Finncon Wants You

The Jyväskylä Finncon is looking for volunteers. The largest sf event in Scandinavia is organized entirely with volunteer effort, and everybody is welcome to help.

The organizers promise everybody a lot of experience in organizing large events, an opportunity to meet Finnish and international fandom, and of course an invitation to the dead dog party at the end of the convention. There are also free t-shirts and lunches to those doing a lot of work for the con.

All the volunteers get thorough orientation and tasks suitable for their skills—previous experience is not required. If you are interested, contact the organizers and tell them about yourself.

Finncon 2007 is July 14–15; volunteers are needed on con days, and also already on Friday.

ParaCon in Tampere in May

As the “Kupittaa section” of the sf writers association moved to Tampere, so did their minicon tradition (unfortunately for all of us in Turku). ParaCon is a parasite-themed minicon that will be held in the newly founded “Kaleva section” of FSFWA on May 26.

There will be a presentation of parasites in art, a new issue of the Kosmospenaali fanzine (that accepts parasite-themed texts until May 18), a movie, and discussion.

More information about the event available from Markku Soikkeli.

Tove Jansson up for Eisners

Tove Jansson is one of the nominees for the 2007 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (the “comic book Oscars”) thanks to the Drawn & Quarterly hardback collection Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip Book One. The collection is up for the award in two categories, Best publication for a younger audience, and Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips.

The results will be announced on July 27 at the San Diego Comic Con. (Thanks to Jeff VanderMeer for the tip.)

SF Researchers’ Meeting: Call for Papers

The Finnish researchers of the fantastic organize their 8th seminar at the Jyväskylä Finncon this July. The seminar will be held on Thursday and Friday (Jyly 13–14), and will conclude with a round table discussion on the themes on Friday.

From the press release:

Research material may include literature, movies, TV-series and any other cultural product in the wide field of science fiction and fantasy.

The aim of the seminar is to promote Finnish multidisciplinary research of science fiction and fantasy and to enhance the internationalization of the Finnish research network. Teachers of the seminar are researcher Irma Hirsjärvi (University of Jyväskylä), professor Frans Mäyrä (University of Tampere), professor Liisa Rantalaiho (University of Tampere) and researcher Markku Soikkeli (University of Tampere).

The deadline of an abstract of 500 words is 1.6.2007. It should be sent by e-mail, preferably in Word or RTF format to the address markku.soikkeli@uta.fi You will receive a message about the acceptance of your paper and further info by 15.6. For the seminar we wish to receive a presentation of 4–8 pages of your research. If the number of participants allows, papers can also be accepted outside the theme.

The organizers are the Finnish Network of Fantasy Researchers, Spekula, Research Centre for Contemporary Culture, and Finncon 2007.

Zombies Walk in Helsinki

Zombie Walk, where people dress up as the living dead and walk through a city, comes to Helsinki. On the same day as the Tähtivaeltaja Day minicon. Coincidence…?

Get Your Finncon T-shirt

Finncon 2008 is making a bunch of t-shirts to advertise the first time Finncon goes to Tampere. And you can order yours too!

The shirt features a sf/f robot by Pekka Manninen, and is available in black. (Well, purple, red, or dark green if you insist; black or red for the ladyfit model.) Available in many sizes, and in standard (10 €) or ladyfit (12 €). Postage not included—but the shirts can be delivered too if someone is going the right way (Åcon, for example).

The shirt can be ordered from Marianna Leikomaa.

Keep on Voting: GUFF

Now that JETS has been taken care of (I hope you remembered to vote), it’s time to send another Nordic fan to the far corners of the Earth. The GUFF 2007 race is on.

GUFF (Going Under Fan Fund) was created in 1979 to provide funds to enable fans from Europe and Australasia to visit each other’s conventions. This year’s winner will visit  Convergence 2 in Melbourne in June.

I’ve voted for Johan Anglemark from Uppsala, and I suggest you do the same. Johan is a longtime fan who does the usual fanac (conrunning, fanzines, etc.). He is active in Nordic fandom, attending and organizing Snorfcons, going to cons, and making Finns feel welcome when visiting Swedish conventions.¹⁾ He’s well read, smart, and a great guy to sit down and have a beer and conversation with, be it sf books or any other of the numerous subjects he’s knowledgeable about. And one shouldn’t forget to mention he’s “charming, intelligent, and youthful”.²⁾

So send in your vote (details on the GUFF info page, as well as a PDF fanzine with interviews of all the candidates) by this Monday at midnight. And say hi to Johan when you see him—you can very likely do that at a Finncon.³⁾ Also, another Swedish fan, Åka Davour, is running, and since she’s a very nice and intelligent person and an active fan, put her in the ballot too.

¹⁾ And he was one of Jukka’s nominators in the JETS race, so I think it’s only fair we Finns now support him.

²⁾ But best not call him “attractive, godlike, and dazzling” so as not to embarrass him. (Did I get it right, Johan?)

³⁾ Especially after this; now he just doesn’t dare not come…