Partial Recall

George R.R. Marting Signing in Turku

2009-07-14T09:41:00.002+03:00

George R.R. Martin, Guest of Honor of Finncon held last weekend, will be signing books in Akateeminen bookstore in Turku today at 6 PM. So head there if you want an autograph and didn’t get one at Finncon.

Marika Riikonen wins Tähtivaeltaja competition

2009-07-12T16:34:00.001+03:00

The winner of the second Tähtivaeltaja short story competition is Marika Riikonen from Tampere for her story Terveisiä älylliseltä elämältä, a story set on an alien planet, about curiosity, responsibility and growth. The jury commended the cultural description, dramatic consistency and the touching ending.

The top results are:

Terveisiä älylliseltä elämältä, by Marika Riikonen
Innamoramento, by Petri Laine
Minne yksikään herrasmies ei ole ennen mennyt, by Terhi Tarkiainen
Mummo kuoli saunan lauteille, by Harri Erkki
Jos tähdet voisivat todistaa, by Mirka Ulanto

The competition theme was space science fiction. There were 63 entries in the competition, and the award was picked by a preliminary jury of researcher Irma Hirsjärvi and author Anne Leinonen, and a jury of editor Toni Jerrman, editor Jukka Halme, and author Tiina Raevaara.

Tähtifantasia Award 2009

2009-07-12T11:43:00.002+03:00

The Tähtifantasia award for best translated fantasy in 2008 was given to Ellen Kushner for her novel Thomas Riiminiekka (Thomas the Rhymer), published in Finnish by Vaskikirjat.

The novel talks about the power of words and speech. The jury commends Kushner’s characters as exceptionally well-rounded, feeling persons. The story uses point-of-view technics to bring multiple voices into a discussion about songs, stories, love and how language brings meaning to life.

The award is given by the Helsinki Science Fiction Society and the jury consisted of critic Jukka Halme, critic Aleksi Kuutio, author and editor Anne Leinonen, and Risingshadow representative Osmo Määttä.

You can meet Ellen Kushner next year when she will be the Guest of Honor of Finncon 2010.

Mari Saario Wins Atorox

2009-07-11T12:22:00.000+03:00

The Atorox award for the best Finnish short story published last year was just announced at Finncon. This year’s winner is Mari Saario’s Kenkänaula, published in Portti 1/2008.

This year’s top ten is:

Kenkänaula, Mari Saario (Portti 1/2008)
Gliesen lapset, Tiina Raevaara (Portti 3/2008)
Oksia, puita, kuolleitten luita, Katja Salminen (Usva 4/2008)
Talven portti, Niilo Sevänen (Spin 3/2007)
Käenmuna, Jenny Kangasvuo (Hekuman huipulla)
Farared Finnen saaga, Mike Pohjola (Usva 3/2008)
Kutsuvat sitä kuolemaksi, Anne Leinonen (Portti 3/2008)
Peniskuiskaajat, Tuomas Saloranta (Hekuman huipulla)
Kausin taivas, Tytti Heikkinen (Portti 2/2008)
Uhanalaiset, Christine Thorel (Portti 2/2008)

Barbecuing Fandom

2009-07-04T19:17:00.001+03:00

On Thursday, instead of the normal pub meeting, fandom in Turku gathered for a barbecue. There was plenty of food and drinks, brought by everyone, the weather was perfect, and everybody had fun. Kudos to Jukka T. for the idea—sorry you had to miss it yourself. But everybody pretty much agreed we’ll have to do this again next summer, so those who missed it this time can hopefully attend then.

Cultural Grants for Zines

2009-07-03T15:09:00.002+03:00

The Ministry of Education has announced their annual grants for cultural publications. Among the magazines receiving grants are Tähtivaeltaja (Helsinki Science Fiction Society, 17 000 €), Sarjainfo (Finnish comics society, 13 000 €), Kosmoskynä (Finnish Science Fiction Writers Association, 800 €), Portti (Tampere Science Fiction Society, 15 000 €), and Spin (Turku Science Fiction Society, 3 000 €).

Exclusive Reynolds in Tähtivaeltaja

2009-07-02T08:37:00.001+03:00

The new issue of the Tähtivaeltaja zine appeared in my mailbox a couple of days ago, and it contains a very curious item: an exclusive Alastair Reynolds short story not available anywhere else—even the author doesn’t have a copy any more.

As Reynolds himself wrote a while ago,

After several pints too many in a Helsinki bar, [the editor of Tähtivaeltaja] Toni and I came up with the idea of translating a story of mine into his native language, and then destroying all copies of the original english-language version—including mine. So that’s what we’re going to do, as soon as Toni has a good translation in hand. So I’ll have a story that exists in Finnish, and Finnish only, and if I want to read it again, I’ll need to pay someone to translate it back into English. Of course the fact that it’s Finnish, not exactly a language everyone can dip into with the greatest of ease, only adds to the fun.

The story in question is Pandoran lipas (Pandora’s Box, translated by Toni Jerrman) and it appears in the 2/2009 issue of Tähtivaeltaja. It’s a story about a journalist chasing a scoop on Titan and stumbling on a strange tale about an alien artifact, multiple timelines and a large corporation conspiracy. Definitely worth reading (but as said, only available in Finnish).

If you’re interested in owning a copy of this very special publication, you can order the issue from Toni by sending 10 € ($15) to him to:

Toni Jerrman
Itämerenkatu 22 B 21
00180 Helsinki
Finland

Ellen Kushner GoH of Finncon 2010

2009-07-01T16:46:00.005+03:00

Finncon 2010 has announced that the first Guest of Honor of the con is Ellen Kushner. Kushner is an American fantasist, writer, performer and storyteller. She has her own radio show Sound & Spirit on PRI, and is also a popular teacher and lecturer.

Kushner has won several awards for her novels, including the Locus Award, the World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award. Her novel Thomas the Rhymer was published in Finnish last year by Vaskikirjat (as Thomas Riiminiekka).

Finncon 2010 will be held July 17–18 in Jyväskylä. The web site for the convention will be opened soon, meanwhile more information is available by e-mail.

Barbecuing Mafia Tomorrow

2009-07-01T10:11:00.003+03:00

Tomorrow (the first Thursday in July) instead of the traditional pub meeting, the Turku fandom meeting will be a barbecue at our place (Pampinkuja 4 E 16).

The grill will be on at six, bring your own food and drink (there will be some beer and grill sausages on the house; if you announce in advance you’re coming I know better how much to get).

A package has just arrived from Helsinki, so you can also get your Finncon program book in advance tomorrow.

How to get there: take the 50–54 bus from the marketplace; after the Hirvensalo bridge the bus turns left to Moikoinen; the fifth stop is ours.

Everybody in fandom is welcome to barbecue and have sfnal conversation! For more information contact me by e-mail or call, 040 576 6450.

Finncon 2009 Program

2009-06-29T15:19:00.008+03:00

The Finncon program has been published (more or less—it has been living in a wiki, and the final version should be appearing any moment now).

Collected here is a listing of the program items that will be held in English. This should be final, but if I spot changes later on, I’ll update them here. Duration of the items is one hour unless specified otherwise.

Friday

15.00 Science in Science Fiction (Pannuhalli)
How much is enough science in science fiction? And how much is TOO much? Tommy Persson (chair), Toni Jerrman, Alastair Reynolds, Johan Jönsson, J. Pekka Mäkelä
16.00 Adam Roberts Interview (Valssaamo)
17.00 On Writing: The GoHs are interviewed on writing (Merikaapelihalli)
18.?? (after the opening ceremony) George R.R. Martin GoH Speech (Merikaapelihalli)

Saturday

11.00 The New Breed—Modern Vampire Mythos (Pannuhalli)
Ever since Anne Rice introduced vampire Lestat to the unsuspecting audience, the children of the night have transformed from blood-thirsty Balkan nobility into something a bit more… sexier and about as blood-thirsty. Tanja Sihvonen (chair), George R.R. Martin, Tarja Rainio, Päivi Väätänen
14.00–15.30 George R.R. Martin GoH Interview (Merikaapelihalli)
15.00 Alastair Reynolds Speaks and Reads (Valssaamo)
16.00 Hugo 2009 Discussion (Turbiinisali)
The panel of experts say what they think about the current crop of the Hugo Award nominees. Marianna Leikomaa (chair), Ben Roimola, Tommy Persson, Cheryl Morgan, Adam Roberts
17.00–18.30 Adam Roberts Speech (Turbiinisali)
18.00 Alastair Reynolds GoH Interview (Pannuhalli)

Sunday

11.00 Journey into Space (Turbiinisali)
Have space, will travel. A serious discussion about possibilities, fantasies and realites of the space travel. Alastair Reynolds, Antti Oikarinen
12.00 Big Is Better But Small Is Beautiful (Pannuhalli)
Does fantasy have to be big and epic? Is there room for something less grandeur? General preconception of fantasy still tends to veer toward the door stopping bulky pseudo medieval mammoth, but that is not the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Jukka Halme (chair), George R.R. Martin, Johan Anglemark, Markku Soikkeli, Cheryl Morgan
13.00–15.00 Researchers’ Field-Trips to SF (Watti-Kela)
SF Research in Finland: A Report from the FINFAR Meeting. Merja Polvinen; The Rise of Post-Pulp: Jack Vance's Dying Earth Series. Mika Loponen; others TBA
14.00 Book Talk (Turbiinisali)
What to read when all the translated books have been read? Jukka Halme (chair), Cheryl Morgan, Hannu Blommila, Marianna Leikomaa
15.00 Book Then, Book Now, Book in the Future (Valssaamo)
Book is a book, except when it’s not. The future of book is the question: will there still be books as we know them now? Is the electronic version The Way or is there a third alternative? Jukka Halme (chair), Tommy Persson, Johan Jönsson, Alastair Reynolds, Juhani Hinkkanen
16.00 Doctor Who (Valssaamo)
Travel with the Timelord through time and space. Kristoffer Lawson.
17.00 George R.R. Martin Reading (Merikaapelihalli)

In addition there will also be kaffeeklatch sessions with the GoHs—inquire at the info desk if you want some face time with them at the convention.

Update July 7: Minor corrections to program participants
Update July 1: Researchers’s Field-Trips to SF added (Sunday)

Eurocon 2011 Web Site Opens

2009-06-24T11:21:00.002+03:00

The Stockholm Eurocon 2011 now has a real web site open. There’s preliminary info (in English) about the event there, plus instructions on how to join the convention (membership is 35 €/£30).

(I’m the Finnish agent for the convention, so if you prefer, you can also pay the membership fee to me.)

Fan News from Denmark

2009-06-24T10:11:00.001+03:00

Knud Larn, the Danish fan many know from Snorfcons and the Copenhagen Eurocon, has started Fan News Denmark, a newsblog about Danish fandom, in English.

Tie Wins Tähtivaeltaja Award

2009-06-15T10:57:00.001+03:00

The Helsinki Science Fiction Society has awarded Cormac McCarthy’s novel Tie (Road, 2006) the Tähtivaeltaja award for the best science fiction book published in Finnish in 2008.

The jury appreciated the novel’s strong emotional experience that makes the reader fear for the characters, the fragility of the characters, and the desperate world view that has sense of wonder and haunts the reader after finishing the book, as well as the compact style and magnificent language. There are multiple levels and themes in the book: it is a story of hope—albeit a very weak hope—but can also be read as a metaphorical description of the Western culture and its inhumanity, as well as a symbol of life that wanders through ashes to pass the torch to the next generation.

The jury consisted of critic Hannu Blommila, editor Toni Jerrman, critic Elli Leppä, and journalist Vesa Sisättö.

Fandom on Radio

2009-06-15T10:46:00.000+03:00

The YleX radio station talks about sf and fandom on Thursday June 18, at 11:20. The program will also be available in Yle Areena after that.

Suomenlinna Picnic

2009-06-11T15:17:00.002+03:00

The annual fandom picnic to Suomenlinna will be held on Saturday July 4. Meeting at around noon near the restaurant Walhalla.

Finnish Sf Film Funding

2009-06-10T20:34:00.003+03:00

This from the Iron Sky blog: The Finnish Film Foundation has decided to give 800 000 € worth of funding to Iron Sky. Yay! Other projects getting funding include a film adaptation of Risto Isomäki’s Sands of Sarasvati, and also something called Zombie Cruise, “a film about zombies on the Finnish–Swedish ferry”. (Obviously the makers have just watched the people on the morning after the cruise and got the idea from there.)

Pub Meeting Tomorrow

2009-06-03T10:05:00.002+03:00

The barbecue mafia planned for this week has unfortunately been cancelled due to illness. My alternative suggestion is to go to the normal meeting place, Bar Bremer. Tomorrow at six, that is. Barbecuing will be tried again next month. More info on that later.

Update: after discussion on the TSFS mailing list, the restaurant Kultainen Hirvi was decided as the meeting place for tomorrow.

Sandman Lilius Cancels Finncon Appearance

2009-05-28T11:26:00.001+03:00

Finncon 2009 reports that unfortunately Irmelin Sandman Lilius is unable to appear as a GoH due to family reasons. Sad news indeed.

Åcon Punch Out and Play

2009-05-28T00:08:00.001+03:00

A while ago, a package arrived from Jeff. “Your mission—should you choose to accept it—is to take this Star Wars: Punch Out and Play! book and play around with it.” As I was about to leave for Åcon I decided to take the book along.

So, besides drinking beer and talking to friends about science fiction I spent parts of the convention walking around with a bunch of ~~paper dolls~~ cardboard action figures, looking even sillier than usual trying to arrange them in interesting positions while explaining to passers-by that Jeff made me do it.

On the last day of the convention I visited the museum ship Pommern that was conveniently docked nearby. The con Guest of Honor Steph Swainston was also there, and got to play too.

The Jedi seemed to take to the ship like naturals. I had a hard time convincing them that it was time to go because the con was over and it was time to go home.

Without further ado, I present to you the Star Wars: Punch Out and Play Åland Adventure, a photo journey of various Jedi, Sith, and other assorted folks in Åland.

Åcon 4 Announced

2009-05-27T09:54:00.003+03:00

Åcon4 – a new håpe will be held on May 13—16, 2010 in Mariehamn. Set your RSS readers on “subscribe”.

Back from Åcon

2009-05-24T21:24:00.001+03:00

Åcon 3 is succesfully over and I’m back home. Despite the very sparse programming, there really wasn’t much down time at the convention for blogging and such stuff, so there haven’t been regular updates. Will try to post some thought on the convention later. Meanwhile, here are the things I posted on Twitter on Friday and Saturday:

These are the ongoing twitterings of the sf convention Åcon, its four-day mission to drink strange new bheers. To seek out new books and sfnal conversations. To boldly smof where no one has smoffed before.

Friday

08:34 At breakfast. #
09:50 Åbout to go on a tour to Stållhågen Brewery. #
13:02 Back from the brewery. Burp. #
14:15 Today's surprise hit is the ice cream the lobby bar sells. #
18:49 The state of Swedish science fiction (or rather the lack of it) is being lamented. #
19:10 Marianna waxing lyrical about current sf & f in Finland. #
19:45 3 panelists with laptops - I wonder if anyone notices me mentioning they abandoned the topic quite a while ago, talking about how to start writing instead
19:50 As soon as I had tweeted the previous comment, Ben (not with a laptop) got the panel a bit more back on track. #
22:23 Jukka's quiz show starting by designating the volunteers to compete and delivering various instruments that make noise. #
03:09 Bar closed a while ago; crowd migrated to room party. Nobody painted green yet but there's always tomorrow. #

Saturday

14:42 The Finncon association meeting v. productive. #
15:17 The copyright panel got much more interesting after getting the mandatory Mickey Mouse and copyright companies gripe over with. #
16:09 GoH is doing wonderful things. #
21:33 Will find out what "Sci Fi Babble" means. #
21:34 Skipped the banquet, but the alternative meal was very good, and accompanied by very entertaining conversation. #
21:35 Hmm, seems to be "Sci Fi Babbel," actually. No wiser yet, though. #
21:51 In scifi båbbel the audience gets to vote whether the competitors are being boring. Should be included in regular panels as well! #
01:57 Great game show, good chats in the bar. Room party. @JohanJ being painted green. There are pictures. #
02:32 The post-midnight Incredible Hulk photo shoot. #
03:41 Need... sleep... must... leave... room... party... #

Eurocon 2011 Announces Fan GoH

2009-05-22T15:21:00.001+03:00

This just in here at Åcon: Eurocon 2011, held in Stockholm, announced that their fan Guest of Honor is none other than Jukka Halme from Helsinki, Finland. Congratulations, Jukka! (I think it’s safe to guess we’ll be hearing more of this from him. And more. And then some more…)

Åcon Twittering

2009-05-22T09:54:00.003+03:00

Twitterings from yesterday:

07:19 On the way to #åcon3 #fb #
09:54 Dissecting Star Trek at Ölcon. #åcon3 #
16:35 Arrived in Mariehamn. In true relaxcon manner there are no badges. Some promised for tomorrow though. #åcon3 #fb #
18:38 The convention is åpen. #åcon3 #
18:40 People were instructed to use the hash tag #åcon3 when tweeting about the con. #
18:53 Innovative sf panel with Steph Swainston & others is about to begin. #åcon3 #
21:47 Tragic setback - seems nobody remembered to make sure the bar stays open later the first night. Lobby bar to the rescue! #åcon3 #
23:41 Only Finns left, hanging out in the bar. #åcon3 #
23:47 Found the Swedes. Lots of conversations going on all around. #åcon3 #

See what others are saying on Twitter. Risingshadow also has a topic abot Åcon (in Finnish, though).

Åcon 3 Is Go

2009-05-22T00:06:00.003+03:00

Once again we’re here in Mariehamn for Åcon. The convention is traditionally relaxed—the program book doesn’t have starting times for the program items (which were announced at the beginning but changed several times on later occasions), and so on. The con started about half an hour late, but considering the boat was over an hour behind schedule you could say we started early. And everyone is having fun as usual. The GoH Steph Swainston is very nice (and has good taste in whisky), the weather is fine (so far; the forecast is not all that promising), the new Adlon terrace is very comfy, and of course there are many fen to see and talk to.

There were some minor setbacks (no badges until tomorrow, the bar didn’t get the message of staying open late already today), but nothing serious. And this time we’re prepared for the very early cleaning staff at the hotel (last year they started knocking on doors, wanting to clean the rooms around 8 in the morning): there was a workshop where people could customize their own “Do not disturb” signs (the rooms don’t have those). So we should be all set for tomorrow.

The only real program item for today: a panel discussion of innovation in sf. From the left: Jesper, Jarmo, Dr. Pasinen and Steph Swainston

Rajaniemi Sturgeon Finalist

2009-05-20T20:39:00.002+03:00

Hannu Rajaniemi’s short story His Master’s Voice, published in Interzone 218, is a finalist for this year’s Sturgeon award for best short story of last year. Congratulations, Hannu!