Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Sinisalo Nominated for Prometheus

Saw this on Twitter a couple of days ago: The Libertarian Futurist Society has released the finalists for the Prometheus Award in the Best Novel category. Among the finalists is our own Johanna Sinisalo with The Core of the Sun. Congratulations!

Samovar

Samovar is a new quarterly special issue of Strange Horizons that focuses on translated sf. They publish fiction and poetry in both the original language and an English translation.

The first issue of the magazine includes a short story Wither And Blossom (Oka ja kukinto) by a Finnish writer Suvi Kauppila. The magazine is free, so go take a look!

(Hat tip to Cheryl for posting about Samovar)

Finnish Weird #4

Finnish Weird is a zine that showcases contemporary Finnish Weird fiction. Issue #4 is out, free to download as an ebook or a pdf.

This issue features introductions of three Finnish authors, Magdalena Hai, J.S. Meresmaa, and Viivi Hyvönen, and also a short story by each of them.

The previous issues are also available for download.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

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.)

Thursday, March 09, 2017

Tähtivaeltaja Award Nominees 2017

Helsinki Science Fiction Society has announced this year’s nominees for the Tähtivaeltaja Award for best science fiction book published in Finland last year. The winner will be announced in May.

The nominees are:

  • Zoo City – Eläinten valtakunta (Zoo City) by Lauren Beukes (published by Aula & co.)
  • Maailman lahjakkain tyttö (The Girl with All the Gifts) by M. R. Carey (Like)
  • Näkymättömät planeetat (Invisible Planets: Collected Fiction) by Hannu Rajaniemi (Gummerus)
  • Poseidonin lapset (Poseidon’s Wake) by Alastair Reynolds (Like)
  • Sotapuiston perikato (CivilWarLand in Bad Decline) by George Saunders (Siltala)

The award jury consists of journalist Hannu Blommila, editor Toni Jerrman, critic Elli Leppä, and critic Antti Oikarinen.

Finlandia Award Nominees 2018

The Finlandia Award nominees for this year have been announced, and there are a couple of familiar sfnal names in the mix. Magdalena Hai’s K...