Susi Vaasjoki Wins Atorox

The Atorox award for best Finnish sf short story published last year was announced at the Tampere Finncon a moment ago. This year the award goes to Susi Vaasjoki for the short story Taruntekijä (“Story Maker”) which also won the Portti short story competition. Carita Forsgren came second for Trio Org and Jussi Katajala third for Vetehinen (“Water Spirit”). This was the 26th time the award was given.

The top ten this year is:

1. Susi Vaasjoki: Taruntekijä
2. Carita Forsgren: Trio Org
3. Jussi Katajala: Vetehinen
4. Tuomas Saloranta: Lihan lapset
5. M.G. Soikkeli: Maan langat, Marsin hiekat
6. J.K. Miettinen: Jäytää
7. Mari Saario: Keveät
8. (tie)Heikki Nevala: Herra Tvist
   Petri Salin: Exit only
10. Heikki Nevala: Kauhun kaksi huonetta

More info on the competition is on the TSFS Atorox page.

Finncon – Friday

The Finncon Friday went as expected. I hear there was a lot of good quality programming in the science department as well as the writing one. Of course I missed all of that. But during the evening there was the mighty Finnconkampen: the tabletop ice hockey tournament.



The winner, once again, was Pasinen.




The very nice Czech delegation to Finncon:




There was quite a good turnout on the terrace of the Telakka pub, discussing this and that about science fiction:

Rauni Lintula Wins Nova

The results of the Nova short story competition for beginner sf writers was awarded tonight at Finncon. The top three this year are:

1. Rauni Lintula: Marva
2. Marketta Niemelä: Västäräkki
3. Juha Huhtakallio: Nukkekoti

Congratulations to the winners!

In Tampere

Have arrived in Tampere for Finncon. Traditionally missed all of Friday’s programming; now waiting for the evening festivities to commence.

Charles Vess in Turku

Charles Vess, who is one of the GoHs at Finncon this weekend, and his wife Karen Shaffer are coming to Turku on Monday and would like to meet some local fen. If you’d be interested in meeting them, drop me a note either by e-mail or SMS (040 576 6450).

Monthly Pub Thursday Reminder

Tomorrow is again the first Thursday of the month, so there will be the traditional Turku sf pub meeting. Bar Bremer, at six.

Swedish NOFF Delegate Selected

The Swedish fandom has selected their NOFF delegate for the year. The winner is Jonas Wissting, who will be traveling to the Tampere Finncon in July.

Jonas comes from Linköping where he’s been active in fandom since the beginning of the 2000s. He was involved in organizing this year’s Swecon as well as a couple of earlier Linköping conventions, and is also a member of the Åcon 3 committee. He’s coming to Finncon “because it’s nice to go to a convention with Finnish fans,” so say hello to him in Tampere!