Natalia Laurila Wins Tähtivaeltaja Competition

The Tähtivaeltaja short story competition winner was announced yesterday at the Helsinki book fair. The winner is Natalia Laurila for her story Maitosoturit (“Milk Warriors”), “a tale about colonization and adaptation set on an original world” (said the jury). In second place was Hajun virta by Jenny Kangasvuo, and M.G. Soikkeli was third with Jos haluat rakastaa, varaudu sotaan.

The competition (not to be confused with the Tähtivaeltaja novel award) was for science fiction short stories set outside Earth. On the jury were Tähtivaeltaja’s editor-in-chief Toni Jerrman, editor Jukka Halme, critic Vesa Sisättö and author J. Pekka Mäkelä.

Kuvastaja Award to Pasi Jääskeläinen

The Kuvastaja award for the best Finnish fantasy book published in 2006 went to Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen for his novel Lumikko ja yhdeksän muuta. The jury describes the book as “a fantastic fantasy novel; such fireworks of ideas that many lesser authors would have milked it for several books; real fantasy that succesfully mixes small town milieu, ‘great artists’ that inhabit it, and local intrigue”.

The award is given annually by the Finnish Tolkien Society. Lumikko ja yhdeksän muuta is a worthy winner and an excellent novel that everybody should read! Partial Recall congratulates Pasi!

Don Rosa to Finland

Duckmaster Don Rosa will be visiting Finland at the end of next month. Kvaak.fi reports he will be touring the country for a couple of weeks meeting his fans.

Rosa is probably best-known in Finland for his Uncle Scrooge tale The Quest for Kalevala in which the ducks visit our country in search of mythical treasure.

Update Nov 26: Kvaak.fi has the tour schedule. Don Rosa won’t be coming to Turku, but he’ll be in Raisio tomorrow (Tuesday the 27th).

David Ferro on SF & Computers

Associate professor David Ferro (University in Ogden) will give a public lecture at Tampere university on 29 November. The topic is “Some unique cases in the search for how science fiction informs computer development”.

Thursday November 29, from 2 PM to 4 PM, dept. of sociology (Linna), room 5014.

Dr. David Ferro is a Associate Professor of Computer Science at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, USA. He has co-authored a book on the history of computing, an introduction to computer science, and articles on multi-modal user interface design. He is interested in software engineering culture and for the past year has been researching science fiction as an aspect of that culture. In 2007 he has been affiliated with the University of Tampere Computer Science TAUCHI unit in Tampere, Finland. He has taught a course on the history and social implications of computing there.

SMOFcon Scholarship to Eemeli

San Francisco Science Fiction Conventions, Inc. grants sholarships to “assist budding convention organizers to attend SMOFcon” (SMOFcon is an annual conrunners’ convention in the US). This year one of the two recipients of the $500 scholarship is our own Eemeli Aro. Congratulations, Eemeli!

Comics Finlandia

Sarjakuva Finlandia (“Comics Finlandia”) is a new prize awarded to a Finnish comics creator for a comics album, modeled after the Finlandia prize for literature. The award is given annually at the Tampere Kuplii event in Tampere, and the award sum is 5 000 euros.

Works published through a commercial publisher and self-published albums are both eligible for the award. The Tampere Kuplii society sets a selection board that nominates up to ten candidates for the award annually, and also names an outside person to choose the winner (this works the same as the Finlandia prize). Both Finnish and Swedish-language works are eligible, and the selection board can also accept works in other languages as nominees. The award is always given for a specific work.

The first Sarjakuva Finlandia award will be given on April 20, 2008.

Star Wars by Turku Philharmonic

Got an e-mail from the Chief Executive of the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and she tells me they will be giving a special live performance of “the best of the Star Wars soundtracks” next month (Tuesday November 11). Atso Almila conducts.

The tickets are 5 euros, and the audience is encouraged to dress up in Star Wars costumes. The concert starts at 7 pm.

You can get tickets from Lippupalvelu or directly from the concert hall ticket sales (Aninkaistenkatu 9, (02) 262 0800 Mon–Fri 11–17). (We’ve already got ours!)