På KI har jag deltagit i några betygsnämnder vid disputationer, och jag deltog i den kommitté som genomförde KIs 13:e utbildningskongress med temat Bedömning för kvalitet – från kunskap till kompetens.

Bosse 9 mån

Familjen har utökats med ett barnbarn, Bodils son Bo kallad Bosse, född på internationella kvinnodagen 8 mars. Slutligen har också 2011 varit ett jubileumsår – den 18 december 1961 träffade jag Margareta som jag sedan dess varit tillsammans med.

Traditionellt brukar SFSF ordna ett julmöte som samlar ett halvdussin Stockholmsfans, bestående mest av styrelsen. Lokalen har varit Forodrims källarlokal på Kungsholmen eller helt enkelt Carolinas vardagsrum. Denna gång samarbetade man med Tekniska museet som upplät en stor lokal, Stallet, som dessutom innehöll ett mindre kafé. Ungefär ett femtiotal personer dök upp, men av dessa var många barn som var mest intresserade av ballongtillverkning i Maria Ballongprinsessan Byquists regi. Barnen var naturligtvis inte helt tysta men genom att det fanns en utmärkt ljudanläggning gick det bra att ha föredrag parallellt med detta.

Musiken i sf

Jörgen Städje

Dagen inleddes med att Jörgen Städje presenterade ”sf-musik”, dvs filmmusik från t ex Forbidden Planet, Star Trek Voyager, Close Encounters of the Third Kind och 2001 (An der schönen blauen Donau) och elektronisk musik av bl a Ralph Lundsten.

John Wyndham och det brittiska imperiets undergång

Jerry Määttä höll ett föredrag om sin forskning kring John Wyndham, som han bedrivit på SF Foundation i Liverpool under ett halvår. Där finns det mycket omfattande John Wyndham Archives, som han fick tillgång till.

John Wyndham kallades John Harris till vardags och han slog igenom brett, troligen genom sin jordnära stil och goda personteckningar. Den engelska nya vågen hade egentligen Wyndham att tacka för mycket men Aldiss och Ballard kritiserade honom för hans ”cozy catastrophes”, en beteckning som är klart missvisande enligt Jerry. Wyndham säljer fortfarande bra och Jerry hittade hans böcker i de bokhandlar han besökte. Trots hans popularitet finns det inte mycket forskning kring Wyndham, men David Ketterer har skrivit en biografi, Trouble with Triffids. Eftersom Wyndham brände alla privata brev har Ketterer fått pussla ihop hans liv med ledning av broderns anteckningar och änkans dagböcker.

Jerry Määttä

Varför fick då Wyndham sådant genomslag? Jerry förklarar det med att han slog an en nerv med sina symboliska gestaltningar av kriser efter världskrigen, som innebar att det brittiska imperiet föll samman. Hans mest populära bok är nog The Day of the Triffids. Som Triffidernas uppror var det den första boken som marknadsfördes som science fiction i Sverige. Till denna återkom Jerry på slutet.

I The Kraken Wakes (1953), Vidundret vaknar på svenska, smälter isarna och London översvämmas, vilket känns påtagligt aktuellt. Vidundret hindrade också sjöfarten liksom att tyskarna hindrade den under kriget, ”Britain rule the waves” gällde inte längre. England blev sönderbombat med ransonering och andra umbäranden, ”won the war but lost the peace”. The Chrysalids (1955), på svenska Den stora hemsökelsen är en efterkatastrofenroman om tillståndet efter ett kärnvapenkrig. En perverterad kristendom förföljer de nya som är telepater, vilket enligt Jerry ska tolkas som att traditionalister hindrar utvecklingen i England.

The Midwich Cuckoos anser han vara Wyndhams bästa bok, som förvånansvärt nog inte översatts till svenska. I den är barnen inte bara telepater utan dessutom helt lika varandra. I den senaste engelska utgåvan har Adam Roberts ett förord där han förklarar att barnen ska symbolisera judiska barn. Det anser Jerry vara osannolikt med tanke på att de är gyllenblonda, och snarare är nazityska. Hur som helst beter sig barnen inte som de vuxna, och de ger en bild av det uppväxande släktet och dess ungdomskultur i England på 50-talet. Fientligheten mot barn- och ungdomskultur finns enligt Jerry fortfarande i Storbritannien, t ex med speciell lagstiftning, och detta har kritiserats av UNICEF.

The Day of the Triffids har filmatiserats åtminstone tre gånger. Katastrofen kan ses som en skildring av Blitzen, och skildringen visar olika sätt att klara sig. Ska samhället utvecklas åt vänster eller höger? Triffiderna har av David Ketterer föreslagits symbolisera nazityskar som invaderar, men Jerry menar att det snarare handlar om att de av Storbritannien koloniserade och förtryckta folken slår tillbaka genom en invasion. Triffidernas sätt att kommunicera genom att slå på sina stammar liknar djungeltrummor, och slagen med giftiga grenar kan symbolisera piskor som ofta fått symbolisera kolonialt förtryck. Wyndham beundrade Wells och The Day of the Triffids kan vara inspirerad av The War of the Worlds. I den är då marsianerna egentligen britterna, som invaderar kolonierna.

Martin Rundkvist

Epokernas kamp

Martin Rundkvists föredrag om epokernas kamp, dvs hur man kan tolka blandade fynd inom arkeologin, har jag avnjutit tidigare (se BEM 4 sid 27) men den smygande övergången från vetenskap till fantastik var lika underhållande denna gång. Tyvärr medgav inte tiden att han fick dra den slutliga poängen men helt nödvändig var den faktiskt inte.

Från spel till roman

Under titeln ”Från spel till roman” samtalade Erik Granström och Anders Blixt om sina fantasyromaner. På 70-talet spelade de Dungeons and Dragons och konstruerade spel utifrån dessa erfarenheter. Anders karakteriserade fantasyspel med orden ”muskler, magi, monster och mångfald men stillastående”, och som samhällsvetare tyckte han att just det stillastående var onaturligt. I hans bok Spiran och staven sker en utveckling, och tiden är upplysningstid med ”industrimagi”, dvs ganska sf-artat. Eriks värld Trakorien är snarare renässans, och han intresserar sig för ekonomi och makt. Att han är veterinär märks på de namn han sätter på platser i världen. Det har behövts många nya namn till det nya rollspel Svavelvinter som baseras på boken Svavelvinter som i sin tur baserades på rollspelet Svavelvinter, ungefär som skett med en del bokbaserade filmer. Trakorien bygger på renässansens Italien, Sumer och Akkad, republiken Rom och vår samtid.

Erik Granström och Anders Blixt

En skillnad mellan roman och rollspel är att i rollspel finns inga egentliga personligheter, medan i romanen är psykologin och utveckling av personerna viktig. En likhet är ändå att i båda tänker författaren på alternativa skeenden, ungefär som i ett schackspel. För Anders är det viktigt att ha slutet klart för sig, annars kommer han ingen vart. Det är farligt med alltför mycket bihistorier, och avskräckande exempel är då George R R Martin och Robert Jordan som båda excellerar i bihistorier så att det blir oklart vart berättelsen egentligen är på väg.

Roos

Genesis/Nemesis – a game of world creation

Under ledning av Roos fick några fans testa rollspelet Genesis/Nemesis. Vi skulle bilda några förföljda grupper med hotad kultur som flyr till en fjärran planet 2080, och det blev samer, socialdemokrater och sf-fans. Handlingen styrdes av en Tarot-kortlek och Roos och deltagarnas tolkningar av dessa, och det hela gav en liten inblick i hur det kan fungera, speciellt för oss som aldrig tidigare spelat denna typ av rollspel.

Vad händer nu inom sf och fantasy

Sista programpunkten skulle vara en presentation av vad som händer inom sf och fantasy, och jag, Carolina och Gabi Rehbinder hade förberett oss för detta. Eftersom det inte var så vansinnigt många som skulle lyssna omformade vi detta till en gruppdiskussion, och vi hade då stor glädje av den stora mängd böcker som Gabi tagit med och som hon bredde ut på golvet mellan oss. Det stod helt klart att det finns en mångfald olika utvecklingslinjer inom både sf och fantasy, och att det dessutom görs många korsbefruktningar mellan olika genrer och delar av dessa.

Uppsalafansen med Johan Jönsson som huvudarrangör ordnade en endagskongress i centrala Uppsala som blev välbesökt och mycket lyckad. Lokalen, kulturhuset Grand, fungerade utmärkt genom att en våning användes för fika och försäljning mm och en våning användes för föredrag och paneldiskussioner. Jag har rapporterat från kongressen i SFSFs fanzine SF-Forum nr 118, men vill tillägga att Anna Davour hade ordnat en intressant utställning av sf-böcker för att illustrera sf:s utveckling. Vid varje bok fanns en kort beskrivning av innehållet och relevansen för utvecklingen. Utställningen skymtar på bilden nedan, och vilka böcker som var med i utställningen kan man hitta här.

SF- och fantasydag i Uppsala. Bokutställning i bakgrunden.

SF-ish art in the river Aurajoki

This Finncon was the last time it was combined with Animecon, which I regret. It is great fun to watch all the cos-players and other dressed-up or disguised young people.

Richard Morgan and Nalo Hopkinson: On writing

Richard Morgan and Nalo Hopkinson

RM started to write noir cyberpunk and now introduces noir into fantasy. When asked why he writes he answers “what are trees for?”. He has always wanted to be a writer, he wanted the job, and just started doing it. It defines him. SF was his first love in literature. It is hard to find the same spark elsewhere.

Tommy Persson

NH writes SF since it is what she has always read. Her father was an author and her mother a librarian. When asked about influences she mentions Samuel Delany and Ursula LeGuin. As a child she read a childrens’s fantasy where the white children choose a castle and the black boy choose a melon. She read “Welcome to the Monkey House” in a Playboy under her father’s bed.

RM mentions Asimov and Poul Anderson as first influences. He liked Anderson’s writing for the human side, the characters, and the cynical and gloomy style which he had not found before. He also mentioned Michael Moorcock and Bob Shaw, and Gibson who he considered to be influenced by Pynchon.

RM writes whenever he can, mainly in the afternoons, and has no favourite spot. Pullman has to write 1500 words a day and is then released. RM recommends that you ignore the market and just write what you want to write. He has not studied or taught creative writing. NH has both studied and taught at Clarion, but this was after she had been published. She was surrounded by books and wrote by example. The workshop at Clarion gets her to think about her own writing.

At present RM is writing on a Sword & Sorcery trilogy and NH a young adult novel with a focus on the body and sexuality. RM comments that the drive for humans is sex and violence.

Richard Morgan: Black Widow

Comic books are dying and replaced by graphic novels. The superhero stuff is left for those who cannot stand that genre literature (sf, crime etc.) gets increasingly good. It is where those hide who cannot cope with complexity. This is a general cultural malaise; there is less challenge. More people want reading that is not challenging.

A teacher who wanted to use Altered Carbon in his teaching said: “You have no right not to be offended”, which is an unusual, and appreciated, American reaction.

The superheroes from the 1930s always have -man in their names. Can we not go somewhere else? American popular culture is extremely macho, as seen by Susan Faludi in Backlash. In Japan this is not the case, there is much more diversification.

Richard Morgan’s Guest of Honour Speech

Richard Morgan

Altered Carbon took 2.5 year to write and it was unpublished for 14 years. It was sent to several publishers and was refused and rejected. Finally it was accepted by Gollancz. He has written comics in other peoples worlds but not fiction, since he doesn’t want to lose control. Market Forces started as a short story that he sent to Interzone, where they disliked the characters. It rests on a ludicrous concept; it was expanded to a novel and it has always been meant to be dark with an unhappy ending.

Writing is a lonely job. Your companion is the squirrel on the ledge. In contrast, videogame writing is very social.

Poul Anderson’s The Broken Sword is the quintessential Sword & Sorcery, and he also likes Moorcock’s Elric stories. RM rites the fantasy novel that he wants to read. It takes him about a year to write a book. He usually doesn’t know where the story will end. He wants the story to feel true when he writes.

The best hard sf author today is Peter Watts according to RM. SF now appears also in mainstream books, as exemplified by Never Let Me Go, and there is also vampire chic-lit. SF has become furniture in the mainstream arena. It is the same with films, and mainstream thrillers contain sf tropes. The barrier between genres will break down.

RM considers the combined Finncon/Animecon to be a good thing that might get anime people to drift into sf as they grow older. He sees no borders between sf and fantasy and thinks it is important with broadening.

Nalo Hopkinson and Richard Morgan: Cultural Appropriation.

This was an interesting discussion on the author’s obligation when using other people’s culture in fiction. As NH says, “They have given to you, what can you give to them?”. RM says that if you borrow you are a guest, and decorum behoves you. You should try to get it right and convey something true.

Something that is just interesting for you can be a matter of life and death for others. There is a risk that you see objects of curiosity instead of human people, e g when you write about male sex workers. Still, if you write about anything important you will offend somebody. The most offended by RM’s Black Man were white Americans. You are not allowed to have black people who are violent and pissed-off. “Non-political”" fiction doesn’t exist, it just means that it fits your own political ideas. Still, some things are true of all cultures: crime, love of children, and suppression of women.

Read texts from that culture and talk to people, try to blend into the culture and not be a tourist. Look at websites and message boards where the people hang out. RM told about an experience in Harlem. There was a very small number of white faces, and everybody looks at you. You get twitchy and uncomfortable. This “research” was important for writing Black Man, since this feeling must be the same if you are a black man in a white city.

RM recommends Small Island by Andrea Levy. When he was young he read Biggles which was very racist. But his neighbour was black which he didn’t think of. NH thinks that sf readers are supportive of writing in unknown areas.

RM said that the film Avatar actually was about native Americans, in a bad way. It is a movie for white men.

NH’s father had converted to Islam whereas her mother was a Catholic. RM considers that the future of Islam is in the US. It is essential not to demonise or marginalise. The women may be the solution.

Morgondagen i dagens och gårdagens science fiction. Strålande framtid eller bara misär?

Kenneth Lindholm, Sofia Sjö, Elisabeth Kronqvist, Ben Roimola

Den enda svenskspråkiga programpunkt jag lyssnade på var en inte helt lyckad panel som hade sitt ursprung i en antologi med positiva framtidsbilder i sf: Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic SF (Red: Jetse de Vries). Ben Roimola modererade. Enligt Kenneth Lindholm är det roligare att läsa om en negativ framtid, t ex där jorden går under. Sofia Sjö menade att sf speglar dagens pessimism. Man jobbar igenom traumana utan att ha någon lösning. Elisabeth Kronqvist tyckte att tv-serier som Star Trek och Stargate ofta är positiva.

Margareta Cronholm, Kenneth Lindholm, his son, Carolina Gómez Lagerlöf

Några exempel på positiva framtidssyner var: Robert Charles Wilsons Spin och Julian Comstock, som skildrar ett lyckligare 1800-tal, Geoff Ryman’s Air, Lois McMaster Bujolds berättelser, Banks Cultureböcker och Kim Stanley Robinsons skildringar av hur vetenskapen räddar världen.

Tyvärr låg övriga svenskspråkiga programpunkter parallellt med de engelskspråkiga, utom det överraskningsprogram på söndagmorgonen som visade sig överraska genom att utebli.

The Masquerade

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Closing session with Kati Oksanen

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Finally, a very warm thanks to the chairperson Kati Oksanen and her crew for a con with a wonderful atmosphere. I will miss the Animecon in future Finncons!

Eurocon 2011 was the first Eurocon in Sweden, and the largest ever Swedish sf convention with 746 members from 33 countries. There have been quite many con reports already on the web and in fanzines, but I have assembled some of my own accounts of panels and interviews. Since I was a member of the con committee I was fairly busy and could not listen to more than a few of the programme items.

Kurser och seminarieserier om fantastik (Courses and seminar series on science fiction and fantasy)

Anna Åberg, Stefan Ekman (moderator), Anna Höglund, Kristina Hård, Maria Nilson, Jerry Määttä

Anna Höglund ger kurser i skräck och fantasy vid Linnéuniversitetet. Hon berättade att kvalitetskravet var samma oberoende av vilka författare som behandlas och alltså oavsett gengre. På hennes kurser blir kraven snarast högre. Jerry Määttä instämde, studenterna hade blivit chockade över de höga kraven på en sommarkurs om fantasy i Växjö. Kraven i Uppsala är för höga eftersom studenterna upplevde att de ändå inte fick någon prestige av att gå en kurs om sf.

Sf-författaren Kristina Hård som både gått kurs och undervisar i Lund berättade att det ekonomiska onekligen spelar in och då är det en fördel med distanskurser som kan klara av många studenter. Genusvetaren Maria Nilson vid Linnéuniversitetet ansåg att det var självklart att ha en kurs i feministisk sf på hennes institution, och kurser inom populärkultur motiveras med att de ger ekonomiska förutsättningar för forskning inom området. Dessutom är kurserna motiverade genom att något i samhället gör att området intresserar, och då bör universitetet svara på behovet.

Anna Åberg från KTH berättade att studenterna där är mycket ambitiösa och inser hur otroligt viktig populärkulturen är för att ge folk i allmänhet deras världsbild. Jerry Määttä smyger in The Time Machine i litteraturlistan när han undervisar svensklärare. Det är effektivare än att ge kurser.

Kurslitteraturen varierar kraftigt mellan olika kurser. Kristina Hård använder länkar på nätet medan kurser i feministisk sf har teoretisk litteratur av Haraway och i narratologi. På sf-kursen i Uppsala krävdes att man läste 15 romaner med tonvikt på 50-talets sf, samt två kursböcker, Adam Roberts Science fiction och The Cambridge Companion, senare utbytt till The Routledge Companion som Jerry ansåg vara bättre.

I Uppsala händer det mycket just nu; sf kommer in i andra kurser som t ex i ekokritik. Samtidigt kan karriärvägarna vara ett hinder genom att det i Uppsala krävs att man först är en seriös litteraturvetare. På KTH saknas kontinuitet och för det krävs att kursen kommer in i ett program. Vid Linnéuniversitetet ökar man legitimiteten genom att ha magisterstudenter i vampyr och makt. Anna Höglund startar ett nätverk för forskare inom skräck och fantasy.

Guest of Honour Interview: Elizabeth Bear talks to Nene Ormes

Elizabeth Bear, Nene Ormes

The interview was recorded for television by UR/Kunskapskanalen, and those doing it were not satisfied with the beginning so Nene Ormes had to do a restart, which was bad for the flow. Nene started by telling that she is one of Bear’s fan girls and that she was impressed by the large number of works that Elizabeth Bear had produced, amounting to 16 novels and 60 short stories.

The Jenny Casey trilogy started as a duology. Much of the story takes place in Canada, where readers were excited to be noted. Jenny Casey is an Iroqui-Canadian. Elizabeth Bear started writing these books in the mid 90s. About Carnival with its world New Amazonia she said that it is what would result if you put Joanna Russ and Robert Heinlein in a box until they fight. And that anybody’s utopia is someone else’s hell.

Her fantasy series The Promethean Age is actually two duologies and Nene would rather label them secret histories. They were conceived at a boring dinner that she had to partake in with her then faculty spouse. It is based on the concept that the Shakespeare dramas were actually written by Edward deVere. There may come more volumes in this series.

The New Amsterdam series is steampunk for girls according to Elizabeth Bear. Seven for a Secret takes place in 1937 and Germany has occupied England, and The White City takes place before. She does not want to use the label alternate history where one thing turned out differently. She wrote one story of six pages which nearly killed her because you have to think too much. She prefers the term contrafactual which is less rigorous.

Elizabeth Bear tells that she climbs, runs, practices yoga and also is into fencing and archery. Besides writing stories on paper she participates in writing hyperfiction online with a group called Shadow Unit. The other members are Emma Bull, Sarah Monette and Will Shatterley. Together with Sarah Monette she has published A Companion to Wolves, about mad people who binds with wolves, and two other novels in that series.

The interesting Jacob’s Ladder trilogy was only mentioned as being a mixture of fantasy and sf, whereas Nene praised the poetic language of the Emma of Burden series. This was the first book she wrote but it was too weird according to her publisher. The middle book was written first, then the prequel and finally the sequel. She often works in this nonlinear way when she constructs her stories.

Feminist SF

Panel description: Female sf authors started to write about gender roles in the 60s and 70s. Were there any predecessors? Which books are most representative for the subgenre feminist sf? Which have survived best, and which authors write feminist sf today? Do male and female readers differ in their preferences for sf? John-Henri Holmberg (JHH), Amanda Downum (AD), Maria Nilson (MN), Klaus  Mogensen (KM), Anders Qvist (moderator) (AQ).

The panel description was written at a time when Ulrika von Knorring had accepted to be on the panel. She has written an essay, Not embarrassed to read science fiction. Women reading science fiction. Unfortunately she could not come to Eurocon 2011. At the start of the discussion the guest of honour Elizabeth Bear (EB) accepted an invitation from the moderator to sit on the panel.

I could not listen to the discussion, but have instead listened to the recording done by Jonas Wissting. The following is just a summary of the names of specific books and authors.

MN: Gilman’s Herland, Piercy’s He, She and It and LeGuin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. (Used in her course on feminist sf.) Doris Lessing.

JHH: Ursula LeGuin, Joanna Russ.

AD: Caitlín R. Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente.

EB: Suzy McKee Charnas, her own Carnival (Response to Charnas’ books.)

KM: Ursula LeGuin, Doris Piserchia, Sheri S. Tepper.

AD: C. J. Cherryh: The Pride of Chanur. (Lions in space, females do all the hard work and males are delicate.)

EB: Early works: C. L. Moore, André Norton, Leigh Brackett (“No Woman Born”).

KM: First feminist sf: Aristophanes’ Lysistrate.

MN: Around 1900: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mary Bradley Lane.

EB: Mary Wollstonecraft, feminist and mother of Mary Shelley. Signs of that in Frankenstein.

JHH: Simone de Beauvoir, feminism in Europe, Betty Friedan in USA.

MN: Donna Haraway, feminist philosopher collaborating with Joanna Russ.

KM: Strong female characters doesn’t make it feminist sf: Books about Honor Harrington and Anita Blake are not feminist.

EB: Nalo Hopkinson.

MN: Scott Westerfeld, Justina Robson.

JHH: Carol Emshwiller.

EB: Geoff Ryman: Air, Unconquered Countries.

AQ: Joan Slonczewski.

EB: Lois McMaster Bujold (how childbearing dominates). Feminist?

MN: Marge Piercy.

EB: Melissa Scott: Shadowman. Vonda N. McIntyre: Dreamsnake.

JHH: Nicola Griffith. Fabulous heroine and same-sex relations described as totally normal.

MN: Justina Robson’s Quantum Leap stories, about power.

EB: Tricia Sullivan: Maul.

And of course the panel missed a lot, e g James Tiptree, Jr. A good site is http://feministsf.org/

Women, Men and Neuters in SF and Fantasy

Panel description: SF and fantasy allow testing of male and female roles, and have also been used to discuss the biology and sociology of sex. The Tiptree Award is one example of how important this use of sf/f is. Another example is neuter characters in stories, which both Elizabeth Bear and Ian McDonald have used. Which queer sf and fantasy stories have been most important and innovative and which should we read today? What authors are most representative today? Johan Jönsson, Kristina Knaving, Ian McDonald, Elizabeth Bear, Cheryl Morgan, Kari Sperring. (moderator).

Cheryl Morgan has kindly put a recording of this panel on her website, see http://salonfutura.libsyn.com/eurocon-2012-gender-in-sf-f-panel

Johan Jönsson, Cheryl Morgan, Elizabeth Bear, Kristina Knaving, Ian McDonald, Kari Sperring

After the introduction of the panel members the moderator Kari Sperring started with the observation that although sf is considered to be a literature of the mind it is often used to explore the physical and psychological limitations of the body. How has sf changed in this respect from the masculine Gernsback era to now when we have e g Justina Robson, Hal Duncan and Elizabeth Bear who look at gender as a continuum and at the body as something that is infinitely malleable?

Cheryl Morgan recommended Bear’s Jacob’s Ladder series, where a transhuman future is described and genders exist but are much more fluid than now. Bear borrowed an idea from Vonda McIntyre (Dreamsnake), where a person has no pronoun. Our language genders everything. Interestingly, this is not the case in Chinese and in Finnish where the sex is not noticed in the language like it is in most other languages. Kristina Knaving points out that in The Left Hand of Darkness “he” is used throughout, but in the addendum The Winter’s King LeGuin uses “she” instead. Even if it is the same universe you get an entirely different view. On the other hand there are five genders in Melissa Scott’s Shadowman. In Delany’s Triton there is a colossal number of genders, and ordinary slime molds have 573 genders.

Until the early sixties we had a binary set of genders in sf and fantasy. Delany was openly gay in the 60s, which is much easier today. Homosexuality is the topic of Hal Duncan’s The Sodomite, and Ian McDonald’s Brasyl contains homosexuality which is usually not noted. Heinlein’s Friday, which actually contains a nice gay man, is in many ways terrible. As Cheryl Morgan has noted in an essay it can be read as a metaphor for trans people. John Varley’s Steel Beach is an example of failure to describe trans people. It is obvious that he had not met trans people and had to guess how they react and live.

Elizabeth Bear’s Carnival has tropes from the 60s/70s, and the story shows that gender has no relation to the capacity for violence.

Other stories of interest that were mentioned are Kelly Eskridge’s Mars stories, where the gender of the character Mars is never revealed, Mary Gentle’s Ilario that contains a hermaphrodite, and Carl Jonas Love Almqvist’s Drottningens juvelsmycke (The Queen’s Tiara) with the androgynous Tintomara.

Impressions from some other programme items

Elizabeth Bear

In her Guest of Honour Speech, Elizabeth Bear stressed the importance of wide views. We have a golden age now, which could be called the rainbow era, where a multitude of different voices can be heard. It is important that both the literature and its fandom are inclusive.

In the panel Myths in SF and Fantasy Elizabeth Bear told that she gets inspiration from myths, and she is not retelling but takes archetypes and tropes. She is not interested in the Greek myths.

M D Lachlan describes the collision between Viking and Christian religions, and for Ian McDonald it is important how mythology underpins the characters. Indians know their mythology much more than Westerners. Zelazny has used a quasi-Hindu mythology in his sf and celtic myths in the Amber series.

There are also modern myths, like James Bond and Buck Rogers, and films can use myths in a dangerous way as exemplified by the persecution of non-Scots in Scotland after the release of Braveheart.

Vampire panel: Karoliina Leikomaa (moderator), Elizabeth Bear, Kristina Hård, Anna Höglund, Anna-Liisa Auramo, Stig W. Jørgensen

The panel The Changing Image of the Vampire concluded that it is the monster with a thousand faces, that is different in different eras. They have symbolized how it is to let go of someone who has died, which collides with the modern sexually oriented interpretation. They are by-products of the society but are not a part of it.

The vampire myth is based on a Christian taboo against drinking blood, which is stated in the Bible. Interestingly eternal life is connected to drinking blood in Christianity.

Another taboo is that against sexuality which dominates the myth in Victorian times. This taboo is motivated by the risks connected to pregnancy. Today sexuality is not evil any longer, and this change can be seen by comparing Dracula with True Blood.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is actually a modern novel that can be read as urban fantasy. Other good vampire stories are those by Anne Rice. It is important that you can identify with the vampire, who is an outsider.

Att skriva fantastik för barn och unga (Writing sf and fantasy for children and young adults)

Mattias Lönnebo, Niklas Krog, Pia Cronholm, Sara Bergmark Elfgren

Detta referat bygger helt på Margaretas anteckningar, eftersom jag inte kunde vara där och lyssna.

Panelens moderator bibliotekarien Pia Cronholm inledde med att fråga om det finns särskilda villkor för att skriva för barn och unga, och om man ser sin publik på idéstadiet eller om det växer fram under skrivandet.

Mattias Lönnebo censurerar sig nog litet och använder enklare ord; försöker skriva roligt. Också läsa lätt-böcker läses av barn. Lotta Olivecrona försöker tänka på vad hon gillade i den åldern. Hon skriver utifrån egna erfarenheter och vill visa att hon tar ungas problem på allvar även om hon har distans till dem.

Förlagen har tydliga målgrupper, 10-12-åringar, 15+ osv. Pia frågar om boken verkligen måste vara kort, Harry Potter klämdes ju av nybörjare. Kan det vara så att man misstror barnen? Har förlagen krav? Bonnier Carlsen anger 10000 ord, 124 sidor och bild på vartannat uppslag. För 15+ ska böckerna vara på 500-600 sidor. Astrid Lindgren har inget tillrättalagt språk men det har ju fungerat ändå.

Illustrationerna kan behövas för att måla upp världen. Det kan också vara avskräckande med knökfull text. Det går inte att bara skriva miljö utan det behövs bilder eller spännande händelser som ger miljön på köpet. Egentligen är det bättre att barnen använder sin egen fantasi.

Bokens början är viktig, särskilt för barn. Det kan vara bra att börja med något läskigt för att sätta tonen. Det kan också vara bra med en smygande stegrad spänning. Andra knep är flash forward och dröm. Beskrivningen ska vara tillräcklig för att läsaren ska kunna skapa egna bilder men helst inte mer.

Måste det vara en trilogi? Är det Sagan om ringen som lagt mönstret? Man vill inte överge en värld man byggt upp. Karaktärerna kan utvecklas. Det är synd att skrota allt efter en bok!

Den engelska fantasylitteraturen har blivit mörkare ̶ gäller det också svenska böcker, är de dystopier? Traditionellt ska en saga ha ett lyckligt slut, hur är det i Sverige? Nej, lyckliga slut var ett 1800-talsfenomen. Sagorna var tillrättalagda då. Många av dagens författare har läst vuxenböcker i genren och de är ofta hemska. Sorgliga slut sitter kvar längre, de blir ett sätt att sätta intryck. Det är en utmaning att skapa hopp i eländet.

Det finns också genrehybrider där man blandar realism och fantasi. Det övernaturliga kan vara en bra klangbotten i den grå vardagen. Man blandar också sf och fantasy, vilket ibland kallas science fantasy.

Som författare tycker man att man har ansvar för läsarna. Man måste ta hand om karaktärernas känslor. Barn är väldigt känsliga för ironi och oväntade slut. Det måste gå att gissa eller förstå. Varning för “and it was all a dream”!

Foto: Margareta Cronholm

Vid en prisutdelningsceremoni på Eurocon 2011 (mer om den senare) tilldelades BEMs redaktör fandoms Nobelpris, Alvar Appeltoffts Minnespris för år 2010. Förstummad och naturligtvis helt ovärdig denna utmärkelse vill jag tacka de svenska fans som råkar läsa detta. Priset består av en lysande skulptur med fanniskt motiv, utformad av Nicolas Krizan, ett diplom (som nu pryder väggen i mitt fanniska arbetsrum) och en summa pengar vilkas användning för fandoms bästa jag ännu inte bestämt. Fanspan har gratulerat!

Familjen Alroth (David, Nanna, Janne, Jacob) och Anna Davour i mitten

Mårten Svantesson, Gunnar Gällmo, Anna Gustafsson Chen, Ahrvid Engholm

Traditionellt har SFSF ett julmöte som många gånger varit hemma hos ordförande Carolina, men i år var vi i Forodrims lokaler på Kungsholmen. Ett 15-tal fans hade mött upp för att dricka glögg med lussekatter, äta julskinka och risgrynsgröt, prata sf, ge varandra julklappar och inte minst, lyssna på Anna Davour (Åka) som pratade om steampunk. Som vanligt kunde jag inte låta bli att anteckna.

Anna Davour

Åka berättade att Jeter, Blaylock och Powers skickade runt en bok mellan sig om hur det var att vara fattig i London förr, och att detta kanske var det utlösande för steampunk. Jeters första var Infernal Devices, medan Powers Anubisportarna i själva verket är pre-viktoriansk. Utmärkande för steampunk är den synliga teknologin – kugghjulen syns, och på Åkas blog om steampunk i Sverige finns en bild på en mekanisk fågel som hon modifierat så att den är genomskinlig. Åka nämnde också steampunkmusik, och eftersom jag missförstod en hel del av vad hon berättade (jag lyssnar aldrig på den typen av musik) har jag rättat i enlighet med ett mail hon skickade: Abney Park vill vara steampunk efter att ha tröttnat på goth, medan andra annekteras av olika obskyra skäl, som Doctor Steel, ett slags industri-hiphop, och Rasputina som klär sig i viktorianska underkläder och spelar cello. Den svenska boken Expeditionis planeta Teitus som nyligen recenserats i DN är ett utmärkt exempel på steampunk. Åka retar sig dock på språkfel: ”äro” används inte bara i pluralis. Åka tror att den stora toppen på steampunkeran kanske är förbi, och kanske det nya är varianten dieselpunk, som bygger på 30-talets Art Deco. Ett exempel på detta är filmen Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, som jag faktiskt sett själv med behållning.

Steampunk i sin moderna form startade (kanske) 1987 med Jeters Infernal Devices, och Jeter var den som uppfann namnet steampunk. 1995 kom Paul Di Filippos The Steampunk Trilogy, och 2009 exploderade fältet efter en artikel i New York Times. Nu publiceras massor av steampunk. Välkänd är Cherie Priests Boneshaker, men Åka irriterar sig på att fokuset så helt ligger på prylar och attribut. De är roliga, men inte som bärande ingrediens i litteratur. Samtidigt gillar hon inte puristerna som tycker att det absolut måste finnas en anknytning till vår egen värld, ungefär som alternativhistoria. Novellsamlingarna Steampunk och Steampunk Reloaded innehåller historier i helt andra världar. Där finns berättelser om barnarbetare, gruvmiljöer och ångteknik, och ren fantasy.

Åka avslutade den trevliga genomgången med en egen idé till alternativhistoria, som ledde till att jazzen utvecklades i Sverige i stället för i USA. Den hoppas jag att man får läsa med tiden!

Copenhagen, Denmark, September 18-19, 2010

Fantasticon 2010 was a small and cosy con, and like in 2009 it took place in the culture house of Vanløse. This time I was accompanied by my wife Margareta, who took lots of notes which have helped me to write this report. I had a good time in the hotel Fy og Bi in Valby in 2009, so we stayed there this time too. The trains are absolutely fantastic in Copenhagen making me, living in Stockholm, quite jealous. Thus there were no problems to get to the con, and it was also very easy to get to Roskilde after the con.

The con was opened by the congress chairman, Flemming Rasch. I had not had time to get accustomed to the Danish so I had problems to understand him. This was followed by Fans in Scandinavia, in Scandinavian; Klaus Æ. Mogensen told us about fandom och cons, and I presented Eurocon 2011 with the aid of Power Point.

Flemming Rasch, Susanne Hodges, Catherine Asaro

Catherine Asaro

Even if this sf-con must be considered as a small one, there were several parallels, and it was not always easy to choose. We next listened to Catherine Asaro singing, accompanied by her daughter’s boyfriend on the piano. The couple was good at entertaining us while we had a beer and a sandwich.

While I was sitting at the Eurocon 2011 table, or rather looking at the huge used books sale, Margareta listened to Thomas Winther interviewing Kaspar Colling Nielsen. Mount København is an absurd and strange book with 17 different stories about the mountain. These are not ordinary short stories and it is not a novel. It took three years to write and a long time with the publisher. He uses notebooks, “China books”, where he for years have written down small ideas for stories, and he reads the story “The pelican” about a doctor who transforms himself into a bird. Another story is about a “manolitic” man, who is magnetic, whereas in “The Tennis Player” a man restrings his racket with guts. One of the stories was from Valby. The publisher made a selection, but Kaspar Colling Nielsen had no impression that this was aimed at making the book easier to sell. A story about how the mountain was built, which took 200 years, was too long to be incorporated. He had sent the manuscript to several other publishers before Gyldendal accepted it. The long time between the acceptance and the actual publishing decision was tiresome.   

Carrie-Lynn Reinhard

Catherine Asaro, Carrie-Lynn Reinhard, Rikke Schubart, Niels Dalgaard, Tue Sørensen

The panel discussion Researching the fantastic genre was moderated by Tue Sørensen. Niels Dalgaard mentioned that he had written a Ph D thesis about Danish SF but was thrown out of the university. Rikke Schubart had not yet been thrown out although she was teaching about computer games, TV and films. She started with horror fiction and films, then action films, and wrote a book on what they are all about. She has also written fiction, e g with vampires, and she is fascinated by emotions, especially bad ones like disgust, repulsion and anger rather than romance. Carrie-Lynn Reinhard, whom we had listened to just before, had studied how people use virtual realities, like Second Lifeor when watching a film. Catherine Asaro told us about her research in sf, where she had studied the planetary romances of E R Burroughs and M Z Bradley. She also used some research in her hard sf, when she tried to understand e g what the light would be on a planet with a certain tilt of the axis. She also does some scientific research in the university, but now she mainly teaches.

The moderator wanted to know how the research was done, and Niels Dalgaard answered that he went through gaudy magazines e g looking for mad scientists. For Rikke Schubart it took two years just to find out what she was interested in. You need to collect very much information in order to know that you do not need to know it. Carrie-Lynn Reinhardt uses questionnaires and wants fans to answer. You need to get allowance from a review board in order to do studies today. It is easier to study phenomena on internet where you don’t risk to hurt anyone. Catherine Asaro has used the library catalogue at Harvard, and gets the article via mail. She often uses Wikipedia for a start and then checks by looking up the references. She also mentions that she looked for a Jack Vance book in the Baltimore SF Society, where there are thousands of books.

Finally the moderator wanted to know how others react to their work. Catherine Asaro’s colleagues say: “You write what?”, “Are you still in high school?”, unless you win an award. Carrie-Lynn Reinhardt’s friends think she is cool. Fan culture is accepted since it makes money. The effects of games, with sex and violence, are of interest and grants are provided. Rikke Schubart first tried the department of comparative literature but there it was considered trash. She changed to the department for film and media, where her interests were accepted. Niels Dalgaard had no other department to go to. He was frustrated and wanted people to know what sf is before they look down upon it. This panel was interesting but would have gained by more interaction between the panelists who instead gave short lectures

The young, Danish author Camilla Wandahl was interviewed by Flemming Rasch, and Margareta listened. She has written sf since she was young, and in 2003 she had a short story in a competition at Fantasticon for stories written for those under 17 years. She won, and won also in 2005, and her contribution was published in an anthology. She knew nothing about fandom before; it was the competition that attracted her. She has not read much sf but has seen some films. She has worked in a writer’s group which generated a novel manuscript that has so far not been published. A good thing with these courses is that you learn how to handle a rejection; that you can send the manuscript again after a time. Hjerte i vente is her first accepted novel. She had good help from the editor; after five turns with the manuscript the contract was signed. From this she learned to prepare her manuscripts several timed before they are assessed. The first reviews pointed out that young authors write for young readers about young persons. After some novels she joined a group writing detective stories, where 15 pages were to be delivered every fortnight. In this way she wrote a YA detective story about four 13 year old youngsters who find a mystical role-playing book. She finds it difficult to write about children today because they live in secluded environments, they are in school or in leisure centers and are fetched by their parents, they are not as free as before. It is a challenge to create a thrilling setting and situation where they lose their mobiles and have to manage by themselves.

Camilla Wandahl is now a full-time author and earns her living from royalties and lecture fees. The society “HUF” (www.huf.dk), “hopeful young authors”, helps in application for grants, finding lecture opportunities, writing CV, making web page etc. (Which sounds extremely good!) She writes every day, even if only for half an hour or two pages, but in the writer’s group they write four times 20 min every day and discusses the texts in between. This produces much text in a weekend. She barely reads any adult books other than detective stories, but she reads YA books for inspiration, and now mainly realistic books since she wants to build identification objects for youngsters. She initially thought that it would be easier to write fantasy, but it also demanded its skill. It is not possible just to add a dragon. She does not always know the end of the book she is writing but she often writes a one page synopsis. She tries to write “first time”-stories: Love, deceit, boy/girl, and is not interested in writing for adults. Is there any risk that someone else writes the same story? A consolation is that there only are seven archetypical stories, and everyone writes them again and again. The library fee can be granted to anyone who has participated in an anthology; she knows all ways of financing from HUF. She believes that YA sf is coming. Her advice to others is to write much and often, and rewrite, and if possible join a writer’s group. She has her own blog about writing, www.camillawandahl.dk.

Svend Kreiner, Jeppe Larson, Niels Dalgaard, Flemming Rasch, Stig W. Jørgensen

The sf novel of the decade is a good idea for a panel, and the members of the panel had decided before which six books they chose. Flemming Rasch moderated the discussion, and Stig W. Jørgensen started by suggesting Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Years of Rice and Salt. It is an alternate history, and goes back to e g Dick’s The Man in the High Castle. It tells about an aggravated pest epidemic. There are no historic persons but Islam gets an Age of Enlightenment in Samarkand. There are new world wars during the story of the book that spans from the 14th century to the future. It is a moral book in ten parts. The character’s thinking is dominated by a reincarnation theme. 

The literary scholar Niels Dalgaard supports the interest in that book and that it represents the core of the alternate history trend. The book reflects historical interpretations. He also proposes Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, in which the rotation of Earth is increased making it isolated from the rest of the universe, with an accompanying time displacement. How would humanity react? It is good old sf, and there is a sequel, Axis. 

Jeppe Larson would have chosen Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds, which takes a big perspective of the universe, with references to Arthur C Clarke and other classics. It is new Space Opera with Sense of Wonder. But the main characters are atypical, and there is super science like in the 30s, making one suspect that it is a parody. Two women are the main characters, but they lack characteristics.

Svend Kreiner preferred River of Godsby Ian McDonald (one of the GoHs at Eurocon 2011). The story takes place in a future India, that has collapsed. The main plot is a conflict between AIs and humans. Stig Jørgensen reads as a tourist, it is the background that is interesting. The book is demanding and should be reread a lot. It appears to be inspired by Neuromancer and is an example of neocolonialism. 

Charles Stross’ Halting State takes place in an on line game. The main characters are a policeman, an insurance manager and a young nerd in the IT-business. It is a typical example of a “close to now”-book.  

The last book was Flood by Stephen Baxter, where a group is kidnapped and in the meantime there is a catastrophe, and when the kidnapped persons return they look at a new world. There are many references to early sf, like Heinlein. The sequel, Ark, is not as good.

In the final discussion it was concluded that everyone likes Spin and The Years of Rice and Salt. It was remarked that there was no female author. Svend Kreiner suggests a new author, Neal Asher, who might be interesting in the future. 

Flemming Rasch, Jeppe Larson, Catherine Asaro, Klaus Æ. Mogensen, Asmus Kofoed

The hard science programme item, that Swedish cons today often lack, was entitled The future of space exploration, and Flemming Rasch moderated the panel consisting of Asmus Kofoed, Klaus Æ. Mogensen, Catherine Asaro and the cyber scientist Jeppe Larsen. We went to the moon before we really had the technology. Now we have the technology but lack the incentive. It takes ten years to build a space program but the US changes its government every eight year. There has to be a commercial drive, like interesting metals or ³He for fusion power, that might be found on the moon.

How would we travel further than the moon? Plasma engines for faster travel, and perhaps robots instead of humans. Possibly nanomachines which could send back information. A space elevator is another possibility, but could be vulnerable to lightning, terrorists etc. 

What could we expect to meet? Most likely robots, with their own civilisation. A possible reason why we have not met any other life is that it could be very strange. We might not recognize it as life. 

After the con we went to Roskilde and had a look at the impressive Viking ships.

The combined Eurocon and national cons for Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia took place in Cieszyn in the south of Poland and actually also in the Czech part of that city, Cesky Tesin (unfortunately the website I am using does not like the Polish and Czech characters). To reach this place I flew to Krakow via Prague, and by bus from Krakow to Cieszyn. I had hoped to have a nice bus trip through the landscape that I have never seen, but the little bus was crowded and far from comfortable. Still, I got a view of some landmarks in Krakow and also of the countryside with many mountains. Poland was an inexpensive country and the hotels, Liburnia and Gambit, were perfect for me. The convention in the local university branch was in walking distance. I was there early to put up some posters for Eurocon 2011 in Stockholm, and when I registered I got so many books that I had to go back to the hotel and put them there before the start of the programme at 13.00. The programme had 13 parallels in the university building and 5 in a school in Cesky Tesin! However, the latter ones were mainly on gaming, and only one or two of the slots in the university was in English. Still I admire the organization of such a huge convention, with about 1500 members! The written programme book looked like a WorldCon one, and was absolutely perfect, with three parallel languages. 

Igor Kniaź

The first programme item I listened to was a talk by Igor Kniaz, 19th Century Inventions Are Back. He told us that he was from Warsaw and an sf fan since 1999. In a thought-provoking manner he demonstrated that many if not most of the everyday inventions that are used today stem from the 19th century, and also male clothes and ways we live. Thus, the inventions of hoovers and refrigerators made it possible for women to start working in the industry, and the care of women that had been an important task for men earlier was no longer relevant in the 19th century. Other gadgets in the home that were invented then are the safety pin, the sewing machine and the washing machine. Even computers were invented then as implicated in The Difference Engine, even if they were not produced. I just wondered which household inventions in the 20th century that were really new. 

Radosław Kot and Paweł Ostrowski

Radoslaw Kot and Pawel Ostrowski next talked about Space Opera – Humanity’s Unfulfilled Hope. I found this less interesting, mainly because they did not stick to their own definition of Space Opera, “Adventure stories set in space”. These are a continuation of sea adventure stories, the first of which was The Odyssey. Instead of talking of modern Space Opera, although they mentioned Alastair Reynolds, they concentrated on military sf which to me is quite another genre (and without interest). Thus they talked about mistakes in films like Battlestar Galactica and about David Weber’s books about Honor Harrington. 

A bus took us to the Polish-Czech border and from there on a bridge a group walked rapidly on down a street. When we arrived at the central station in Cesky Tesin I registered some doubts in the leading group, but finally they found the open square where we were supposed to meet. There were several groups fans dressed as in Star Wars or as medieval warriors, and the leading figure was a dragon with a spine of umbrellas. The parade went ahead in the direction of the station again, but had to go back and after one more mistake it was on its way towards the Friendship Bridge where the actual opening of the convention took place, with talks by among others the mayor and the chairman of ESFS, Dave Lally. The parade then continued to the corresponding square in the Polish part of the city, Rynek, where we could listen to nice medieval music. 

Dave Lally giving a speech at the opening ceremony

Eckhard D. Marwitz

 Even in the evening of this first day of the convention, Thursday, there was programming and I listened to Eckhard Marwitz from Germany talking about German SF authors translated into other languages. He gave us a list that did not appear to be complete, but he asked us to send him information to make it more complete. It was interesting and amusing to hear him talk about Walter Ernsting, who did not manage to sell his own books to a publisher but only his translations. However, he succeeded when he gave himself out as being the translator when in fact he was the author! He was active in SF Club Deutschland and wrote short stories in the fanzine Andromeda. According to Marwitz he was also the first maker of the Perry Rhodan series. 

Piotr Cholewa, Roberto Quaglia, Dave Lally, Bridget Wilkinson

Petra Bulić

Friday started with the General Meeting of the ESFS (European SF Society). Petra Bulic presented a bid for Eurocon 2012 in Zagreb, Croatia, April 27-29 with some introduction already on the Thursday April 26 (petra.bulic at gmail.com). In addition to a bid from London there was also one by Peter Redfarn, OrientExpressCon, in a train from London to Zagreb. Philip Pullman was suggested as GoH. A prebid for 2013 was announced by Borys Sydiuk for a convention in Ukraine, and Dave Lally announced that he will go to a meeting with the organisation International Union of Associations. The votings took place on Saturday morning, when the sitting steering board was reelected. 

Gerhard Kraus mentioned that in his country, Luxembourg, there will be an exhibition about Hugo Gernsback celebrating his 100th birthday. This will take place in a national literary centre, from October 2010 to February 2011. 

Piotr Cholewa interviewing Bridget Wilkinson

The Guest of Honour Bridget Wilkinson was interviewed by Piotr Cholewa. She told us that she had been suggested as foreign liaison for the Worldcon 1987. Her parents had travelled quite a lot, and she likes to go places. She also knows many languages. An interesting observation she had made is the fannish border through Europe, starting to the east of Finland, down through the Baltic and the border between Denmark and Germany, to the east of the Netherlands and then out to the west. In England she had meetings in her own house, whereas in Poland there had to be an organisation with special localities. Possibly this is due to differences in legislation, but I think there may also be differences in traditions. 

Anna Studiarek, Steven Erikson, Anna Kontek

In Steven Erikson: Meeting with the Guest, Anna Kontek asked questions in Polish which together with the answers were translated by Anna Studniarek. He thinks the characters are more important than the story, and he is interested in making a comment on this world but in a way so that you do not recognize it. Fantasy can otherwise be escapism. His universe is open-ended, and anything is possible, but he does not want to put in elves and trolls or the medieval kings and warlords. His world was created by role-playing when he studied archaeology, and he was inspired by Roger Zelazny. He collaborated in this with another archaeology student, Ian Cameron Esslemont. They were irritated over the bad realism in role-playing games, e g the location of cities. He majored in archaeology and has a minor in the history of classes. He thinks that there should be a sense of continuity since cultures interact and change. 

Asked for a favourite character he says that as an author you cannot have that, you have to have compassion and understanding for all. He admires Robin Hobb for her technique, and mentions Alan Garner and Don DeLillo as models. On George R R Martin he says that both kill off their heroes, and Martin had told him not to write so fast! He tends to read sf rather than fantasy, and he says that he might write a stand-alone sf novel. 

Wojciech Orlińsky

On Saturday afternoon I listened to a lecture on Lem and Communism by Wojciech Orlinsky, the question being, was he a communist or an anticommunist? Apparently Lem hid an anticommunist manuscript inside a crime story, but he evaded the question by saying that he was not dignified enough to consider himself an anticommunist. His stories from 1949-1955 have not been translated, and include some stories that can be considered anticommunist, e g “The Magellan Nebula”. Another socialist drama from 1951, “Paradise”, is apparently a parody, enthusiastically supporting communism. He hated his final novel, Fiasko, that was written 1987 under the new rule. It is an answer to his early pulp fiction. 

Together with the other Swedish fans I walked to the big Sport Hall for the Award Ceremony. We took places at the very front, but this did not stop the organizers from asking for me and Sten in the loudspeaker. It was announced that Eurocon 2012 will be held in Croatia, and awards were presented. To our surprise and pride we had to get up and accept two prizes for Swedes, in the category Spirit of Dedication. The Swedish author Lars Jakobson received the prize in the subcategory “An artist, author of one or more works”, and the film Metropia or rather its authors Fredrik Edin, Martin Hultman, Stig Larsson and Tarik Saleh in the subcategory “An author of a performance (film, play, ballet, etc.)”. The “symbolic object” was this year a stone obelisk, which Sten had some problems taking through customs. 

Aleksandra Cholewa, Sten Thaning, Bridget Wilkinson, Petra Bulić, Dave Lally

Fandom is a way of life was chaired by Aleksandra Cholewa, and discussed the organisation of fandom in some European countries. Petra Bulic started by telling us that in Croatia there are clubs for Star Trek, fantasy and sf in general. Cons are held in three cities, and one con is an sf writers con with just 50 participants. There is no national society, and the three largest clubs organize the cons.

Sten Thaning told about the organisation in Sweden, where there are a few clubs and cons are mainly held in the university cities. Bridget Wilkinson said that in UK the Eastercon is the big con, and there is also NewCon. The situation in Ireland was described by Dave Lally. The big con, Octacon, is held in October, and there is also a literary con. He listed some Irish webzines: Slovobooks, Lostcarpark and Albedo One. And he admitted to being a vexillologist and to being fascinated by borders, so after the con he would search out the spot where Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia meet. 

Dave Lally was also in charge of the feedback session, Eurocon – what worked, what still needs improvement. Since we will host the Eurocon 2011 I had some interest in this. There was a desire for more links on the web site, and there was some confusion since much information was only given in Polish. The location in two parts of the city was not appreciated, since it took too much time to change place even if there were buses. The toilet signs were confusing – it is not self-evident that a circle means female and a triangle male. There was a wish for a thematic list in the congress booklet, and it would have been good to have a room just for chatting. There was a lack of social space. There were also some complaints on the general behaviour: Mobile phones should be switched off, especially if you sit in a panel. And too many came too late to, or in the middle of, some programme items, which can be quite disturbing. Other tips were to have guided walking tours before and after the con.

Sten Thaning, Dessy Petkova and Mårten Svantesson at the Eurocon 2011 desk

Since we had a fan table promoting Eurocon 2011 in Stockholm, I missed quite a few of the apparently interesting programme items, e g two on Philip K. Dick, and I did not see the GoH Orson Scott Card at all. Still it was a very nice con and I am sincerely grateful to the organizers. 

Since I stayed a day in Cieszyn I could do some walking myself, and had a look on this interesting and beautiful city. The sight-seeing I had planned for Krakow, however, was spoiled by heavy rain. I managed to take a look on the old city, and to save myself from the weather I looked in a huge galleria. Since the shops were the same as in Stockholm I went out in the rain again.