to either Swecon in Gothenburg, or to this year’s Eurocon in Copenhagen.

You can contribute to the NOFF fund at Finnish sf events. More info about NOFF at <www.enhorningen.net/noff>.

Fandom Birthday

There was a big party in Turku yesterday. The Turku Science Fiction Society turned 30, and around 40 persons gathered in the restaurant Turun Upseerikerho to celebrate.



After opening words by Tytti Korhonen, there was a dinner. The food was just ok, but there was plenty of wine and good company, so I’m sure everyone was happy.



After the formal dinner was over, the rest of the visitors arrived (not everybody wanted to eat a meal, so having a less expensive alternative of only participating afterwards was a very good idea). I was glad to see some acquaintances you don’t bump into very often, both from other parts of Finland, and also some who don’t participate often any more.



TSFS had collected assorted publications from the years past for all to see. Most were, naturally, issues of Spin, but there were also brochures for Finncons held in Turku, and material from book fairs. A new one, a brief history of the society, was released at the event. The leaflet contained essential facts about the society’s history. It is a good thing it was done, but I feel the occasion would have warranted a more thorough approach, with more content (and maybe contributions from people along the way). I know this would have been more than the resources permitted this time, but how about the 30th anniversary of Spin coming next year? An anniversary issue of Spin dedicated to this, perhaps?



Every birthday must of course have some speeches and presents. Pasi, Saara and I presented Tutka and STk’s gift to TSFS: a subscription of Interzone for the members of the society to enjoy (everybody will be able to visit Terrakoti to read the issues, when they start arriving). Others had nice things to say and give too.


Former chair of the society, Jaana Gustafsson, opened the floor with a congratulatory speed.


The Jyväskylä society 42’s present was very appropriate.


Helsinki fandom gave the extremely generous gift of one free short story (rights and translation) for Spin.


Birthday cake was good.

There were a couple of program items later in the evening. One was a quiz printed on the back of the program leaflet: there was one book, movie or event for each year of TSFS’s existence, and we had to connect the items to the correct year. What a wonderful idea! I’m too modest to mention who took the first price with their superior knowledge of sf history trivia…


Here are Jukkahoo and Ben sharing a prize in another quiz, also related to the history of TSFS.


The next NOFF delegate was also announced. As you can tell, Ben didn’t see this one coming.

After the official party was over and the tired little birthday boys and girls of the TSFS board sent to bed, a few of us continued to Bar Bremer for a few more drinks and a lot of talk. I’m not sure, but I think plans to build an old sf folks’ retirement home might have been set in motion. The mind boggles…

All in all, I was very pleased with the evening. Things were planned out nicely, the restaurant was a perfect setting, and the whole event was very much fun. The only glitch was the advance advertising, which was nonexistent outside a couple of e-mail lists, and may have cost the event a few participants. But there’s always room for improvement—next time, an ad in Spin, please? But anyway, a big thanks from me to the organizers and also everyone who participated!

Pictures of the evening

Next NOFF Delegate Announced

Finland’s next NOFF delegate was announced yesterday at the TSFS 30-year-anniversary party. The selection was again made by the previous delegate, in this case Irma Hirsjärvi from Jyväskylä. Ipa decided that the next delegate should be a person that already has stature in the Nordic countries, and one that will write his report promptly too (an aspect where the previous couple of candidates have been somewhat lacking).

So, it was announced that the next Finnish delegate will be Ben Roimola, editor of Enhörningen and one of the minds behind the whole Nordic fan fund thing (as well as the Nordic smofcon, Snorfcon). Congratulations to Ben!