FinnCon 2008
Last weekend there was the FinnCon/AnimeCon 2008. The organizers did manage to get the Tampere Hall conference center.
Friday
Friday begun with the writers’ meeting of the Finnish Science Writers Association in Linna, one of the new buildings of the Tampere University. There was mainly a public discussion - or apparently a continuance of one - between two Guests of Honor, lady Farah Mendlesohn (fjm) and M. John Harrison.
The discussion was eclectic - attractive bad guys reformed by their victims; liminal, intrusion and immersion fantasy and how Harrison prefers to leave something unexplained in their stories. Lady Mendlesohn also warned us of not becoming the bickering group the Science Fiction Writers of America seems to be…
After that the Writers’ Association gave the awards of the annual Nova short story contest. Lady katjunen did most of the honors. Lauri Lintula won with his story Marva but he was not present. One of the writers in the Top 10 said that this had been the first story they had ever written. Another one claimed that they had written it under wrong medication….
(Unfortunately I missed the science part. And the fact that my cell phone battery is apparently going bonkers has nothing to do with it…)
The next stop was the Telakka (Shipyard) restaurant, the historical customs building converted into a restaurant/theatre. And a brief, informal meeting of the board of the Finnish Science Fiction Writers.
Saturday
The actual con begun in Saturday. In addition to Mendlesohn and Harrison, other guests of honor included Finnish cartoonist Petri Hiltunen and US illustrator Charles Vess. The whole event was in the Tampere Halle conference center besides the Sorsapuisto park.
Me and two others came in late - and it would have been much later without my sister and her car… Weather was too hot to my taste and the weather service had given warnings of heavy ultraviolet radiation. Because of the heat the announcers in the hall kept reminding people to drink water.
There were lots of teen cosplayers (it’s been usual thing in the last couple of years). The Tampere Hall was almost filled to its capacity - at least in the anime end of the dealer's hall - and many of the anime fans decided to lounge outside in the park. Apparently the regular staff claimed that they’d never seen so many visitors. And the cosplayers are not that rowdy, either. Running and carrying each other was forbidden inside the building. Old hands complained, again, of too many teenage anime fans.
(As far as I know the estimates of the amount of people in the con range somewhere in their thousands).
In addition to multitude of anime characters, I also saw a group of teletubbies, Dr McNinja, sad Ronald MacDonald and some people who had tried to convert their clothes to cyberpunk costumes by adding some wires. I still do not understand all the “free hugs” placards some of the cosplayers carried. Some of them were also of Asian descend.
(In addition to the usual opening ceremony, there was also another one for the parents who might be concerned of what their kids are involved with. I have no idea of how popular it was.)
There was a 1:1 model of Tardis as well. Didn’t see any daleks…
I spent most of the day behind the desk of the Writers’ Association in the dealers hall. Other writers in Turku had created about 1800 badges and they did bring most of our income from the con. There was also our writing guide and issues of the Kosmoskynä ‘zine. And couple of copies of Sari Peltoniemi anthology.
And then there was the Hekuma anthology; in 2006 there was a writing contest for erotic science fiction stories and now the anthology was finally published (couple of days before the ‘con) with the name Hekuman Huipulla. (translating the word “hekuma” is hard - the closest thing would probably be “sexual lust”, “the hots” or something like that…)
Also, our chairwoman was there with her newborn daughter.
Besides was Raimo Nikkonen with grand old Portti prozine.
One programme I did see was the interview of lady Mendlesohn by “James Lipton” (Jukka Halme) in the “Author’s Studio. “
And then there was the Atorox award for the best short story, awarded to Susi Vaasjoki for Taruntekijä (Mythmaker)
Before going to Telakka again we and couple of others went to a nearby kebab/pizza restaurant with a Somalian-born cartoonist I’d never met before. I missed the most of the evening’s entertainment in Telakka, including the masquerade, mainly because it was so hot inside. I spent most of the time outside talking (or trying to talk) with old friends until it was too dark.
Friday
Friday begun with the writers’ meeting of the Finnish Science Writers Association in Linna, one of the new buildings of the Tampere University. There was mainly a public discussion - or apparently a continuance of one - between two Guests of Honor, lady Farah Mendlesohn (fjm) and M. John Harrison.
The discussion was eclectic - attractive bad guys reformed by their victims; liminal, intrusion and immersion fantasy and how Harrison prefers to leave something unexplained in their stories. Lady Mendlesohn also warned us of not becoming the bickering group the Science Fiction Writers of America seems to be…
After that the Writers’ Association gave the awards of the annual Nova short story contest. Lady katjunen did most of the honors. Lauri Lintula won with his story Marva but he was not present. One of the writers in the Top 10 said that this had been the first story they had ever written. Another one claimed that they had written it under wrong medication….
(Unfortunately I missed the science part. And the fact that my cell phone battery is apparently going bonkers has nothing to do with it…)
The next stop was the Telakka (Shipyard) restaurant, the historical customs building converted into a restaurant/theatre. And a brief, informal meeting of the board of the Finnish Science Fiction Writers.
Saturday
The actual con begun in Saturday. In addition to Mendlesohn and Harrison, other guests of honor included Finnish cartoonist Petri Hiltunen and US illustrator Charles Vess. The whole event was in the Tampere Halle conference center besides the Sorsapuisto park.
Me and two others came in late - and it would have been much later without my sister and her car… Weather was too hot to my taste and the weather service had given warnings of heavy ultraviolet radiation. Because of the heat the announcers in the hall kept reminding people to drink water.
There were lots of teen cosplayers (it’s been usual thing in the last couple of years). The Tampere Hall was almost filled to its capacity - at least in the anime end of the dealer's hall - and many of the anime fans decided to lounge outside in the park. Apparently the regular staff claimed that they’d never seen so many visitors. And the cosplayers are not that rowdy, either. Running and carrying each other was forbidden inside the building. Old hands complained, again, of too many teenage anime fans.
(As far as I know the estimates of the amount of people in the con range somewhere in their thousands).
In addition to multitude of anime characters, I also saw a group of teletubbies, Dr McNinja, sad Ronald MacDonald and some people who had tried to convert their clothes to cyberpunk costumes by adding some wires. I still do not understand all the “free hugs” placards some of the cosplayers carried. Some of them were also of Asian descend.
(In addition to the usual opening ceremony, there was also another one for the parents who might be concerned of what their kids are involved with. I have no idea of how popular it was.)
There was a 1:1 model of Tardis as well. Didn’t see any daleks…
I spent most of the day behind the desk of the Writers’ Association in the dealers hall. Other writers in Turku had created about 1800 badges and they did bring most of our income from the con. There was also our writing guide and issues of the Kosmoskynä ‘zine. And couple of copies of Sari Peltoniemi anthology.
And then there was the Hekuma anthology; in 2006 there was a writing contest for erotic science fiction stories and now the anthology was finally published (couple of days before the ‘con) with the name Hekuman Huipulla. (translating the word “hekuma” is hard - the closest thing would probably be “sexual lust”, “the hots” or something like that…)
Also, our chairwoman was there with her newborn daughter.
Besides was Raimo Nikkonen with grand old Portti prozine.
One programme I did see was the interview of lady Mendlesohn by “James Lipton” (Jukka Halme) in the “Author’s Studio. “
And then there was the Atorox award for the best short story, awarded to Susi Vaasjoki for Taruntekijä (Mythmaker)
Before going to Telakka again we and couple of others went to a nearby kebab/pizza restaurant with a Somalian-born cartoonist I’d never met before. I missed the most of the evening’s entertainment in Telakka, including the masquerade, mainly because it was so hot inside. I spent most of the time outside talking (or trying to talk) with old friends until it was too dark.