VanderMeer on Findom

SF Site has just published a column by Jeff VanderMeer, on which he discusses (among other things) his visit to Finland as Guest of Honor at Finncon 2006. As everyone who met him there already knows, he liked the Finnish fandom quite a bit, and on the column he says more nice things, like this:

I was impressed with how knowledgeable Finnish fantasy fans were and how seriously they took books and the authors they enjoyed. I have rarely if ever been confronted by readers who knew so much about what they loved.

Along with the column there are also three interviews conducted in Finland. So, go read Jeff’s words and listen to Jukka Halme, Toni Jerrman and Niko Aula (of Loki books) talk about sf.

Comics in Turku on Saturday

Necrocomicon is an event for everybody who’s interested in comics. Organized by the Turku comics club (“resurrected like a zombie, just for Halloween”), it promises to tackle all kinds of comics with an underground bent. You can meet comics artists, buy small press comics & zines, follow the programming, participate in comics-themed quizzes, etc.

The event is held at S-Osis (Rehtorinpellonkatu 6) and the doors open at 10 (in the morning, that is, if you can believe any comics artists are up by then). The comics-themed evening party starts at 8 at the same location; there’s a cover charge of 2 euros for those coming in after that. There will be live music, performed by Veltto Virtanen, Verde, Freakenstein, and Jumalan ruoska.

Update: If you want to get a head start, there will be pre-con-festivities on Friday night at the Cosmic Comic Café. (The comics club has an extra meeting at the same place on Thursday also, but the readers of this blog will be at the sf mafia at Bremer then—right?)

Turku Pub Meeting on Thursday

Welcome once again to Bar Bremer on Thursday at 6. Agenda is as usual: an open pub meeting for everyone interested in science fiction and fantasy to meet others interested in similar things and discuss everything (yes, even sf) over a few beers.

Science Fiction Sunday

The Helsinki Book Fair starts today. On Sunday, the Helsinki sf societies arrange the traditional “Sf Sunday” programming at the Fair center (Katri Vala auditorium).

The speakers are:

• 14:00 Leena Krohn talks about what you need fantasy for
• 14:40 Steve Aylett (interviewed by Iida Simes)
  
• 15:00 New weird, surrealism, magic realism; a panel discussion on current fantasy trends (Jan Hlinovsky, Hannu Blommila, Jukka Halme, Elli Leppä, Juha-Pekka Koskinen)
• 15:40 the “Kuvastaja” award for best Finnish fantasy book of the year
• 15:50 Pasi Jääskeläinen (interviewed by Kanerva Eskola)
• 16:10 Anu Holopainen (interviewed by Aleksi Kuutio)
• 16:30 J. Pekka Mäkelä (interviewed by Toni Jerrman)
• 16:50 Vesa Sisättö talks about Finnish science fiction and fantasy literature
• 17:20 How to get published; a panel discussion (Jukka Halme, Anne Leinonen, Tuomas Sorjamaa, Kimmo Lehtonen)

The doors are open on Sunday from 10 to 18. Day ticket is 12 €.

More Notes from Friday

The program book of the con is nice. And the excellent bar spent a lot of the evening playing Iron Maiden. The spirit of fandom was released during the opening ceremonies. After a recount there are fifteen Finns here.

At Swecon

Arrived in Sweden very early in the morning.Shopped at Comics Heaven and Sf Bokhandeln, and ate a very nice pub lunch.

Imagicon is well organized for a Swedish convention. Everything was in place, program items start on time, and there even are a con newsletter and helpful signs outside pointing the way to the con site.

GoH sightings. Joe Haldeman stopped being conforming after he realized people weren't going to throw hand grenades at him for being different any more. Geoff Ryman wanted to talk about sex because he thought it would be more interesting than talking about writing.

The current panelists are talking very quietly, so I'm sitting in the back, blogging instead.

Off to Swecon

That’s it for this week—at least when work is concerned. I—along with quite a few others—am off to Swecon. The ferry leaves tonight.

The last couple of years, the Swecon delegation from Finland has been pretty much Ben, Jukka & me (Ben and Jukka were there before that, too). We’ve had fun—and also told others here so. Maybe partly because of that, and no doubt because the Swedes came to Finncon in force this year and had a visible Swecon presence, there are now thirteen Finns going to Imagicon. That’s right, count them, thirteen! That’s quite a leap from three. The Nordic fandom is coming together, and I’m very excited about that.

See you in Stockholm!