(Report from Swecon below - in ENGLISH.)
Till spridda medlemmar av Fantastika/Swecon 2018!
1) Vill dela med mig av min KONGRESSRAPPORT - på engelska då den även postats
utrikes. Notera dock att jag blott kan kommentera det jag råkade bevista i det
omfattande programmet, med sin tre parallella spår.
2) Då jag ändå har dig på tråden, och om du är författare in spe, vill jag
tipsa om Fantastiknovelltävlingen 2018! Deadline 3 sep, till ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx
*samt* fantastiknovell@xxxxxxxxxxx. 2000 kr och tidningspren i priser. (Och gå
gärna med i arangören SKRIVAs E-postlista - skriva-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
subject: subscribe - som är landets äldsta, startad 1997 redan.)
3) Är du författare och/eller förläggare kan rapportens appendix med en
genomgång av SMALL PRESS PUBLISHING vara av intresse (från genomgång av Swecons
bokrum, sedan kompletterad från ca 2015). Rätteler och tillägg tas gärna emot.
Ha en trevlig, utopisk, magisk sommar!
--Ahrvid Engholm
SFJ-red, novellförfattare, kongressveteran, m m
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Fandom Is Just A Ghodamn Way of Hobby Life!
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SWECON/FANTASTIKA 2018
June 15-17th was the dates of this year's national Swedish science fiction
convention, the Swecon, though the con was named Fantastika. The site was
Dieselverkstan (The Diesel Workshop), an old industrial building turned into a
culture and events centre. It's situated in the fairly newly developed Hammarby
Sjöstad and Sickla area a few km outside central Stockholm, next to a huge
shopping mall centre.
I tweeted (postings on Twitter) a lot from the con, and let my conrep consist
of those tweets, with new comments, additions and observations in between. My
original tweets have PICTURES added and can be found at:
https://twitter.com/sfjournalen
The pictures to the tweets are BTW often so-and-so. My mobile is an old,
reasonably cheap model and I usually were too far away for the use of a flash
(so the camera's long exposure time makes for fuzziness) and it's sometimes
only an enlarged part of a bugger photo. Lars-Olov Strandberg or Jay Kay Klein
I am not.
SF-Journalen is my old sf and fandom newszine, began in 1978 (under another
name) which I in 2011 "converted" to Twitter postings instead. I do a few
newstweets every week. Note that I often use the editorial "we" for that and
that Twitter now allows 240 chr for tweets.
Guests of Honour were Mike Carey, Kij Johnson and Ian Watson. The con's
homepage in English is at:
https://fantastika2018.wordpress.com/in-english/
From seeing the pre-registered list and having a reasonably good estimation
of walk-ins and the number not turning up, I believe the attendees were
somewhere around 325, which I think was quite "lagom". (A Swedish word meaning
"not too much, not to little".) The Diesel Workshop is a good place, having
hosted Fantastika twice before. A big auditorium, and side rooms for extra
program (there were three parallel programs), book room, second-hand book room,
green room etc - a cafeteria or bar was in the building. The sun was shining
through the con - well, not night time, but June nights in Stockholm tend to be
bright anyway - and it began raining only as soon as it all was over.
A new beautiful tram (streetcar to some) route goes through the area. And
though I like trams, as a poor freelancer I used a bike and my feet to get
there. I have a Citybike card, which means that you for just ca 30 dollars for
half a year can borrow bikes at special bike stations. Unfortunately, this
system doesn't reach far out into the suburbs, and the closest Citybike station
was about 1.5-2 km away, so I had to walk the last bit. And the stations close
10 pm, and one day I stayed later than that and had to walk all the way back to
the city...
As soon as I arrived I made and posted a couple of small posters for my
SKRIVA writing list's sf/f/h short story contest, Fantastiknovelltävlingen,
and picked a table to use as base and place my computer on.
And I began tweeting. My laptop has become sluggish lately, which may be
because of infection of Russian trojans, but though I have run several
anti-malware scanners and TSRs I haven't found any. It could be that the Big
Virus is Windows 10 itself... Windows have become worse and slower with every
new version,and they insist on automatic "up"-dating (which seems to be
downgrading, really!) and you can't even turn this disservice off. Since I also
took pics with my El Cheapo mobile, had to transfer them to the laptop, find
the right pic, crop etc, that and the sluggishness of Mr Gates' giant VOS
(Virus Operating System) made each tweet take at least 10 minutes. And since I
did 18 of them, I spent at least 180 minutes or 3 hours (probably more)
tweeting...
So I better use the wise notes I spread to my 3000 followers. I put my tweets
between two lines, just like we used to do with linos in the good, old
mimeograph days. The first one:
FRIDAY:
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Arrived to @Swecon2018. Ca 300 reg attendance yet (walk-ins not incl), ca 45
foreign fans (Finnfans #1). Heard item on researching novels, eg steampunk and
dystopias. Sun shines. Pic from the check-in.
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Pre-registered were ca 25 Finns, 7 Norwegians, 4-5 from the UK, ca 2 from the
US (hard to tell from names), 2 from Denmark, 1 from Germany, 1 from
Switzerland and one Swede who registered as an Italian (but that's from a quick
check, and excl walk-ins), ca 45 foreign fans in all.
The first program item I went to was an interactive panel about creating
backgrounds for stories. We were divided into groups and asked to create both
"a perfect murder" and a "dystopia" in a steampunk environment. My group eg
invented murder by a steam-driven bull.
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#Swecon2018 20+ Walk-ins 1st 2h. On #terraforming talk by J Stage, who thinks
its economics may work. Great LO Strandberg memorial display of his old con &
club membership cards (not all, the rest is in a box).
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Jesper Stage is a professor in economics at Luleå Technical University and
gave us the background of terraforming and big space projects. His general idea
was that such could be profitable in the long run, though barely profitable,
and need huge organisations (states, several states in cooperation) behind them
to make the investments and have the stamina to wait for the benefits.
I wanted to ask him (but time ran out; each 1h program time slot was stopped
after 45 min) what he thought about the economics of SPINOFFS. Space projects
have nearly always created new technology and scientific breakthroughs which
have been profitable even in the short run. Rocketry gave us weather
satellites, satellite communications, Earth resource survellance, etc etc. The
Apollo project at times bought 60% of the entire production of intergrated
circuits, which gave that industry a boost worth 10 years of development! Very
profitable. (Without Apollo we'd be 10 years back, with Windows XP or 7, which
would be much better...)
I suspect big space projects are profitable even in the short run due to
spinoffs. Terraforming Mars would be a huge project, but I can see a lot of
spinoffs coming from it.
On the upper floor was a display of maybe 100 of Lars-Olov Strandberg's con
badges and club membership cards (100 more or so was in a box below). The
earliest I saw was from the early 1960's but he was on the first Swedish sf
con, Luncon in 1956. A couple of badges I have designed were included. Below
the display was fan Urban Gunnarsson's - Urban himself missing on the con -
carved wooden statuette of Lars-Olov, who is Sverifandom's Biggest Big Name Fan
of all times, and was also Fan-GoH of the 2005 Scottish Worldcon.
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Conchair Carolina G-L releases The Spirit of Swecon, a wooden bottle with air
from previous con (#Swecon2018 air to be caught at con's end, for next Swecon).
Concom stands lined up. Now stage interview with GoHs Ian Watson, Mike Carey &
Kij Johnson. Ian wants a strong Swedish belt...for his trousers. (En i andra
benet också?)
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There's a tradition (maybe half a dozen years old) that at the end of each
Swecon a decorated wooden bottle is opened to catch some air and "the Spirit of
Swecon". This bottle is then opened on next Swecon to let the Spirit out.
But they never thought of that wood isn't a very good holder of gas molecules.
Ian Watson told how he 45 years ago bought a belt of Swedish leather, which
only recently had begun breaking. Superior quality, he thought. Now he was
hunting for another belt here i Sweden. But he also wanted alcohol. ("En i
andra..." just means approx "Down the hatch!")
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#Swecon2018 GoH panel discussed possible genre Nobel Prize winners, eg Lord
Dunsany, U Le Guin, Adam Roberts. But Harry Martinson already got one! But who
cares about the #SwedishAcademy now? (Trial against Academy associate JCA this
autumn.)
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Just before the convention came the decision to prosecute one Jean-Claude
Arnault, husband of poet Katarina Frostenson who is a member of the by now
infamous Swedish Academy. That is for two cases of rape (other cases had passed
the statute of limitations) and trial will be this autumn. The Academy farce is
probably why the Nobel prize entered the discussion. (They had many more
suggestions of possible genre winners,but my goldfish brain didn't remember
more when it was time to hit the keyboard.)
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#Swecon2018. Ian Watson "serious scientific talk" on Frankenstein. Coincidence
that K Marx was born when Shelley's book came? Earlier, surveillance society
discussed. CCTV, Facebook, DNA. There are few works positive to a surveillance
state. Pic on Ian W talking.
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I was first on a panel discussion surveillance, personal integrity and such
things in an electronic society. I think the development is really scary.
Authorities can keep track of - or will soon be able to do that - every
movement of each citizen and each economic transaction, "thanks" to CCTV, car
tolls, travel cards in local traffic (my bike card for instance!), and credit
cards and electronic money. This means politicians' bureaucrat servants know
every cent you spend, on what and where you go. Scary. China will build a
face-recognition system to keep track of everyone when they are out walking.
Through DNA authorities can even map every citizen's life in advance - Charlie
is likely to become a bad driver, Mary will turn insane, Bob will become a
great scientist, Charlotte will be totally economically useless as she'll have
7-8 babies. Hm.
Everywhere you go and everything you do will be registered. This is old East
Germany on steroids. Anyone how knows how to stop this march into a super-1984
world, raise your hand!
Watson's serious scientific talk told about the roots of Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein and its connection to other things, and was a shorter version of a
longer article he has written. It wasn't exactly like the Bob Shaw serious
scientific talks from the Eastercons, but a bit funny and entertaining (Bob was
funnier). Ian himself is a nice and funny guy.
SATURDAY:
------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting talk on time travel on #Swecon2018 by J Määttä. Analyses Bradbury's
butterfly and Heinlein's zombies in strange terminology - pic of diagram of the
Heinlein hero who was his own father and mother. (BTW, free RPG in all
@SFbok-stores today. Great - it may keep the roleplayers away from our con...)
------------------------------------------------------------
Jerry Määttä's lecture was based on an essay he had written , "Paradoxes in
Time and Space", and was rather advanced. (He's a PhD in sf literature, with a
thesis about the "long 1950's" in Swedish sf published as Raketsommar - "Rocket
Summer" - one of the best longer non-fic works written about the genre in this
country.) He used a lot of cryptic terminology - like analeptic, syncronous,
proleptic, achronic - etc to describe different sorts or aspects of time
travel, showing slides with diagrams. I won't to go into further details, but
it was all quite interesting.
Two famous time travel stories were analysed, Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder"
- where stomping on a butterfly in dinosaur's days creates a Butterfly Effect -
and Heinlein's "All You Zombies", where the hero is is own father, mother, son,
grandfather, etc. Jerry was kind enough to mail me his piece, in the form of
the Swedish original, afterwards and I'll study his timely time travel
remarks...when I have time.
As for role-playing, or any of these activities where people - usually the
younger, media-oriented - dress up with fake armour, Princess Leia cinnamon
buns, a Star Trek pyjamas, etc, it's an activity for with my enthusiasm has
certain limits. Hence I didn't mind that the SF Bookstore arranged something
for textile, fabrics and sewing machine fandom so they wouldn't necessary turn
up in the Diesel Workshop.
I know that this dress-yourself-up thing started in fandom, eg with Forry
Ackerman as a spaceman on Nycon 1939, and I know that the fancy dress show is
popular on the Worldcons. But in later decades it has simply become too damn
MUCH of it! It overshadows science fiction literature and any possible serious,
philosophical, literary, even scientific aspects of the genre. When reporters
come to a convention or when TV has something about sf, they automatically zoom
in on some silly people in neon-bright costumes with feathers, which they spent
hundreds or even thousands of hours on (chainmail will take 1000h to make!)
who have painted themselves blue all over their face. I saw BBC's report from
The Scottish Convention in 1995, which of course started with trekkies to the
narration "Beam me up..." (...Scotty, of course). It was the Time Magazine
notorious Gosh-Wow-Boy-Oh-Boy report all over again.
It gives the sf genre a bad reputation for being superficial and childish.
Those media fans have their own huge fringefandom and mix-ups with the real,
literary fandom are not especially welcome,. (Believe it or not, but the
roleplaying and gaming federation in Sweden has a staggering 80 000 members.
But no one there know anything about John W Campbell, The Enchanted Duplicator
or fanac.)
But I notice that no Storm Troopers or Conans with plastic swords were
present on this Swecon. Fine.
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Collaborative writing on #Swecon2018. M&L Carey need Chinese food to write. G
Jonsson & M Petersen long walks & long hand. GJ&MP just pubbed 1st novel from
their Kult game, Death Is Just The Beginning. (They were also active on the
/i/n/famous SFSF scene late 70's,)
------------------------------------------------------------
This panel was a bit chatty, and I don't remember much from it except what I
mentioned in my tweet - ingredients of what the writing couples said they
needed for their work. But I should add that Michael (Petersen) and Gunilla
(Jonsson) are old fans, and later quite successful as authors of games like
Mutant and Kult. They have just published their first novel based on Kult. I
was a bit amazed that they did their writing by longhand, since both are
well-acquainted with computers. COmputers come in later, as the notebooks and
paper they use are transferred to 10100101's. I spoke with them afterwards and
learnt that they of course work on a follow-up novel, preliminary title The
Living Dead.
As for the SFSF (=Scand SF Assoc) scene in the late 1970's, they were there
and there was a lot happening then, when the club for a few years had their own
clubhouse on Pontonjärgatan in a central Stockholm district. There were plots,
feuding, spectacular business meetings, floods of fanzines and a whirlwind of
strangeness, a sort of mini version of 1940's LASFS. Ah Sweet Stupidity! (I
have BTW made i PDF of FT Laney's 1940's LASFS documentary novel, Ah Sweet
Idiocy. As me for it if you want it.)
I won't mention all fen I bumped into. But we have for instance Jörgen Jörälv
who has done a great bibliography about Sam J Lundwall's Jules Verne Magasinet,
and now is working on something similar dealing with his publishing house
Delta. I gave him the few tips I had on the subject. (I knew more about JVM
where I had the fandom column than the publishing house Delta.) Delta went down
because of Sam J becoming angry with the part owner, literary agent Gunnar
Dahl, most likely because Dahl didn't pay Sam's forign writer buddies the money
they should get for Swedish translations. I also told Jörgen how author Börje
Crona once dedicated a book to KG Johansson and Gunilla Dhalblom, since they as
reviewers tended to give him bad reviews. By the dedication they would however
be banned from writing reviews of Crona's books... (BTW, again, ask me for my
report, earlier posted on SKRIVA, on how Börje Crona in there 1950's had a
touring music act with ABBA-Stikkan Anderson!)
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Heard Worldcon75 panel on #Swecon2018. J Halme; "Fun, but wouldn't do it
again." Worldcon goodie bags took 8 hours for 50 ppl to fix. / Replicon
Västerås 14-16/6 sole Swecon19 bid, or? / On Kij Johnson's GoH interview. She's
read a lot of Lovecraft despite not liking his writing. "He's scary."
------------------------------------------------------------
Jukka Halme said a lot of things about last year's Finnish Worldcon, but no
major scandals. The basic message was that it took a lot of work, much more
than expected since many more than thought turned up (around 7000 - they
originally thought 3-4000). But the site was flexible and they could arrange
and book extra space. Despite this there was of course the problem (which I
encountered a couple of times) that the hall for a popular program item was
full and doors closed. The huge attendance meant that Worldcon 75 made a
surplus.This has now been transferred to a special foundation which will make
contributions to skiffy and fandom projects in the Nordic area. (Yes, not only
Finland but also the neighbours, as I understood Jukka. I hinted to him that
the SKRIVA short story competition turns 20 next year...)
I only heard parts of Kij Johnson's GoH interview. But she - just as me -
seems to have a contradictive relation to HPL. Metoo don't like his writing,
it's too heavy, full of adjectives and the feeling of horror he tries to induce
doesn't touch me. But he is a very interesting person, a lone gentleman with
old ideals, a reclusive person who still made long trips in the eastern USA to
study architecture, asnd he was an early sort of fanzine fan involved in
pre-fandom APAs, a mystic who still deeply believed in science and rationality,
a fanatic letter writer, an almost total failure in his craft of writing while
he lived - becoming a superstar in death.
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#Swecon2018 bookroom has unannounced extra prog (see pic) & @Sverok runs debate
corner outside. Strong Swe Small Press sf/f trend. Bookroom has 50+ titles we
never/hardly heard of... New group: Östergötlands fantastikförfattare
https://www.facebook.com/ostergotlandsfantastikforfattare/
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The bookroom was actually two rooms. There was a separate room for used books
sold by the Alvar Appeltofft foundation. The regular bookroom for new books was
dominated by Small Press Publishers and had a new system. The publishers didn't
man the tables themselves. Everyone delivered their books to the con, which
then arranged for a central cashier's desk. The benefit is that it let the
publishers enjoy the convention. I saw eg my friend Tora Greve from the SKRIVA
list doing work hours at that desk.
As said, many small press publishers were there. I didn't count but around 50
new Swedish books of sf, fantasy or horror sounds about right. And many of
these publications and publishers are things I hadn't heard of, or hardly heard
of. Many of the novels are "self-published", but some of the SPP's will also
publish work by others. The talented new writer Oskar Källner - who was there
and I talked with him - will for instance take in other writers to his Fafner
Publishing, as well as doing audio books and E-books. Fafner has also started a
space opera novel writing competition (deadline October 31st). This new small
press publishing activity has this far not lured Big Publishers to do much
science fiction, while fantasy and horror seems to be OK for them.
The book room also had it's own but small program, interviews with authors
and readings. Right outside that room a study organisation (Studiefrämjandet)
invited to round-table debates around different subjects, at the same time as
they tried to make PR for - urhg! - role playing games.
Among the new titles I notice that Tora G's Tira Tiger Publishing has done
book four in the series of Sture Lönnerstrand short story collections (edited
by Bertil Falk). Sture was a pioneer sf short story writer in the 1940's and
also started the club Futura in 1950, one of the first in Sverifandom. Tora has
also herself written Hammerslag ("Hammer Blows"), an steampunk alternate
history novel about a mad inventor in the 19th century Swedish-Norwegian union.
The Finns had a couple of collections of Finnish sf translated into English -
but also to my surprise a collection of Finnish language skiffy translated into
Swedish. Great.
(Generally, you Small Time Publishers! Make sure you send your publishing
news to the undersigned! I'm after all one of the main genre news sources with
thousands of followers to my newstweets and the writing list SKRIVA with 200
members as well as covering news in other ways. After all, I've been in the sf
news treadmill for 40 years, dammit!)
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#Swecon2018 panel on book covers. J Määttä "Bad books should have bad covers!".
No one knew uncredited artist of Swe 70s LOTR editions, Hans Söderlund, but SFJ
met him last year. See pic & story (via G-transl):
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=//news.freelists.org/archive/skriva/02-2017%3Frev%3D1&prev=search
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The book cover panel had a lot of beautiful, old pulp cover running on the
big screen behind them. Someone claimed that yellow was a non-selling cover for
books (on Teknikmagasinet we heard the rule that green was a bad-selling
colour). Unfortunately, book covers today tend to be photos or more precisely
photoshopped photos. Personally I like painted covers better. There's something
sterile with a photoshop photo. Some bad book covers were shown and it was then
that Dr Määttä said that they were fitting for bad books. Several generations
of Swedish Tolkien covers were discussed, and nobody knew who had done the
stylish 1970's Swedish paperback covers. In fact, no Tolkien fans knew the
artist, which wasn't credited in the books.
It was then I had my day inte sun! I raised my hand and told them. In
February last year I went to an art opening at Sweden's smallest art gallery,
Örhänget (13 sqm) on 3 Höga Stigen. As we admired whatever they had to show, a
door opened opposite to the small gallery and it proved to be one Hans
Söderlund behind the door. I came to speak with him and was invited in to his
small studio. Tolkien prints hanged there on the wall and it was then he told
me that it was he who had done them. (Google Tolkien and AWE/Gebers to see his
covers.)
It's called serendipity.
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Depressing #Swecon2018 panel Will We Drown (NOT!). Listen, Earth won't go down
due to environment, economy etc. Listen to Hans Rosling's (RIP Alas!) lectures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w Economy in poor countries grow, ;
health improves, no overpopulation, etc. And the major climate factor is the
Sun's magnetic field. http://www.solarsystemcentral.com/solar_effects_page.html
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I don't feel like saying much about this panel, but I can't resist. It was
the old routine: Earth is doomed! Climate! Overpopulation! Economic ruin!
Starvation! Extermination! All that is literally old news. As the famous
lecturer Professor Hans Rosling (who unfortunately recently passed away) the
world is rapidly getting better. The economy is growing fast in the so called
Third World. It's not just India and China. In sub-Sahara Africa we see yearly
growth of 5-7 percent. Despite the war in Syria, fewer people are killed in
wars. Health is improving, with shrinking child mortality and increasing
lifespan - in the poor countries most of all. Families are getting smaller in
the Third World (now averaging 2.5 children/woman) so we can write off
"overpopulation". The world's population will peak at around 10 Billion in 2050
- and then begin to shrink.
As for the environment and climate, the environment is getting better. One
thing is that the fast urbanisation releases a lot of old, unprofitable
farmland back to Mother Nature. A lot of possibly harmful substances have been
banned or it's use severly restricted (mercury, DDT, CFCs, PCB, etc) and oil
spills are down 95% due to GPS and double-hulled tankers. As for climate, it's
well known that I'm a critic of the strange idea that we on Earth can influence
the sun. CO2 may have a small effect on the margin, but it is the Sun that
decides. We've seen a slow but natural bounce-back from the Little Ice Age of
250-300 years ago, ruled by the sun. What we now have is a steady decline in
sunspot activity, which indicates a shrinking magnetic field for the sun. And
the mechanism is simple: weaker magnetic field means more cosmic particle reach
Earth's atmosphere. They work as nuclei for cloud forming and creates more
clouds, thus reflecting more sunshine back into space - it gets colder.
(Yeah, May was warmer than normal in Sweden. But have we already forgotten
that April was bitterly cold?)
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Replicon 14-16Jun in Västerås (1 h west of Sthlm) is next Swecon. Fee for 18+
SEK200-600. GoHs TBA. Alvar Appeltofft Memorial Award was won by Nahal
Ghanbari (pic). She receives a statuette with a non-EU compliant lightbulb, a
diploma and SEK3000. BTW, she says she'll try a Eurocon bid for Uppsala in
2023.
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So, this was the business end of Fantastika/Swecon. That's why it's called a
convention - kongress in Swedish - to decide things. We decide next years
Swecon organiser and the Alvar Award.
For Swecon there was only one candidate: the city of Västerås, west of
Stockholm (an hour or so by train). So it won. The Swecon will be called
Replicon (inspired by "replicants" from Blade Runner) and take place June
14-16, 2019. GoHs To Be Announced, but at least one foreign one (whom they are
in contact with now, but nothing is settled). They hope for 250-300 attendees
and plan a "family friendly" con, with also some sort of activities for smaller
kids. The site is the culture house Culturen. Their membership fee policy is
rather interesting: everyone up to age 18 free, students/out of job/etc 200 Sw
Crowns (ca USD20), normal fee 400 Sw Crowns (ca USD40), and supporting fee 600
Sw Crowns (ca 60 USD) - but that's a fee for attending, but also to give
something little extra money to the con, not a regular "supporting fee".
The Alvar Award winner Nahal Ghanbari is from Uppsala fandom. She gets 3000
Crowns (ca USB 300), a nice statuette of a lightbulb with a beanie and a
diploma,. And she says she'll be working towards getting a Eurocon to Uppsala
in 2023. Stockholm had one in 2011. I suspect, though, that the light bulb
statuette is illegal! Hasn't EU banned such old style light bulbs? Hm.
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Panel Dillchips, peanuts & bheer panel om #Swecon2018 is rather fun. Panelists
are "outed" eating the wrong type of crisps. Beside this peanuts is also
Swedish fan tradition, comes from BNF LO Strandberg (RIP) who treated fans with
it.
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This was one of few "funny" panels on the con. There was one panelist from
each Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland and they began taking about fannish
traditions. Soon they landed in the tradition of Malmö fandom to eat dill
crisps (or "dillchips"). And now it began to be a bit fun.
They had obviously prepared what to do in advance. Suddenly the Danish
panelists was found to have a small bag of another sort of crisps inside her
dill crisps bag and was mocked for being unfaithful to the dill crisps
tradition. Another panelist mocked the dill crisps tradition and ate only
salted crisps - but was found out having a small bag of dill crisps within his
big bag of crisps...
Another hour of glory for me. Nobody in the panel knew from where the Swedish
fannish tradition comes of eating peanuts. I raised my hand and gave the
obvious answer: Lars-Olov Strandberg. Comes from him. He began treating fandom
/a/s with peanuts on the SFSF meetings in his flat at 22 Folkskole street - a
classic address - already in the 1960s. When the meetings moved, the peanut
traditions moved with them. And in the 1980's the Nasacon, in a Stockholm
suburb, took up the peanuts in the form of the Great Peanut Race, inspired bý
the Great Pork Pie Race from the British Eastercons (in its turn coming from
the Pork Pie Man Brian Burgess).
SUNDAY:
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Writers In Shining Armour? Swe Writers' panel on #Swecon2018 obsessed with
equality, integration etc. Methinks literature striving for the popular views
of today becomes unimaginative and mainstream. But they liked short stories. Go
for http://ahrvid.bravejournal.com ;!
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As I a came to this panel in the middle they were talking not about writing,
but about things like the importance of integration, equality and being
"inclusive". Sigh! What we have seen in reality is how those claiming to be
more including - are instead EXCLUDING. We have the case of Dave Truesdale who
was kicked out of a con for criticising SJW (which I understand means Social
Justice Warriors, ie left-wing activists), not to mention how Lionel Shriver
has been treated. bad in several ways.
The audience were allowed to ask things the last few minutes, and I raised my
hand and a) asked what they thought about short story writing (they had
mentioned mostly novels) and they said they liked it, and b) I gave a small
plug for SKRIVA's short story competition. Generally I'd would have liked to
hear more about writing, and less about personal political ideals.
Josef Engel was an known old-time fan I came across now, I think he was in
this panel's audience. He has been active since the 1960's and was one of the
many fans that Lars-Olov Strandberg dragged into our universe peanutwise. He
went to the SFSF meetings and told me a little about how it was in those days
50 years back.
------------------------------------------------------------
#Swecon2018 Fine LO Strandberg Memorial Panel. LOS' (pic w ed from Swecon'16)
wrote letter in 1979 as sec of mighty Scandinavian SF Asso'n gettíng SFJed
leave from military service to go to Seacon/Worldcon, our "presence was
essential...". Now on Ian Watson Kaffeklatsch. IW eg tells of Tamcon, Finland,
in hard mid-Winter!
------------------------------------------------------------
This was a panel to remember Sverifandom's No 1 Fan Face through the ages.
Lars-Olov Strandberg of course! The panelists mentioned how kind and helpful he
always was, how he kept order in all the clubs he was associated with, the
permanent secretary who wrote the minutes and kept the archives in order, the
treasurer who'd pay the bills for a con out of his own pocket if it happened to
make a loss, and so on.
I met Lars-Olov the first time in the autumn of 1976, when I attended my
first SFSF (Scand SF Assoc) meeting, though I probably saw him already in June
that year, on Scancon 76.
I had an anecdote the audience were cheated on, because for some reason this
panel didn't have time for comments from the crowd (except short comments
shouted as interruptions). I did my military service in 1979, which was to end
a Friday in August. Thursday the same week was when the Worldcon, Seacon 79 in
Brighton, started and I had of course bought a mdmbershiop and an aaroplane
ticket. Lars-Olov thus wrote me a letter that I could show to the military,
where he explained how VITALLY important it was that I got a leave... I don't
remember his phrasing, they kept the letter, but i think his point was that
since Scandinavia had a Worldon bid that year (Copenhagen in 1983 - it lost but
got if i remember 183 votes) it was vital to have as many supporters there as
possible, incl me. So I was release from the olive drab two days in advance.
If it wasnt for Lars-Olov I would have climbed the fence...
We also heard how Lars-Olov kicked out a guy with neo-Nazi sympathies from an
SFSF meeting. He could be angry if there was a real reason for it. (Otherwise
the most angry I ever heard him say was "But wasn't that a bit unnecessary?",
said when someone broke a chair or made a mess in other not so subtle ways).
But what I heard about the Nazi scandal wasn't that the guy was in the board of
a neo-Nazi party, but he is supposed to have invited a Nazi to hold a lecture
on a club meeting
Then I squeezed in to the kaffeklatsch with Ian Watson, a funny man who
talked almost all the time. (Well, a few short questions were allowed). He
talked about his life in Spain, how he was engaged in a local skiffy festival,
how he liked Spanish wine, and made a lot of jokes. He also talked about how he
first came to Finland, to a local con in Tampere, called Tamcon - held in the
bitter cold month of January. I was there too, and remember him in four layers
of sweaters and coats looking like the Michelin Man. He mentioned snow and ice
and sliding cars and being invited to some Finns and their sauna - but not
taking up their suggestion of throwing himself into a lake through a hole in
the ice.
------------------------------------------------------------
#Swecon 2018 is closing RSN. Got tempted 6 raided used-books room for $10 =10
books. Talked with new Swe writer Enrique Lescure, who writes in English.
Closing ceremony on now w a Tolkien choir. Con in our guesstimate ca 325
attendees. Pic from closing with the Tolkien singers.
------------------------------------------------------------
The room for used books had a 50% off sale the last day.
So that was the day for my book raid.
I got some old paperbacks for 5-10 Sw crowns. The most expensive book was, I
think, 20 crowns (ca USD2), ten all in all. There was one non-fic about sf, an
anthology about Mike Moorcock's old New Worlds, a couple of Ace Doubles, and
old Swedish novel from ca 1910 about some airship adventures, a novel by Jackj
Vance I mysteriously haven't read yet and so on. (Vance who I met on Scancon in
1976 where he held a 2.5 hour long speech to the banquet.)
While I was packing and fixing with my computer I chatted with the young new
writer Enrique Lescure, who had just published his first novel (on a foreign
Small Press Publishing house) and we discussed how to "create" worlds a bit. I
have an interesting novelette, not published yet, on which I spent quite some
time working out the physics, chemistry, biology, history etc of a planet where
people fly... I have previously done quite a bit of research on creating the
moon colony for my short story collection Murder on the Moon.
Sometime here was also a discussion circle about sf cons in general, which I
missed to tweet about. The panel thought that it was a good that the con
banquets have disappeared. The food wasn't worth the money, usually, and you
get to sit with boring people for two hours if your unlucky. Films aren't shown
any more, and the reason is probably that we now have 100 TV channels, DVD,
streaming films, Youtube, films and TV shows everywhere. You don't need to have
films on sf convention, but I wouldn't mind a film program consisting of odd,
short films, perhaps amateur films of which there are quite a lot to find -
films NOT shown by Netflix and Nutdicks or whatever it's called.
------------------------------------------------------------
#Swecon2018 chair Carolina passing the bottle w air holding The Spirit of
Swecon to concom member Birgitta from 2019 Replicon in Västerås. As always:
It's better to have as bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy. Dead dog
in nearby café. As Swecon closes weather turns bad...
------------------------------------------------------------
The closing ceremony of course had the catching of air into the Spirit of
Swecon bottle. It was then ceremoniously handed over to a representative of the
Replicon committee. (That was Birgitta Stridh, an old time fan who I think I
remember from way back. She was actually on the first Finnish con, King-Con in
1982, and published the fanzine Vertigo back then. She's even made a PDF of it
now, which I received after Swecon.) The concom and GoHs were on stage saying a
few words, and it all ended with a choir from the Stockholm Tolkien Society
singing a few songs.
They were they only ones on the con dressed up in fancy dresses, but as it
was their work outfit for the choir job, I forgive them.
The weather had been fine through the convention, but as coming from some
sort of secret signal it began to rain as it all ended.... Since I had to walk
a bit to get to the bike station I decided to wait and use my computer or a
last tweet, read mail etc. Britfan Barbara Jane (who I met at Loncon 3 and she
also had an after-party I went to) came by and chatted. In the beginning there
were perhaps 50 fans for the official Dead Dog Party in the bar, but one by one
they drifted of, so when the rain stopped after a couple of hours and I was on
my way, there were perhaps only 25-30 left. I think Dead Dog Parties should be
held in a special locality with lots of booze. Sitting in a bar is just like
during the convention itself. (Which I didn't. Bheer wasn't too expensive by
Stockholm standards, SEK45 - ca USD5 - but as a poor freelancer I tend to get
more into this golden liquid when it's cheaper abroad.)
------------------------------------------------------------
As it began to rain after #swecon2018 I'm waiting here. Should clear RSN & I'll
leave. Ca 50 conventioneers deadogging in cafeteria (pic), but I'll save my
bheer money. About the con: good prog (but, sometimes PCish) on time,
Dieselverkstan site OK, "lagom" size. Negative: No fanroom/prog, no press/media
coverage.
------------------------------------------------------------
I left after a couple of hours waiting for the sky to clear, as said.
Fantastika/Swecon was OK. Some panels could have been better, more focused on
their subject, and I think the audience should get more time for comments. As
usual, panelists tend to be so afraid to lose the microphone, once its their
turn, that the talk too much and too long. The moderator could be more active
or maybe there should be a clock - max 60 seconds!
But I think a fan room (it could be just a fan corner) for relaxing and
fannish things should be there, and a fan program. There should be quizzes,
silly games and other light program items so that people don't fall asleep due
to too much seriousness - especially at night time. There was a filk song
session, which I listened too for a few minutes, but it only attracted a crowd
of four (it could have been better prepared and organised differently) and we
had the Lars-Olov panel, else, there weren't much lighter, fannish program.
And no media, no press, nothing at all - as far as I could see. The Stockholm
papers had nothing about the convention. Even the Dagens Nyheter events guide
(which is easy to get into) missed it. Swecon seemed to have had no press
campaign at all. Social media is fine, but getting into printed media, radio -
even TV - has a bigger impact. I have done press campaigns. Nasacon 10 got into
the MAIN TV evening news (!) in 1990 and for Nasacon 2000 we had (if we count
small notes in events guides, small local papers and local radio shows too)
about 60 mentions in media.
But that's things in the margins about a convention otherwise well planned
and performed.
Next year, I hope we'll meet in Westeros...eh, Västerås.
--Ahrvid Engholm
-----
Appendix to Fantastika/Swecon report 2018:
LISTS AND ANALYSIS OF SF/F/H SMALL PRESS PUBLISHING
(from what Yours Truly picked up in the Swecon Book Room)
I've now gone through the info flyers and such which I picked up in the book
room of Fantastika/Swecon 2018.
And if all books mentioned in the flyers were displayed - and there may be
some not mentioned - there were more than 75 books present. I've made a list,
added other books from the same publishers up to three years back and reach ca
120 original Swedish sf/f/h titles (and have then certainly missed a numer -
the list gets thinner towards 2015). That's quite a lot of new local genre
literature...
Most are from new Small Press Publishers, as they are often called. (What
you may call Big Traditional Publishers weren't present on Swecon. I suppose a
small - in their perspective - sf con isn't worth their efforts.) Scores of
SPPs publishing sf/f/h have popped up the last few years, due to shrinking
costs with Publishing on Demand, new distribution forms via Internet and an
increased interest in writing "fantastic literature". Many SPPs seem to be
self-publishing ventures (Vulkan is one example) and books about elves waving
swords, zombies and vampires lusting for brains and blood etc (fantasy and
horror) are the most popular, Our dear old science fiction is just third in
this bunch.
Below are the titles which all are from the last three years (short stories
nowadays often published as E-books are not included), and as said I hadn't
heard of the majority of them. Newbie publishers seem to be less experienced in
reaching all important news outlets, like Yours Truly.
I'll translate the titles, except for made-up fantasy words. The word
"förlag" means "publishing house". Some books are published in English from
Sweden, I guess in the hope of also reaching across borders. Books I suspect
are in ENGLISH are marked *. Note that in Swedish only the first word in a book
title is in caps (except for given names).
The titles in no particular order:
Serahema saporium (labelled as a book series), Marcus Olausson (Catoblepas
förlag)
Spår av drakarnas fjäll (Traces of the Scales of the Dragons), Bräntland
(förlag)
Nomadplaneten (The Nomad Planet), Emanuel Blume, Typ förlag
Karne- skriet från häxberget (Karne - the Cry from the Witch Mountain),
Suomela Björklund, Mirmir förlag
*Shakespeare Calling, Ruby Jand, Vulkan (förlag)
The Merlin Chronicles, Rhudden Gwelin, Vulkan (förlag):
* The Nature of Things
* The Wrathful Traveller
* Protecting Cheesyfec
* King's Hope, Hans Olsson, Zakuli förlag
Främling (Stranger), Hans Olsson, Zakuli förlag
Vad är din hemlighet (What is yout secret), Hans Olsson, Zakuli förlag
Sökandet efter elementstenarna (Looking for the Element Rocks), Hans Olsson,
Zakuli förlag
Bronstornet (The Bronze Tower, Hans Olsson, Zakuli förlag
Stenväktarnas arv (The Heritage of the Rock Guardians), Hans Olsson, Zakuli
förlag
Söner av Heimdall (Sons of Heimdall), Helena Andersson, Undrentide förlag
Döttrar av Rig (Daughters of Rig), Helena Andersson, Undrentide förlag
Älvkorset (The River Cross), Jenny Töredal, Visto förlag
De dödas dolk (Dagger of th Dead), Jenny Töredal, Visto förlag
Skorm, Lars Carlberg, Fafner förlag
Galtmannen (The Boar Man), Love Källe, Sigill förlag
Rymdvoodoo vid Apacheravinen (Space Voodoo at the Apache Canyon), Love Källe,
Sigill förlag
Urmakarens värld (World of the Watchmaker), Love Källe, Sigill förlag
Ingrid, Love Källe, Sigill förlag
Drakens dotter - resans början (Daughter of the Dragon - Beginning the Trip),
Ulrica Edvinsson Sundin, ??? förlag
Sagan om prinsen och prinsessan och lite om draken också (The Saga of the
Prince and the Princess and Little About the Dragon too), Sofi Poulsen, Sofi
Pousen förlag
Sagan om prinsen och prinsessan och den vilda frukosten (The Saga of the
Prince and the Princess and the Wild Breakfast), Sofi Poulsen, Sofi Poulsen
förlag
Sagan om prinsen och prinsessan och den fasansfulla Erene (The Saga of the
Prince and the Princess and the Terrible Erene), Sofi Poulsen, Sofi Poulsen
förlag
Mamman och den lilla draken (The Mom and the Little Dragon), Sofi Poulsen,
Sofi Poulsen förlag
Grimm (anthology), Sofi Poulsen, Sofi Poulsen förlag
* Grimm Darker, Sofi Poiulsen, Marchetti förlag
Incidenten i Böhmen (The Incident in Bohemia), Thomas Årnfelt, Undrentide
förlag
Sällskapet i Genua (The Company in Genoa), Thomas Årnfelt, Undrentide förlag
Den som söker (The One Who Seeks), Thomas Årnfelt, Alhena förlag
En kaninhistoria (A Rabbit Story),Thomas Årnfelt, Sofi Poulsen förlag
När haven steg (When the Sea Rose), Yvonne Waern, Fabelfarmor förlag
Rymdbråtens budskap (The Message of the Spoace Clutter), Yvonne Waern, Recito
förlag
Ropet från andra sidan (The Cry from the Other Side), Yamile Andreasson and
Madelene Lundvall, Everlasting Publisher
Stölden av biboet (TRghe Theft of the Bee Hive), Yvonne Waern, Fabelfarmor
föralg
Jakten på drakägget (The Hunt for the Dragon Egg), Yvonne Waern, Fabelfarmor
förlag
Råttan som åt järn (The Rat That Ate Iron), Yvonne Waern, Fabelfarmor förlag
Hammerslag - en oscarians alternaitvhistoria (Hammerblow - An Oscarian
Alternative History), Tore Greve, Tira Tiger förlag
Översteprästinnan (The Supreme Priestess), Tora Greve, Tira Tiger förlag (all
Greve's novels below are in the series Siriuskrönikan, The Sirius Chronicles)
Erövraren (The Conquerer), Tora Greve, Tira Tiger förlag
Härskaren (The Ruler), Tora Greve,Tira Tiger förlag
Drottningen (The Queen), Tora Greve, Tira Tiger förlag
Mästaren (The Master), Tora Greve, Tira Tiger förlag
Mannen som reste bort sitt liv (The Man who Travelled Away His Life), Sture
Lönnerstrand, Tira Tiger förlag
Kristallhjärta och andra berättelser (Crystal Heart and Other Tales; an
anthology for a competition for writers aged 6 to 19 years), Sverok (ie the
Swedish RPG and Gaming Federation)
Darc Ages - Uppvaknandet (Darc Ages - Awakening), Alf Yngve, Wela förlag (the
whole Darc Ages Series is also available in English through Amazon)
Darc Ages - Ödemarkens barn (Darc Ages - Children of the Wasteland), Wela
förlag
Darc Ages - Slaget om framtiden (Darc Ages - Battle of the Future), Alf
Yngve, Wela förlag
Darc Ages - Maskernas stad (CIty of Masks), Alf Yngve, Wela förlag
Monster i massor (Monsters En Masse), Alf Yngve, Wela förlag
* Precinct 20: Dead Strange, Alf Yngve, self-published through Amazon Digital
Service
* Alien Beach, Alf Yngve, self-published through Amazon Digital Service
Blod och Svin - en skräckenskomedi (also in Enlgish as Blood & Swine - A
Comedy of Terrors), Alf Yngve, self-published through Amazon Digital Service
* The Argus Project, Alf Yngve, self-published through Amazon Digital Service
* The Flattered Planet, Alf Yngve, self-published through Amazon Digital
Service
* Crazy Monster Stories, Alf Yngve, self-published through Amazon Digital
Service
Desertörerna (The Deserters), Ewa Broberg, Marwa förlag
Drakviskaren (The Dragon Whisperer), Lovisa Wistrand, Whip Media förlag
Algblomning, (Algae Blooming) Sten Rosendahl, Förlag Futur
Näckens döttrar (Daughter of the Näck /myth figure/), Frida Arwen Rosesund,
Mörkersdottir förlag
Leva utan skugga (TO Live without Shadow), Sofie Trinh Johansson,
Mörkersdottirs förlag
Tvåhjärtat (Two-Heartedly), Marija Fischer Oden, Undrentide förlag¨
Alfa och Omega (Alpha and Omega), Oskar Källner, Fafnerförlag
Mannen från enhet 5541 (The Man fron Unit 5541), Love Kölle
Tårpilens år (Year of the Weeping Willow), Lupina Ojala, Catoblepas förlag
Kalldrag (Cold Draught), Markus Sköld, Hoi förlag
Mirele Dungin, Caroline Hurtig, Seraf förlag
Döttrar av natt (Daughters of the Night), Caroline Hurtig, Seraf förlag
Ur nattens mörker (Out of the Drak of the Night), Caroline Hurtig, Seraf
förlag
Eldens mörker (The Darkness of the FIre), Annah Nozlin, Seraf förlag
Skugga över månen (Shadow over the Moon), Annah Nozlin, Seraf förlag
En av de sista (One of the Last), Annah Nozlin, Seraf förlag
Splittrade skärvor (Split Shards), Annah Nozlin, Seraf förlag
Magin vaknar (Magic Awakens), Gabriella Kjeilen, Seraf förlag
Det nästan döda trädet (The Almost Dead Tree), Annah Nozlin, Seraf förlag
Den tunna hinnan (The ThinCoating), Astrid Ahlberg, Seraf förlag
Delad identitet (Shared Identity), Astrid Ahlberg, Seraf förlag
Kvinnanmedsilverhåret (TheWOman with the Silver Hair), Astrid Ahlberg, Seraf
förlag
Porten (The FAte), Astrid Ahlberg, Seraf förlag
Jag ropade (I shouted), Frida Hallberg, Fåglar förlag
Den du var (What You Were), Frida Hallberg, Fåglar förlag
Bortom vinden (Beyond the Wind), Frida Hallberg,Fåglar förlag
Toner av guld (Tunes of Gold), Lupina Ojala, Catoblepas förlag
Dit du inte får gå (Where You Can't Go), Emil Haskett, Fantasiförlaget
Snack Parrows intergalaktiska rymdbyrå för underliga mysterier och
piratbestyr (Snack Parrow's Intergalactic Space Bureau for Strange Mysteries
and Pirate Matters), Camilla Linde, Whip Media förlag
Snack Parrows intergalaktiska rymdbyrå; nödrop från rymden, (Snack Parrow's
Intergalactic Space Bureau: Emergency call from Outer Space), Camills
Linde,Whop Media förlag
Stadens väsen (Character of the City; anthology), ed Jonny Berg, Catoblepas
förlag
Drömfångarna (The Dream Catchers), Mattias Lönnebo, Pythia förlag
Nivå: Panik (Level: Panic), KG Johansson, Wela förlag
Staden under jorden (The Underground City), KG Johansson, Wela förlag
De mörka kontinenterna, KG Johansson, Wela förlag
Den enda dåliga människan i världen (The Only Bad Person in the World). KG
Johansson,Wela förlag
Nivå 1000, KG Johansson, Wela förlag
13 svarta sagor om ond bråd död (13 Dark Tales of Bad, Fast Death), ed Jonny
Berg, Swedish Zombie förlag
13 svarta sagir om superhjältar (13 Dark Tales of Super Heroes), ed Jonny
Berg, Swedish Zombie förlag
13 svarta sagor om superskurkar (13 Dark Tales of Super Villians; anthology),
ed Jonny Berg, Swedish Zombie förlag
Svarthunden (The Blackdog), KG Johansson, Affront förlag
Tosh, KG Johansson, Affront förlag
Fjärilarnas stad (City of Butterflys), Ingrid Remvall, Affront
Transformationen (The Transformation), Magic Frigren, Magic Frigren Press
Alvhilda - uppvaknandet (Alvhilda - Awakening), Pernilla Lindgren, Andra
världar förlag
De ursprungliga (The Originals), Cecilia Larsson Kostenius, Visto förlag
Gudarnas skymning (Dusk of the Gods), Pernilla Larsson Kostenius, Visto förlag
Minnen av en sång (Memories of a Song), Patrik Centerwall, Undrentide förlag
Klockan och spegeln (The Clock and the Mirror), Patrik Centerwall, Undrentide
förlag
Gallus Brinner (Gallus on Fire), Eva Holmquist, Ordspiran förlag
Blodskifte (Blood Shift), Eva Holmquist, Ordspiran förlag
Förlora för att vinna (Lose to Win), Eva Holmquist, Ordspiran förlag
Hoppa så fångar jag (Jump and I'll Catch), Eva Holmquist, Ordspiran förlag
Equilibrium, Anna Jakonsson Lund, Ordspiran förlag
Tredje principen (The Third Principle), Anna Jakobsson Lund, Annorlunda förlag
Enda vägen (Only Way), Anna Jakobsson Lund, Annorlunda förlag
Reinkarnörerna: Skymningseld (The Reincarnators: Fire of Dusk), Henrik
Widell, Undrentide förlag
Den gyllene vinden (The Golden Wind), Anna BLixt, Undrentide förlag
To this should be added a series "Swedish sf from history" by Affront förlag,
which are E-books and thus not as such in physical form - reprints of very old
Swedish sf; titles done since 2015:
Den kvävda världsbranden (The Smothered World Fire), Harald Wide (1933)
Hur samhällsfrågorna löstes på planeten mars för 2000 år sedan (How Society
Issues on the Planet Mars Were Solved 2000 Years Ago), Engelbrekt Modin (1909)
En bröllopsresa i blå etern (A Wedding Trip in the Blue Ether), Carl Berg and
Julius Regis (1906)
Studier i svart (Studies in Black), essays, ed Rickard Berghorn, Aleph förlag
Fantasins urskogar (Jungles of Fantasy), essays, ed Rickard Berghorn, Aleph
förlag
Nattens paradis (Paradise of the Night), old Swedish sf/f/h stories, ed
Rickerd Berghorn, Aleph förlag
Skuggor vid aftonlampan (Shadows by thre Night Lamp), old and new Swedish
sf/f/h stories, ed Rickard Berghorn
Sveriges sista strid (Sweden's Last Batle), a classic novel by G H Mellin,
Tiamos Press
I make that ca 125 books, all original Swedish sf or fantasy or horror! The
wave of new Small Press Publishers, doing sf/f/h, is quite strong in Sweden,
though the printruns may be just a few hundred copies at best. They mostly sell
through the net and not the traditional book stores - except the SF Bokhandeln
three-store chain, probably (other bookstores may of course order the books
especially). I did a quick sample check on 10 books of which 8 were to be found
on Swedish public libraries, so I suspect about 80% of the titles above can
reach readers that way too.
3 1/2 years ago I published a comprehensive list of Swedish language (Finland
was included) Small Press Publishers that did sf/f/h, finding about 60 such
publishers. You findit here:
https://www.freelists.org/post/skriva/Smfrlag-inom-sffh-ny-version
However, many in the above old list have since disappeared or been inactive,
and many of those responsible for the new books in my book list have since
started. There seem to be a significant turnover for SPPs.
Here's BTW a list of homepages of the publishers and their authors
represented on the con, at least those I could find with some quick googling.
Some in this list just displayed a business card and had no books. I skip any
"http://" and "www" ;(add that if needed). Check it if you want to see covers of
mentioned books and try Google Translate for written info. In no particular
order
marwaforlag.se
catoblepas.se
faglarforlag.se
freeleaguepublishing.com
tiratigerforlag.se
fantastikhjalpen.se
bräntland.se
fantastikbokklubben.se
lovekolle.se
alephbok.com'
tiamospress.com
ulricasundin.se
sofipoulsen.se
thomasarnfelt.se
fabelfarmor.se
sverok.se
shop.sverok.se/produkt/kristallhjarta-och-andra-berattelser
marcusolausson.com
emanuelblume.se/bok
miramir-forlag.com/forfattare/kristina-suomela-bjorklund
vulkan.se
rubyjandshakespearecalling.blogspot.com
themerlinchronicles.wordpress.com
zakuliforlag.se
undrentideforlag.com/helena-andersson
vistoforlag.se
fafnerforlag.se
sigillforlag.com
sv-se.facebook.com/marchettiforlag/
thomasarnfelt.com
undrentideforlag.com/thomas-arnfalt
welaforlag.se
aryngve.com
iphone.facebook.com/ewabrobergforfattare
whipmedia.se/drakviskaren
forlagfutur.se
hoi.se/kg-johansson
affront.se
affront.se/svensk-sf-fran-forr
magikonsult.wordpress.com
andravarldar.se
ordspiran.se
ymperia.com/cecilialarssonkostenius
henrikwidell.com
swedishzombie.se
pythiapublishing.blogspot.com
serafforlag.com
hoi.se
fantasiforlaget.se
annorlundaforlag.se
morkersdottir.com
everlastingpublisher.com
It seems the Swedish Small Press Publishing Scene is bristling with activity
and creativity, and we have a whole bunch of new often young writers that we
didn't have a couple of decades ago. (This is AFAIK the broadest summary of it
the last few years...)
That's very promising.
--Ahrvid
--
ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx / Follow @SFJournalen on Twitter for the latest news in
short form! / Gå med i SKRIVA, för författande, sf, fantasy, kultur
(skriva-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, subj: subscribe) och deltag i
FANTASTIKNOVELLTÄVLINGEN 2018, info http://ahrvid.bravejournal.com / Om Ahrvids ;
novellsamling Mord på månen: http://zenzat.wordpress.com/bocker C Fuglesang: ;
"stor förnöjelse...jättebra historier i mycket sannolik framtidsmiljö"! / Nu
som ljudbok: http://elib.se/ebook_detail.asp?id_type=ISBN&id'86081462 / Läs
även AE i Novellmästarnas antologier http://www.novellmastarna.se/Oskuld.htm ;
och hans sf-fanhistoriska uppslagsverk Fandboken / YXSKAFTBUD, GE VÅR WCZONMÖ
IQ-HJÄLP! (DN NoN 00.02.07)
-----
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