Friday, August 18, 2006

Off to FinnCon

I'm going to FinnCon tomorrow and will be away for two days. Not that you'll be missing me or anything... It's funny that I've never been a part of SF community in Finland, albeit having published a story (in 1988!) in a fanzine and having written some entries for largely fandom-produced reference works of SF and knowing many of the guys and gals in fandom, but suddenly I'm in the midst of the action: I'm on two panels* and I'll be editing some of the Con-Kurssi magazines! What's more funny (aren't you laughing already?) is that this is my second FinnCon. My earlier one was in 1989! And during all these years I haven't even read much science fiction, apart from occasional Philip K. Dick and some pulp stories! So, what the hell were they thinking when they asked me to come there?

* On Saturday 15:00 I'll be talking about Fantastic Noir with Stepan Chapman et al. Ouch! But, seriously, these guys can come up with new words in no time: I googled "fantastic noir". No results, aside those that start with "Hey, Prince of Tides is fantastic noir film!" On Sunday 15:00 I'm on panel on Robert E. Howard. Now, that's more like me. Swords, semi-naked women, old gods, living dead... I'm going to read a Robert Jordan Conan novel on my way to Helsinki tomorrow morning, so I'll be able to comment on that aspect, too. I know he's much hated for those, but someone is sure buying them. (Or was. Does he write them anymore? The one I picked up at the library was from 1982 or -83.)

Edit: The first Con-Kurssi magazine here. It's PDF, so be prepared to hate the download time. This one was edited by Vesa Sisättö.



klo

6 comments:

  1. Sisatto10:46 PM

    And Anne Leinonen et al.

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  2. Juri9:34 AM

    Thanks for the correction/addment!

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  3. mybillcrider5:03 PM

    Ed Gorman wrote on Bookgasm a few days ago that he prefers Jordan's Conan stories to Howard's. So far he hasn't been lynched.

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  4. Juri6:29 PM

    That's interesting to know! I started to read a Jordan Conan on a train as I promised and it's not really all that bad. Pretty reminiscent of a western. Didn't he write westerns early in his career? Or do I get him mixed with someone else? (Some big fantasy name did write western paperbacks in the early eighties. Tad Williams?)

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  5. mybillcrider5:24 PM

    I don't now if either Jordan or Williams wrote westerns.

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  6. Juri9:12 PM

    Sure enough it was Robert Jordan. He has a western as by Jackson O'Reilly called CHEYNNE RAIDERS from 1982. He also has a series of three books as by Reagan O'Neal (a stupid pseudonym, if you ask me): THE FALLON PRIDE, THE FALLON LEGACY and THE FALLON BLOOD. I don't know what genre these belong to; the first are from 1981-1982 and the last one from 1995. (If the biblio I'm looking at is correct. It also says, without stating what books they are, that Jordan has written as Chang Lung.)

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