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).

November Pub Meeting

November starts with a Thursday, so come meet people at Bar Bremer this week (and get a free fanzine, technology permitting)!

So, November 1st it is. We start around six, and everybody is welcome!

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.