Awards at Finncon

As usual, there were a few awards given out at Finncon last weekend in Turku. Here's a rundown of the results.

Atorox

The Atorox Award for best Finnish sf short story published last year went to Jenny Kangasvuo. The top 3 for this year was,

1. Musta otsa by Jenny Kangasvuo, published in Portti 4/2016
2. Mansikkakakku by Emma Keski-Kuha, published in Portti 1/2017
3. Muistot putoilevat meistä by Terhi Tarkiainen, published in Portti 4/2016

Anthologies have been very strong in the Atorox results recently, but this year Portti took back its place as top sf short story publisher—4 of the top 5 stories were published in Portti. Seven of the top ten stories were written by women.

Tähtifantasia

The Tähtifantasia Award for best fantasy book translated into Finnish in 2017 went to Luukellot (The Bone Clocks) by David Mitchell. The novel is translated by Einari Aaltonen, and published by Sammakko.

The jury commended the book’s handling of the themes of time, and the worth of eternal life, and how it tackles changes in society and consequences of climate change, yet is also an entertaining read. The Finnish translation gets a special mention from the jury.

Nova

The Nova short story competition for new writers top 3 was:

1. Parveke taivaan laidalla by Jasmin Kuusela
2. (tie) Kumskin lapset by Milka Hakkarainen, and Lajinsa ainoa by Kaj Syrjänen

A total of 134 stories were sent to the competition.

Finfar Thesis Competition

The Finnish fantasy researchers association organized for the first time a competition for best Finnish master's thesis on a speculative fiction topic published in 2017. The winner was Silja Korkeamäki’s thesis “It's turning into a horror story” : Intermediaalisuus ja lajikytkökset pelin Alan Wake kertovissa teksteissä. The research studies the narrative texts in the computer game Alan Wake, their intermediality, and their use of different genre traditions.

Lauren Beukes Comes to Finncon

Finncon 2018 has announced its first Guest of Honor: South African writer Lauren Beukes.

Beukes has written novels, short-stories, and comics, and also worked as a journalist and a tv scriptwriter. Two of her novels have been translated into Finnish: a disturbingly chilling thriller about a time-traveling serial killer Säkenöivät tytöt (The Shining Girls) and an urban fantasy detective mystery Zoo City – Eläinten valtakunta (Zoo City)—which by the way is one of this year’s Tähtivaeltaja Award nominees.

I’ve enjoyed Beukes’s books and comics a lot, and am very excited to have her come to Turku!

(Also, if you’re not reading Lauren Beukes already, why the f*ck not?

(Also, pt. 2—unlike the author of the article linked above, who hadn’t read them, I can warmly recommend the comics in addition to the novels!)

(Also, pt. 3—Tähtivaeltaja published a very good article about Beukes a couple of years ago. You can still order the issue from them. Just saying.)

Happy Birthday, TSFS

It’s been 40 years today since the founding of the Turku Science Fiction Society, which also marked the beginning of organized Finnish Fandom. Happy Anniversary!

Conference on Sf/f & Games Music

Suomen Etnomusikologinen Seura and the Musicology department of the University of Turku are organizing an open seminar day to discuss current news and trends in the research of science fiction, fantasy, and games music.

If you’re doing research in these areas and would like to present a paper, send your abstract to turkuscifi2015@gmail.com by March 15.

Date: June 12, 2015
Place: The University of Turku
Contact: Anna-Elena Pääkkölä, Inka Rantakallio

Sf Book Circle in Turku

The Turku Sf Society and the Turku library organize a book circle that gathers once a month to discuss a book recently published in Finnish. The schedule for the first half of next year has been published, and is as follows:

• Jan 19 Ursula K. LeGuin: Neljä anteeksiantoa
• Feb 16 Rebecca Alexander: Elämän ja kuoleman salaisuudet
• Mar 16 Marko Hautala: Kuokkamummo
• Apr 20 Maria Turtschaninoff: Maresi: Punaisen luostarin kronikoita
• May 18 Margaret Atwood: Uusi Maa
• Jun 15 Gillian Anderson, Jeff Rovin: Liekkien näkijät

More info from TSFS.

Turconen & Fantastik Next Weekend

Turconen is a one-day sf minicon held for the second time at the Turku main library. Turconen 2 takes place on Saturday, 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM at the library, and there will be evening program on Friday (Cosmic Comic Cafe at 7 PM) and also on Saturday (Brewery Restaurant Koulu, 7 PM). The GoH is author Magdalena Hai.

Fantastik is the Swedish-speaking sister convention of Turconen, held for the first time on Sunday, noon till 6 PM, also at the library. Fantastik’s GoH is the Fenno-Swedish author Maria Turtschaninoff.

Both events are free to attend and everybody is welcome!

International Fandom Visitors in Turku This Week

There are a couple of international visitors in Turku this week, and they’d like to meet local fandom. Regina Kanyu Wang visits from China (she came here last year as well), and Val Grimm and her hubby Mike from the US (they’ve also visited a few years back).

If you’d like to meet them (recommended: they are all very nice and interesting persons), you can start by visiting Varjomafia today at Terrakoti. Val and Mike will be there.

Tomorrow all three will pop by Cosmic Comic Cafe at six, so there’s a kind of an extra mafia pub meeting then.

Regina will also be present at the Terrakoti summer party on Saturday, starting at six.

Sherlock Turku Meetings

The Turku Sherlockian meetings continue after a summer break on Wednesday, August 20, 6 PM at Cosmic Comic Cafe. Everyone interested is welcome to attend.

Pub Meeting & Terracon

This Friday is the first Friday of the month, and that means of course that it’s time for the Turku monthly pub meeting. So welcome to Cosmic Comic Café on Friday at six!

This month, I’m hoping to see some new faces there, as the pub meeting also serves as a pre-party for Saturday’s Terracon, a minicon organized by the societies that inhabit the Terrakoti club house. Terracon starts at 10 AM and continues until 4 PM, after which there will be a spring party at Terrakoti. There will be a few panel discussions, workshops, games, and a dealers zone at the convention. Terracon is free to attend.

Free Drabble Collection

Last weekend, Shimo Suntila’s book, Sata kummaa kertomusta (“A Hundred Strange Stories”), was published. It’s a collection of one hundred drabbles (short stories of exactly a hundred words), and the material was collected from Shimo’s drabble project last year, when he wrote and published a drabble every single day of the year.

On Friday, there was a head start at the Turku monthly pub meeting where Shimo read a few of the stories.

The official launch party took place on Saturday, first at Shimo’s house (which was packed), and later at the pub Proffan kellari, where drinks were had and more drabbles were read (in the picture the person doing the reading is Tuomas Saloranta, the publisher).

The collection has been a success; I understand there aren’t many copies of the first printing left, and a second one is on the way. The good news is the collection is also available as an ebook, and until the end of the week you can download the book free of charge at the Aavetaajuus webstore. So go take a look! 

Turku Pub Meeting Today

Oh, look, it’s November already! And a Friday! That must mean there’s a pub meeting in Turku! So welcome to Cosmic Comic Cafe today at six!

If you’re feeling hungry before that, some of us are going to Rokbar for a burger at five, and you’re welcome to join.

Also, November is an especially good month to visit Turku—the sf calendar of the month is quite full of all kinds of interesting events.

Finncon 2015 in Turku

Another thing that was discussed on Sunday (besides the Worldcon bid) was Finncon 2015. No longer on hold because of a possibility of a Worldcon in Finland in 2015, there’s been some initial discussion for a Finncon 2015 in Turku. We’re still in the planning and committee forming stage, but there’s definite interest in holding a Finncon here. We’ve also had lots of interest and support from the rest of the Finnish fandom, and are looking around for possible venues, so things are looking good.

Our plan is to hold a Finncon that will reach out to the international fandom, and to welcome everyone who was looking forward to coming to Finland in 2015 to come to Finncon!

There’s not much to report yet (as I said, still in the planning phase), but you can follow @finncon2015 on Twitter (and this space as well), and we’ll be sure to let you know when we have something more.

Lecture on Science Fiction Movies in Turku

Kimmo Ahonen is giving a public lecture in Turku on Monday, October 21. The topic is his PhD thesis, aliens in the 1950s science fiction movies as material for a historian studying the Cold War.

The talk takes place at Studio in the City Library main building, starting at 6 PM. It is part of the “History now” series, organised by the Turku Historical Society.

Smoffing on Sunday

Next Sunday there will be an extra co-operation meeting for Finndom (or Finnsmofcon as I’ve taken to calling them). The point of the meeting is to plan and discuss various future events and projects. So far, these include at least the initial ideas for organising a Finncon in Turku in 2015, presentation about a completely new convention concept, and discussion on possible future Worldcon bids. So, if you find yourself in Turku next weekend and want to participate in con running discussion, welcome to Turku-sali (Yo-talo A, 2. krs) at 1 PM!

More info on the event is on Facebook. If you’ll be participating, please sign up at the meeting Doodle so we know who will be there!

Kid-Friendly Mafia Tomorrow

A new sfnal activity in Turku: some families have been discussing a regular playdate for parents with small children. The goal is for the parents to be able to engage in sfnal discussion while the children play with each other.

The meetings will take place on the last Friday of the month, and the plan is to rotate the place among the participants. The first mukulamafia is tomorrow at Tomi & Hanne’s place. All interested parties are welcome. More info from Hanne.

Pub Meeting Friday

This month’s Turku sf pub meeting is tomorrow (Friday the 6th) at Cosmic Comic Cafe starting at 6. Welcome!

If you had your heart set up on a Thursday meeting, today is the last Varjomafia at the Terrakoti club house before the move, also starting around 6. Should be plenty of people there, especially as today has also been open house there due to the University season start. Or, if you’re more interested in having a pint, a couple of fans from Helsinki are visiting today; text me for details (040 576 6450).

Regina in Turku

Regina Wang, an sf researcher and fan from China whom some of you have already met at Finncon or the Roadside picnic, is visiting Europe and will be in Turku this weekend to meet local fen. There will be a fandom meet up at Terrakoti on Saturday (the 17th), starting at 6. In traditional Terrakoti fashion, the event is BYOD and potluck.

More info about the event can be found on Facebook.

Bruce Sterling in Turku Tomorrow

The Aboagora seminar (combining art and science) takes place in Turku this week. The keynote speaker for tomorrow’s public lecture is sf author Bruce Sterling. The theme of the day is Virtual worlds, and Sterling’s speech begins at 11. So if you’re interested in hearing him, head to the Sibelius museum then!

Dissertation on 50s Sf Movies

Tomorrow at the University of Turku, Kimmo Ahonen defends his dissertation called “Cold War Anxieties and Fantasies—Alien Invasion in American Science Fiction Films of the 1950s”. For those interested, the thesis is available on Doria (it's in Finnish, but there's an English summary starting on page 466).

Pub Meeting Today

Yes, it's Friday. The Turku pub meetings were moved to the first Friday of the month, starting this month. As it's now officially summer, the gathering is in the traditional place, Brewery Restaurant Koulu's terrace. See you there today at six!