Cuban Visitation

Markku Soikkeli reports on Bruno Henriquez’s visit in Tampere.

December Mafia Report

There was definite holiday cheer on the bus to the pub meeting today. It was full of young people carrying loads of booze and a real-honest ghetto blaster with them, so the bus trip was one big party. (I was later told that they probably were chemistry students from the Uni, back from a cruise.) What better way to start an evening? Even if they would have deserved some kind of a cruel (and hopefully unusual) punishment for their criminally poor taste in music. But I digress…

Despite the non-traditional date, a dozen or so people found their way to the mafia today. This was the second time we gathered at “the new place,” and I think it is definitely more comfortable and versatile for our purposes (and the others seemed to agree), so you’ll probably find us there from now on.

The day’s smoffing concerned mainly the Christmas party (that seems to have progressed on its own while we were at the pub)—it’s next Saturday. There was also speculation about a possible Finncon in Turku in 2011—a thought that doesn’t sound as completely impossible now as I would have said only a month ago. We’ll see. Ben and Pasi discussed their sekrit project, very sekritly, but it’s a sekrit, so no more about that for now.

Before the topics went into politics and religion (as they not uncommonly do), we discussed some sf stuff also. Really, we did! Although more about tv than books, but anyway. Torchwood began on Finnish tv yesterday. Based on the comments of those who had seen it, it didn’t gather any new fans (at least not yet), but on the other hand wasn’t as reviled as in the British discussions I saw when the series originally debuted. The ‘comment of the day’ honorable mention goes to Ben (wondering about the new Bionic Woman), “Why on Earth would anybody be interested in watching a new version of a crappy 80s sf show… oh, wait: Galactica… I’ll shut up now.”

Here’s a photo of today’s gathering (with most of the people present):

Let’s have a competition: I’ll buy a beer at the next mafia for the first person who correctly identifies all the zines on the table. (Those who were present are naturally not eligible to participate.) Any takers?

New Sf tv Channel in Finland

The Swedish television company TV4 will be launching a new channel called “TV4 Science Fiction” in the Nordic countries (including Finland) in Februari. In Finland, the channel will be carried by MTV3 as part of their pay channel package.

TV4 says the content will be sf movies, documentaries and tv series (Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Voyager, plus Andromeda were mentioned).

First Thursday on Wednesday

Since the first Thursday of December is Independence day, the Turku pub meeting will be held a day earlier, on Wednesday the 5th. So, head to Pub Bremer tomorrow at six to talk some sf and have a couple of beers with other fen!

Meetings in Tampere

Tampere is one active sf city during the following week. Tomorrow the Kaleva subsection of the Finnish sf writers’ association will organize KingCon II: a minicon themed “imaginary kings and possible monarchies”. There will be a presentation, “The weird sovereigns of pervy fantasy,” followed by discussion about what makes the royalties in fantasy and science fiction interesting as rulers. STk Kaleva, c/o Henriksson & Soikkeli, Teiskontie 19 E 82, Saturday Nov 24 at 6 PM.

Next Thursday (Nov 29), as reported earlier, David Ferro from the University in Ogden will be giving a public lecture on how science fiction informs computer development.

Also on Thursday, a Cuban sf writer Bruno Henriquez Perez will be visiting Tampere and meeting local fen at the Pub Kahdet Kasvot starting around 6:30 PM.

Necrocomicon on Saturday

The second Necrocomicon comics minicon will happen tomorrow. This year the event will be held in Cosmic Comic Café right in the Turku center. The program promises comics creators interviews, presentations, competitions, and all-around comics-themed fun. There will also be a small press hucksters room. A comics anthology Åbotti Huraa! will be released, and there will be an art show displaying drawings from the anthology. Cosmic has promised comics-themed drinks.

The guests of the event are musician, comics translator, writer and enthusiast Moog Konttinen, Pertti Jarla, and Mika Lietzén.

The evening program consists of old short films by Konttinen plus an acoustic gig by Jyrki Nissinen’s band Seksihullut.

The program starts at 11, and there’s no admission fee. Necrocomicon is organized by Turun sarjakuvakerho.

Serhum Ezlöt Braahim

A dozen or so persons at the mafia today. Boldly ventured where no pub meeting had gone before—the other side of the pub, which I think was better suited for the meeting than the room we’ve previously occupied, and the gathering might well migrate there in the future. Varjomafia was officially disapproved of for having a competing meeting at the same time. Lots to talk about many things, including (already) some ideas for next year’s book fair. Some pathetic nerds talked about their Facebook antics. Everybody not impressed by its greatness (but it is quite handy a thing nevertheless). New members of the TSFS board present at mafia—that was great! Ben peddled the latest (and quite handsome) ish of Enhörningen. Boris Hurtta distributed an E.A. Poe pamphlet (a translation) and challenged people to recognize the language it was in. No free drinks needed to award those succesful in the challenge.

The new issue of Turu Mafia Zine (#23) has words about CMX’s wonderful new album Talvikuningas, plus the great US sf metal band Slough Feg. Also comments about a couple of new tv series (Bionic Woman, Moonlight, and Journeyman). And a little stuff about fanzines too. If you didn’t get one at the pub meeting, the issue is available from me for a SASE.

Bül ökmet rai, hai ükulai!

PS Due to the first Thursday of December being Independence day, we decided to have the December mafia on Wednesday the 5th.

PPS On the bus home I finished J. Pekka Mäkelä’s latest novel, Nedut. It is even better than Alshain (and that is saying quite a bit). I think it can be said J. Pekka is the top science fiction writer in Finland at the moment. More on Nedut later (probably in the next issue of the zine).