Comments on: Reading Finnish speculative fiction

By: Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo

Johanna Vainikainen-Uusitalo — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:48:54 +0000

We had Robert Holdstock as GoH in Jyväskylä Summer Festival 1992 (pre-first Finncon in Jyväskylä). He was impressed with Finnish woods. We sang him Finnish folksongs…

And Johanna Sinisalo lent her name to a magical mask in Holdstock’s “Celtika”:

Now a second face suddenly became familiar to me, once I had seen through the rough-hew of its carving. Another old ‘friend’ from the early years, this one gentler.
‘Well, well. Sinisalo. You used to climb trees. Now you are one. You used to play tricks on me then run away like the wind. Now you’re rooted.’
Sinisalo was the ‘eternal child in the land’. I myself had once been sinisalo. All of life’s creatures are sinisalo for a brief moment. The child’s power is usually left behind in the process of growth. But for some of us, that funny, frisky fawn always remains at the edge of our vision, to be summoned at will. The eternal child. Here she was, five thousand years on, a memory in carved birch.
‘Sinisalo,’ I whispered again, with affection, and blew a kiss.

By: jukkahoo

jukkahoo — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:07:19 +0000

One thing I forgot to mention (I bet there were more than just that one!) were the forests. Finland has a fair amout of trees. A lot, really. And for most of us, those forests are natural habitat, even for us city dwellers. Could be a bit different nowadays, though, but my generation (the 1960’s/70’s born) spent a sizable amout of our time on the woods.

After these wanderings and general acquaintace with forests, reading stuff like Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Wood leaves you with a certain lack of understanding the implications of these mythical woodlands. It’s a forest? A big one? And? :)

Then again, mountains. Wau. We don’t have those.

By: Vandana Singh

Vandana Singh — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:49:32 +0000

Thank you for this wonderful introduction to Finnish spec fic! I’m especially interested in how geography and the sense of place, as well as culture, play into SF from around the world. I wait for the day when the works you mention will be available in English and in other languages.

Thanks again!

Vandana