My first SFerakon

This year it was a special kind of anniversary for me: it’s been ten years since my first SFeraKon! And that first one! I did not even get a chance to get a shoe in before Vlatko Juric-Kokic, then president of SFera, came up to me and asked: “Did you happen to come in your Dad’s Mercedes today?”

I had and innocently said so and was thus immediately put to work as the driver of that year’s guest of honor, Ken MacLeod, on the grounds that even though I was a complete newbie, a Mercedes was a much nicer car than Vlatko’s  own Yugo and a GoH  must be treated nicely.

The complete newbie part did not turn out to be irrelevant. It was my first year in fandom. I had heard of SFeraKon, of course, but for all the hearing and invitations, had never gone. It was part loyalty, part ignorance. One of my best friends in high-school had dated (and later married) a man who went every year, mostly to play games. He and his gaming friends knew I read SF and they would always invite me to SFeraKon. Their girlfriends and wives, however, would always shoo them away. No one, SFeraKon press at the time included, stressed the literary aspect of it so I remained ignorant(1). And loyal, since my friend’s birthday is in April and would fall generally at the same time as the convention.

Vlatko Juric-Kokic at SFeraKon 2014 after party.
Photo by T. Jambrišak

So, even though Vlatko knew me and the car I drove – because I had come into fandom to sit on the SFERA Award Jury and he was actually there for that-hilarious-in-hindsight-but not-fun-at-all-at-the-time meeting – few others did. This meant that, once I collected the GoH from the hotel and got him to the con, I was denied entry.

The Security team refused to believe me it was Ken MacLeod – why would anyone in their right mind give such a task to a complete stranger? In their defense, getting into SFeraKon without paying was something of a national sport at the time and people did get very elaborate and inventive about it. Vlatko was nowhere to be seen, I can’t remember if I had a mobile phone then, but even if I did, I did not have his number. It was roughly 5 minutes before Ken’s first speaking engagement at the con. I decided to buy a cup of coffee for him and wait outside for Vlatko to start panicking and come and find us, so I started to simply lead Ken out again.

All who have been to SFeraKon know how long the lines are on Friday evening and there was no way I was letting the GoH get into one. Lucikly, when Security saw that I was actually leaving and not getting into the line, they let us through. Once I deposited the GoH at his Q&A session, they actually came to find me and escort me back into the line to buy a membership. I thought them strange, rude and not a little insane. Never in a million years did I think I would become just like them.

SFERA Award Ceremony
Photo by T. Jambrišak

I do not remember much from that year. I know it rained – because I was still smoking and that had to be done outside, there was not much room. I met Goran Konvicni, who turned out to be the weirdest person I ever met: an awesome writer and an incredibly reticent man who endured my chattiness remarkably well. I remember taking a picture of Darko Macan looking miserable that I would love to find and post here but am afraid is now lost forever. I did not visit a single item of programming other than the SFERA Award Ceremony and I got my first Croatian SF writer autograph from Ivan Gavran (the entire jury did). There was no party on the first two evenings but there were interesting conversations – Boris Švel springs to mind.

In the past ten years I did not miss a single one, even timed my return from Australia to fall on the SFeraKon weekend so I could attend. I did a number of different jobs at SFeraKon over the years and I think helped improve it.  A decade after my first one, I had a strange one. I gave a lecture for the first time. (Yes, I know, most get sucked into fandom by being a lecturer and a panelist. What can I say? I have this tendency to do stuff backwards.) And, also for the first time ever, I attended a large chunk of SFeraKon programming and loved it. Can’t wait for the next one!

There are some more pictures of SFeraKon 2004 here.

(1) And in my ignorance, missed out on the two previous years when Lois McMaster Bujold (2002) and George R. R. Martin (2003) were Guests of Honour. As SFera’s PR manager, I am never allowed to forget it, as both authors are translated, quite popular and widely read in Croatia. Meaning, every so often someone rings me up to ask when SFeraKon will invite one them to be GoHs.

 

My first SFerakon

RIP Daniel Keyes

I work for a publishing house that is just launching the Croatian translation of The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer. A colleague who works with me and is not a voracious reader, despite working where she does, was delighted with the texts we were preparing for the press and is very keen to read the book.

We have not been having many conversations, bookish or otherwise, during the last couple of weeks, since work has been quite busy, but I just had to mention Flowers for Algernon to her. She had never read it. Or even heard of it. Although the story is translated, I think the novel might not be. But, even if it is, this book is not part of the school reading in Croatia.

That same day, while doing a book promotion for work, I read on Twitter that Daniel Keyes had died.

I admit, I never did manage to seek out his other work but I did teach English in a private Croatian school for a year or so and there are at least two generations of Croatian kids out there today, twentysomethings and well off, who not only speak excellent English but have heard, read and discussed Daniel Keyes and his most famous work.

RIP Daniel Keyes

Marsonikon 2014: Report and GUFF auction

Marsonikon is the youngest currently running Croatian con – this was their third year. It takes place in Slavonski Brod, a town in Slavonia which used to be known as Marsonia in the Roman Empire, hence the name of the con. It is the only one day convention in the country and also the only one that charges no membership fee. They do have guests of honor, mostly regional ones. In 2014 the GoHs were Croatian author Milena Benini, Serbian author Goran Skrobonja and Bosnian archeologist, Semir Osmanagic, famous for claiming there are pyramids in Bosnia which was what he presented at the con, the theme was alternate history.

The first awesome thing about Marsonikon is the venue. Croatian cons are usually held at universities, such as Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing for SFeraKon and Faculty of Philosofy for Rikon or at places such as Spomen dom, which is home to the Pazin library and of the local Open University.

At Slavonski Brod, however, things are a bit different. The town used to be an important strategic and traffic center. Not only did it connect main commercial routes hundreds of years ago but it was also one of the towns in which the border crossing towards Turkey were controlled. I am talking about the 18th century here, a period when Austrians built a large imperial and royal border Fortress of Brod on the Sava River. Designed by Prince Eugene of Savoy in the first half of the 18th century, it was meant to be part of a great defense system on the border towards the Turkish Empire. Today, some of the Fortress is restaured (alas, not all!) and it’s used for a number of purposes, a budding science fiction convention is just one of them.

The second awesome thing about Marsonikon is the food. The whole con is like a big con suite at an American Worldcon, there is always food around and it is constantly replenished. It’s a cultural thing: one does not visit in Slavonia without sampling the local delicacies, such as homemade bacon, sausage and bread., and one does not leave hungry. Or even half full. Ever.  They charmed me off my feet by going beyond the Croatian meat-is- all-the-food-one-needs mentality by putting out bowls of fruit – apples, strawberries, bananas and apricots – all over the venue. In the evening, after the programming ended, the party began by a catered dinner, delicious local dishes. Needless to say, we were quite sleepy during the four hour the drive back to Zagreb.

Although the main event, a panel Alternative history and SF had only three panelists announced – Goran Skrobonja, Marko Fancovic and local Ivan Lutz, Serbian writer Darko Tuševljakovic and Milena Benini joined them, making it a wider discussion which towards the end, as panels often do at cons, drifted into the business of writing and publishing in and outside of Croatia. The programming was nicely varied, and quite full, but to me not thrilling. The theme was the same as SFeraKon’s, so part of the reason might lie there. I have no interest in Bosnian pyramids as I visited the site in Visoko some year backs during Zenikon which has now become the Bosnian Festival of Fantastic Literature but most of all I think it is because I am having a hard time getting over their last year’s programming which featured Serbian author Zoran Živkovic and  Croatian publisher, Damir Mikulicic reminiscing about the beginnings of fandom in Croatia.  I really would have loved hearing all about that in person.

Goran Skrobonja and cover page All Tesla’s Children

Milena Benini and Goran Skrobonja did not disappoint at all. (I presume Osmanagic did not either, his lecture was packed but I did not attend it.) Milena holds interesting lectures and her Alternative futures of the alternative pasts was informative and fun. Goran, who makes his living as a translator and small press owner is also a very talented genre writer and he presented his new book, All Tesla’s Children, a prequel to his very successful hit The Man Who Killed Tesla.

Marssnic 5

Marsonikon, just like Istrakon, follows the SFeraKon example by publishing an annual collection of SF stories.  It is called Marsonic. Their first effort three years ago was written by local authors in great need of an editor and some writing workshops. They have been improved immensely since, as writing does with practice, but also in the fact that the annual collection now puts out a call for stories from authors all over Croatia. I did get the sense not all members of the inner circle of people organizing the con and producing the collection are thrilled with this – during one of the discussions a woman explained how the first collection was “done without the short story contest and all that bullshit”. Her aim was to stress that local authors only were in the first collection – which I thought was a fine idea – but I felt the remainder of her comment expressed some resentment toward the selection process as it stands today. I have yet to read the new collection. With a typically big Slavonian heart, all the proceeds of the sale of this year’s collection went to the aid of people hit by the recent floods.

The GUFF auction, which was fun and which received many wonderful donations by local fans, including a hardcover copy of V for Vendetta in English, also donated half the money it raised to the same cause.

The latest news is that the organizers of Marsonikon are currently busy trying to set up an award in the SF field, so Croatia might be getting a third genre award soon!

 

Marsonikon 2014: Report and GUFF auction

Mistakes. Love 'em.

And, in this case, the commentary as well.

 

 

Mistakes. Love 'em.

Rikon 2012 Report

Rikon is a two-day Croatian con that has been around for 15 years. This year it was held on October 12-13 at the Rijeka Faculty of Humanities and visited by some 400 people. It is the venue for a Croatian genre award Artefakt, established by some Croatian SF fans and authors displeased with the work of the SFERA Award Jury.

The program started on Friday at 5 pm,  as is the Croatian tradition at almost all cons. The Rikon program features lectures – the thing Croatians do instead of panels – workshops, games, quizzes, presentations and a fair where one can buy books, buttons, jewelry and old magazines. There is no dealer’s room as such, we call it a fair because it is treated as one: the stands are always in a hallway, somewhere where one will surely not missed then enroute to this or that programming item.

Robot making Workshop
Photo by Nela Dunato

First thing on Friday – to the disappointment of many who had to travel to get to Rijeka and could not get there as early as five – was a robot making workshop where robots were made out of old computer parts. Then there was a magic wand workshop for school kids and a chain-mail workshop held by one of a number revived history societies that has ties to Croatian fandom,”Ordo Sancti Viti” from Rijeka.

Lectures are a staple of Croatian cons, some running well over the 90 minutes, which is the usual time allotment. Topics vary – from pop culture, like Jelena Kopajtic’s lecture on the phenomenon of vampire movies and TV series to genre literature such as Marko Fancovic’s lecture on the connections and similarities in the works of Ray Bradbury and Harry Harrison.

University professor and politicians join in

Sarah Czerny Photo by Nela Dunato

University professors, politicians and minor celebrities in Croatia do not shy away from participation in fandom activities. So, at this year’s Rikon former Croatian Minister of Ecology, Mirela Holy, held a lecture on ecofeminism, while a number of uni professors made the program very appealing. Sarah Czerny, Assistant at the Cultural studies department of University of Rijeka, talked about the role of trees in various mythic worlds, and works of fiction, and the symbolism of trees while her colleague, Benedikt Perak, lectured about the role of computers in sculpting the human reality, touching on issues such as the cognitive function of technology in forming the identity of the individual, as well as culture and society.

Predrag Dominis Prester Photo by Nela Dunato

Scientific lectures tend to be especially well received at Croatian cons – SFeraKon, for example, does a Scientific Sunday program track -and all other cons feature lectures by scientists. Rikon this year had quite a few. Dijana Dominis Prester teaches Astronomy and is currently working on detecting extrasolar planets. She spoke about the different methods scientists use to detect planets, focusing on the one used to detect potentially habitable Earthlike planets. Predrag Dominis Prester works in the area of particle physics and is involved with CERN so he focused his lecture on the peculiarity of black holes. Sven Maricic, from the Faculty of Engineering, explained explained his method of work with prosthethic implants in which patients are throughly scanned, implants are modelled on the computer to fit the patient as close as possible after which the implant is printed on a 3D printer. His lecture also discussed the issue of cyborgs and their effect on culture.

Evening fun

There are no Croatian cons where programming starts before noon and this is due the fact that members tend to party late into the night and the program is geared that way. Anywhen between 10 and 11 pm the last of the program will be rapped up, and then the fun starts. Geek fun, so this means trivia quizzes, ranging from literature, games, movies, music to popular TV series all kinds of goofy contests, all with prizes such as books, T-shirts, movie posters, bookmarks and free drinks & muffins.

Rikon bar

This year Rikon had the best food in all of Croatian fandom and we sincerely hope this is a start of a beautiful new tradition. Food was prepared right there, prices were very affordable and vegetarians and vegans were not forgotten, which is quite something in a country where that tired old joke where saying you are vegetarian gets you some chicken, lamb and fish still very much holds true.

Some Croatian cons have concerts on Saturday evenings, and Rikon 2o12 was no exception. But they flipped that concept, announcing a “surprise concert” for after the award ceremony, making us all wonder where they got the funds for a band when there is no Guest of Honour. They produced a delightful eight-year-old gitarist Frano Živkovic who quickly charmed all who came to hear him play.

Vesna Kurilic (organizer), Andrina Pusic, Igor Rendic

The Artefact Award ceremony was short and sweet. Artefact has three categories only: best novel, best novella and best short story. This year’s winners are Enver Krivac, for the novel Ulica Helen Keller (Helen Keller Street), Igor Rendic for “Jednom, negdje” (“Once, somewhere”) and Andrina Pušic for “Otok ispunjenih želja”. (“Island of wishes that came true”)You can see a short clip of it here. Cosplay awards are also announced at the award ceremnoy.

Gaming goes on during the entire con, and I know there are RPGs, LARPs and even simple old games from my childhood, but I do not attend and therefore do not know much about this part of the con. Conversations, informal coffees and talks all happen in the hall, around book stands and seller of trinkets or in front of the venue as Croatians tend no to take lunch or dinner breaks while the con provides the bar with plenty of refreshments. Which, I will write it again, was just awesome this year. You can take a look at the photos from the con here.

Rikon 2012 Report

davor šišovi?

davor šišovi?

davor šišovi?

Call for Papers FAFNIR 3/2014 - Last chance tomorrow!

Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research invites authors to submit papers for the upcoming edition 3/2014.

Siegfried kills Fafner, by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) From Wikimedia Commons via Fafnir journal

Fafnir – Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research is a new, peer-reviewed academic journal which is published in electronic format four times a year. The purpose of Fafnir is to join up the Nordic field of science fiction and fantasy research and to provide a forum for discussion on current issues on the field. Fafnir is published by FINFAR Society (Suomen science fiction- ja fantasiatutkimuksen seura ry).

Now Fafnir invites authors to submit papers for its edition 3/2014. Fafnir publishes various texts ranging from peer-reviewed research articles to short overviews and book reviews in the field of science fiction and fantasy research.

The submissions must be original work, and written in English (or in Finnish or in Scandinavian languages). Manuscripts of research articles should be between 20,000 and 40,000 characters in length. The journal uses the most recent edition of the MLA Style Manual. The manuscripts of research articles will be peer-reviewed. Please note that as Fafnir is designed to be of interest to readers with varying backgrounds, essays and other texts should be as accessibly written as possible. Also, if English is not your first language, please have your article reviewed or edited by an English language editor.

The deadline for submissions is 15 June 2014.

In addition to research articles, Fafnir constantly welcomes text proposals such as essays, interviews, overviews and book reviews on any subject suited for the journal.

Please send your electronic submission (saved as RTF-file) to the following address: submissions(at)finfar.org. For further information, please contact the editors: jyrki.korpua(at)oulu.fi, hanna.roine(at)uta.fi and paivi.vaatanen(at)helsinki.fi.

This edition (3/2014) is scheduled for September 2014. The deadline for the submissions for the next edition (4/2014) is scheduled at 31 August.

You can read the first issue here.

Call for Papers FAFNIR 3/2014 - Last chance tomorrow!

GUFF delegate 2014 is Gillian Pollack!

We have a winner – the GUFF delegate who won the very exciting 2014 race and who will be attending Worldcon and Eurocon this summer as the official representative of Australasian fandom is Gillian Polack! Kylie Ding, the current Australasian GUFF administrator, and me offer heartfelt congratulations!

We are looking forward to seeing Gillian at Loncon 3 and at Shamrokon were she will be representing the awesome Australasian fandom! You can find our more about her on her website and you can follow her on Twitter.

We would like to thank all the candidates for running an excellent and very exciting race!

After voting closed and Monday, June 9th, and all the print out ballots collected by our representatives and past GUFF winners Sue Ann Barber and Justin Acroyd were scanned and emailed to Kylie Ding and me – for which we owe them a great thank you and a few drinks, too! – we were left with a very delicate and touchy job!

I would like to put “sticky” there but it just does not sound right in English! There is an awesome adjective in Croatian that would fit perfectly here – pipav [pipav] from the verb pipati, which means to touch, to feel up. The adjective however carries the implication that whatever you are doing that is pipavo is likely to easily stick to your fingers in an uncomfortable or annoying manner or create a mess if you do not approach it with care and great attention to details. (Incidentally, I learned this word from Petra Bulic, the Kontak chair who is heading up the volunteers at Loncon 3!)

There were over 100 votes cast for four candidates and the vote was very close, which is why you have had to wait so long for the result: we have checked and rechecked each vote. So, it was pipavo indeed! You can read all about it in the 2014 GUFF Vote Details, if you are interested.

Let me tell you, counting votes in the Australian voting system is very confusing. Had I been by myself, you’d probably be still waiting for the results! Luckily, Kylie was there to explain everything and demonstrate immediately, as well.

Both Kylie and myself would also like to thank James Shields for his Google Docs vote-counting spreadsheet.  We found it to be a very useful resource.

And now on to preparations for Worldcon and Eurocon!:)

 

GUFF delegate 2014 is Gillian Pollack!

GUFF Voting is now closed!

The voting for the GUFF northbound race in 2014 is now closed!

A big thank you to all who voted and donated to the fund!

For all of you who have arrived too late to the party, you cannot vote but you can donate to the fund – just find the Paypal link in the right column of this blog!

It was very exciting to watch the online votes roll in! We ask all of you for a little bit more patience as far as the result go: although Kylie and I have the results of the online votes, we still have to count the Continuum and other printed ballot votes and check (and recheck!) all them.

Thank you!

While you wait, you can read this!

GUFF Voting is now closed!

Only one day left to vote for GUFF!

The 2014 GUFF Race Voting Ballot – Australasia to Europe

GO TO VOTING PAGE…

About GUFF

What is GUFF? GUFF was created in 1979. Known as the Get Up-and-over Fan Fund or the Going Under Fan Fund, depending on which direction it’s running, GUFF exists to provide funds to enable well-known fans from Australasia and Europe to visit each other’s national (or other) conventions and to get to know each other’s fandoms better. GUFF, like other fan funds, exists solely through the support of fandom. The candidates for each trip are voted on by interested fans, and each vote is accompanied by a monetary donation. These votes, and the continuing generosity of fandom through auctions and other donations, are what make GUFF possible.

Go to voting page…

Who may vote?

Voting in the race to send an Australasian fan to Loncon 3, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention, is open to anyone who was active in fandom prior January 2012, and who contributes at least GBP5, EUR6, AUD10, NZD10 (or the equivalent in other currencies) to the fund. Larger contributions are encouraged and will be gratefully accepted. Only one vote per person is allowed. You must sign or otherwise verify your ballot, but your vote will not be made public.

Go to voting page…

Voting Details

GUFF uses a preferential ballot system which guarantees automatic runoffs until a majority is obtained. You rank the candidates in order of your preference for them. If the leading first-place candidate does not have a majority of votes after the first round of counting, the first-place votes for the lowest-placed candidate are discarded, and the second-place votes on those ballots are counted as first-place votes for the candidates concerned. This process is repeated until one candidate has a majority of all the votes cast. Votes for second and third place candidates are therefore important, but you may not rank any candidate in more than one position on your ballot.

Go to voting page…

Hold Over Funds

This choice, like ‘No award’ in award balloting, gives you the chance to vote for no GUFF trip in 2014 if for any reason the candidates do not appeal. Hold over funds may be voted for in any position on the ballot.

Go to voting page…

No Preference

This choice is for voters who do not wish the GUFF trip to be held over, but who either cannot or prefer not to decide between the candidates.

Go to voting page…

Donations

GUFF gratefully accepts your freely given money and material for auction. If you’re not eligible to vote, or for some reason you don’t wish to vote, why not donate anyway?

Candidates. Each candidate has posted a bond of AUD 25; promised that barring force majeure they will travel to Loncon 3 (http://www.loncon3.org/) if elected, and provided nominations and a short platform displayed overleaf tolling their many interests and virtues.

Go to voting page…

How to cast your vote

Candidates for the Australasia to Europe race are: Alison Barton, Samara Morgan, Gillian Polack and Shay Telfer . You can vote via Paypal (list the candidates and preferences, plus other information requested on the ballot with your donation) or send your completed ballot form with cheque or money order or cash in person to:

Kylie Ding

80A Forrest Street

FREMANTLE WA 6160

AUSTRALIA

(cheques made out to

‘GUFF’ email kylie_ding[AT]hotmail.com

– Paypal to the same address)

or

Claire Brialey

59 Shirley Road

Croydon CR0 7ES

UK

(sterling cheques payable to GUFF) or to

guffeurope[AT]gmail.com

for Paypal payment.

Go to voting page…

Only one day left to vote for GUFF!

Heavy Metal

This adult animated movie haunted my dreams when I was a kid.

Why am I thinking about it tonight? Because Animafest started today, the most awesome animation festival on the planet and it happens to be held in my home town.

Also, am writing about it and will enjoy working late this evening – the need for research dictates I rewatch some old favourites, like Akira. And some I never did get to see, like Fritz the Cat and Persepolis.

 

Heavy Metal