Fan Fund News

At the Finnsmofcon (the co-operation event of the Finnish sf people) this weekend a new fan fund was founded. We’ve had NoFF (the Nordic Fan Fund) for a few years to send Finnish fen to Nordic conventions, and it has been a success. Now it was decided to expand this a bit. So NoFF became OFF (with people). The NoFF delegate selection will continue to exist within OFF mostly unchanged, but in addition OFF will—if enough money has been raised—help fen travel to other conventions abroad. Funds can also be used for domestic purposes (such as sponsoring less expensive accommodation for Åcon, etc.). OFF will operate officially under the wing of the Finncon association.

At the meeting it was announced that the Finnish NoFF delegate for 2012 is Tomi “bgt” Mäntylä from Turku. Tomi will be traveling to a Nordic convention (which one, will be announced later) this year. Tomi has already been active and created a Facebook page where you can follow his NoFF activities. Congrats, Tomi!

Tähtifantasia 2012 Shortlist

The shortlist for the Tähtifantasia Award has been announced. Nominated for the best fantasy book translated into Finnish last year are:

• Kultatukka, tähtönen by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Lilla stjärna, Gummerus)
• Pako helvetistä! by Hal Duncan (Escape From Hell!, Like)
• Toiset by China Miéville (The City and the City, Karisto)
• Kohtalon miekka by Andrzej Sapkowski (Miecz Przeznaczenia, WSOY)
• Tyttö joka muuttui lasiksi by Ali Shaw (The Girl With Glass Feet, Atena)

Notable about this year’s shortlist is that for the first time, one book (The City and the City) has been shortlisted for both the Tähtifantasia Award and it’s science fiction sister the Tähtivaeltaja Award.

The Tähtifantasia winner will be decided by the jury that is: critic Jukka Halme, critic Aleksi Kuutio, writer and editor Anne Leinonen, and Risingshadow.net representative Osmo Määttä. The winner will be announced at Finncon in July.

Tähtivaeltaja Award Shortlist 2012

The shortlist for this year’s Tähtivaeltaja Award (for best science fiction book published in Finnish last year) has been announced. What is remarkable about this list is that three out of five novels are written by Finnish writers (even if one of them is a translation). Go Finnish sf!

The shortlist, with the jury’s comments, is as follows:

• Routasisarukset by Eija Lappalainen and Anne Leinonen (WSOY)
  “An engaging vision of the future full of fascinating detail, tight narrative, and conflicts between very human hopes and wishes.”
• Toiset (The City and the City) by China Miéville (Karisto)
  “A detective story full of sense of wonder. Detective Tyador Borlú tries to solve a difficult murder mystery in a quantum entangled, impossible double city.”
• Kvanttivaras (The Quantum Thief) by Hannu Rajaniemi (Gummerus)
  “The international breakthrough debut of a Finnish author. A vibrantly imaginative sf opera about a charismatic master thief.”
• Pääteasema (Terminal World) by Alastair Reynolds (Like)
  “An idea rich vision of a distant future society divided into zones of varying technological advancement.”
• Enkelten verta by Johanna Sinisalo (Teos)
  “A chilling dystopia about the power balance between humans and animals full of topical ecological thematic and deep mythological thinking.”

The Tähtivaeltaja Award is given by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society. The jury of the award comprises journalist Hannu Blommila, editor Toni Jerrman, critic Elli Leppä, and critic Antti Oikarinen. The winner will be announced in late spring.

* * *

That is an impressive list, to say the least! Traditionally I’m terrible with award predictions, but still I’d guess the final choice from five good candidates will be decided between Toiset and Kvanttivaras (haven’t read Pääteasema, but there doesn’t seem to be similar buzz for it as with the other four nominees). Of these two, I’d perhaps sway on the side of Kvanttivaras as to which will win.

Sisättö on Sf

A good article on Kiiltomato by Vesa Sisättö on Finnish sf (also available in Swedish).

Åcon 5 Hotel & Travel Info Online

The ferry travel and hotel booking info (and prices) have been posted on the Åcon 5 web site. Go take a look and book your trip and stay now!

Finncon 2012 Website + Hotel

The web site for Finncon 2012 (next July in Tampere) is now in operation. There seems to be some minor glitches with the language selection, but I’m sure those will be worked out quickly.

A thing to note if you’re planning to attend the convention: Tampere hotels are pretty booked already, so it’s a good idea to take care of the hotel package, even if the price is a bit higher than is usual with Finncons (150&nbps;€/night for a 2-person room). If you want cheaper hotel rooms, the Omena hotel (very basic but clean and totally ok self-service hotel, the closest one is a couple of blocks from the official con hotel) still has some rooms for about 80 €/night/room (there are beds for four persons in a room), but I’d book them very quickly, because I think they might not be available for too long.

Update: links fixed after they’d been changed on the web site. Language selection and linking is now ok.

Festival of Living Literature 2012

The Festival of Living Literature will take place February 11 in Tampere. This year’s theme is “Nature and Creativity”. The program includes among others Markku Soikkeli interviewing authors Risto Isomäki and Tero tähtinen on how literature can save Earth.