[SKRIVA] Åcon 2 - a report
- From: Ahrvid Engholm <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, <sverifandom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 13:28:24 +0200
Åcon 2
Åland is a semi-autonomous Swedish speaking island (or group of islands)
belonging to Finland, situated between Sweden and Finland. May 1st to 4th it
hosted the second Åcon, in Hotel Adlon. The name of the con comes from the "Å"
in "Åland", and depending on if your computer can show the correct character
it should be an "A" with a ring on top. AFAIK it's a letter unique for the
Nordic languages (Finnish has it in its alphabet but only uses "å" for names)
and is pronounced like "o" in "more".
Adlon is a nice little hotel, with a session hall for the convention seating
up to ca 100, and enough rooms for the entire con (which was close to 80
people, except ca four local Ålanders and me who tented in a park/little
forest). It has a bar, the Sportsbar (which also began showing the Icehockey
World Championships, something both Finland and Sweden have interest in),
typically open until 1.30 am - after which it could happen that a roomparty
would break out.
Guest of Honour was the Northern Irish writer Ian McDonald, a nice guy and a
fine writer, who mingled a lot with all conspeople and seemed to enjoy his stay
(he’s been GoHing in both Sweden and Finland before, but it was a while; I
think I first met him on a local con of ours ca 1993). 17 of the attendees were
Swedes, one was a Norwegian, the rest were Finns (or as it is sometimes said
“Finnlanders”, in an effort to note that there are also some Swedish speaking
Finns), including the Peruvian-Finn Tanya Tynjälä (who knows Sergio from the
Planeta SF list!).
Most of the Swedish attendees came with he group trip on Viking Line, aranged
by the con’s Swedish agent Anders Reuterswärd. He must have some magic ways
with the ferry line, because he arranged a super-discounted price of around 5
dollars - for a return trip! Of course, these big ferries make their most money
from people eating and drinking and buying tax-free stuff onboard. They
probably made a profit from us anyway (I certainly bought some tax-free, Danish
bheer and Finnish vodka, most on the way back) and it isn’t a very long ferry
trip, ca six hours (most of that time the boat has to go with reduced speed
through the archipelago).
Åland was a part of the Swedish “empire” in older days, but taken by the
Russians in the 1808-09 War (when they also took Finland). Sweden claimed these
strategic islands (which control trade and shipping in the northern Baltic
Sea) and a compromised was reached in the League of Nations in the early 1920s.
Åland would be demilitarized and have semi-indipendence within Finland.
Åland for instance has their own flag and stamps (but uses the Euro), their
own small regional parliament (but also representatives in the Finnish
Riksdag), and the right to issue some local laws and regulations. Most
important for the Ålanders is perhaps that they have been designated a
tax-exemption zone within the EU, for the Baltic ferries. This means you can
buy tax-free stuff on those big ferries. The Ålanders live of shipping and
tourism, so keeping those ferries going and getting tourists on them is
important.
Otherwise there aren’t more than 26 000 people living on Åland. The capital
Mariehamn has maybe 10 000 inhabitants. It’s a strange town, crisscrossed by
huge boulevards lined with trees, trying to have a bit of everything: a
shopping a street, a local TV house, a government house, an EU representation
house, about three museums (the maritime museum very good!), two local papers,
etc. And most of the streets are lined with big villas or bungalows. The
Ålanders seem well off. I think they have benefited from their special
economical and other arrangements.
Åland is more than 99% Swedish speaking, which is a higher percentage than in
Sweden (due to immigration).
Åcon 2 was a four-day affaire, mainly because it coincided with a holiday -
Ascension Day, which is a holiday here. It seems there will be an Åcon 3 next
year too, and it will be continued to be tied to Ascension day (which in 2009
will come later in May).
Personally I felt four days was stretching it a bit. When it was Friday, it
felt like a Saturday on a con, and Saturday felt like a Sunday.
Before coming to the con on the Friday, I had time to find the only two
second hand booksellers in Mariehamn. The one in the Northern harbour is crap
(only dime paperbacks and comics) but the one on Köpmansgatan in the town
centre may be worth a visit (even if it is small). I found the memoirs of the
hippie prophet Timothy Leary and a WWII history book, for 1 Euro each. Good
buys.
On Thursday a journalist and a photographer from the local paper Åland came by
and interviewed some of us. I managed to mention my short story collection Mord
på månen, with the result that in the article that followed the book was in
itself called “a short story” and they called me “Ahrvid Engblom” (the Swedish
word for “short story” is “novell” which may lead thoughts astray if you think
of the English word “novel”). I was “Engblom” also in my first prozine
letterhack appearance in 1978 (in Sam J Lundwall’s Jules Verne Magasinet) so
I‘m used to it. Others in the article were Johan A, Britt-Louise V and local
Ålander Camilla with baby. (I think the article should be on the web somewhere
under www.alandstidningen.ax - try to google e g “Engblom”...)
I won’t go through all of the program, which was in only one program line,
but it was intentionally made “light” to give people time to talk and
socialise. The program had a slant towards the more light-hearted stuff,
because Åcon is intended as a bit of a relax-con. I remember that I talked a
bit with Tanya, fascinated by that someone who knows the south American sf
lists had found here way here. I was in the hot spot already the first evening,
Thursday night, when I took part in a panel about the Golden Age, Arthur C
Clarke and all that. I think I did my share of talking (I like older “Golden
Age SF” and Clarke’s stuff and space) but I can’t for my life remember what I
said. Jukka Halme was moderating, and I’m sure he kept the panel going at warp
speed. Jukka then had an item called “Cheap Thrills”. Day one ended in the bar
where a group of us sat up until well after 2 am (I heard others were up later
even).
There was a lot of program items centred on con-running, since many of the
attendees were themselves conrunners. That was the first item on Day two, which
began after lunch. It ended with different cons in the Nordic area the coming
year making presentations of themselves, and I took the opportunity to say
something about next Baltcon.
The 2008 Baltcon was taking place during Åcon 2 (in Kaunas, Lithuania, lack
of money prevented me from going) and it has been decided that the next one,
Baltcon 2009, is to be hosted by Interpresscon, the first weekend in May next
year, in S:t Petersburg, Russia. I gave as much information as I could about
Interpresscon/Baltcon 2009, including releasing the news that the undersigned
(me) has been invited as Fan GoH. (As for other cons, there are three in Sweden
in 2008, one in Norway, one in Denmark and of course the big Finncon in late
July.)
Other program Items Day two included a GoH interview, a panel on
Post-Colonial sf, “Good Forgettable Reads” (“bad books that are good”, sort of)
a panel on piracy and copyrights - and the great Åcon invention, The William
Shatner Karaoke.
The point of this is to *read* music lyrics in the same over dramatised
manner that William Shatner is known to do. It was very appreciated and the
laughs were plenty. I had a crack on it (with “She Loves You”, Lennon/McCarthy)
and even GoH McDonald had a go (some Queen lyrics, I think). One Pasi of
Finland won the contest (with lyrics by The Doors).
The organisers say that this William Shatner Karaoke is an original invention
for Åcon. (Raise your hand if you know otherwise!)
This day ended with a roomparty in room 204, where during the evening about
1/3 of the con gathered. The Finns can also buy tax-free booze on the ferries
to Åland, so there was plenty of that around. I didn’t get drunk, just
comfortable, and left just after 4 am (some were up until 6 am and even beyond,
I’m told).
The con had wisely organised floor two of the hotel as a “party zone” were we
could make noise and have parties. That worked well, even unexpectedly well
Saturday evening (which I’ll come back to).
Day 3 turned out to be a very eventful day for me, not entirely to my liking -
but in the end I survived.
I had a good spot to sleep and the weather was mild. I had some brought along
sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs, and washed it down with some Danish bheer on a
park bench. Back at the con I heard the end of the Snorfcon programming (for
con organisers) and sat in the lobby watching TV when...in the timespan of
perhaps 10-15 minutes I began feeling very ill. I had to rush to the WC to
vomit. And then I began feeling even worse.
I placed myself outside the hotel and vomited even more. I got diarrhea (the
WC again) and began sweating - my T-shirt and my hair became all wet within
minutes. My stomach felt like hell, I felt very weak, and it was almost like
the world was spinning around me.
Jukka suggested that they’d take me to hospital. I was very dubious to such a
thing, but Jukka insited. It’d be covered by the Swedish health insurance
(which would be recognised on Åland too) and the con could cover that. Since I
couldn’t feel any improvement to my condition coming along, I was persuaded.
Tero Y organised a car which took me to the Mariehamn hospital just north of
the city centre. I suspected food poisioning - perhaps one of the eggs I ate
was bad?
I was registered in the emergency ward (with my Swedish passport as ID) and
laid myself down on a sofa in the waiting room, in basically a very miserable
condition. After about five minutes (Swedish emergency wards may take *much*
longer than that, I’ve heard - but maybe it was fast since it was off-season) a
nurse came and took me to a treatment rom where I was put on a bed with a
blanket over me. She made some preliminary checks (temperatue, blood pressure)
and then took out a needle to put me on IV. In my condition, realeasing fluid
from both ends of the digestive system, I had probably lost a lot of fluid. I
rested there - had to go up and vomit a couple of times, unfortunately - and
after about an hour a doctor came and made further checks, like feeling around
on my belly, asking me questions and so on.
His conclusion was that it probably wasn’t food poisoning, but a stomach flu.
I was given another bag of IV and some anti-vomiting pills and rested some
more. I was slowly, but very slowly at first, feeling better. The pills
probably helped, because the vomiting stopped. The good news is that this is a
disease that may pass very fast. In the best case it may last a few hours, in
worst case a day - I ended up somewhat in between.
The uncomfortable fact was that I had a meeting on the con, that I’d would
hate to miss, so after resting and getting IV for about three hours, I told
the staff that I felt well enough - not recovered but well enough - to leave.
Tero (many thanks to him!) organised a car to pick me up and I made it to my
meeting being only five minutes late. I wasn’t exactly feeling swell, but I
could stand up, the stomach felt uneasy (but I didn’t throw up - not even once
after taking those pills!) and things were slowly getting better during the
evening.
(Someone from the con took the bill I got, which was for 25 Euros, ca 30
dollars. That probably a “standard fee” but covered about three hours in bed, a
doctor checking me up, IVs, some medicine. I have a feeling that it would be
*more* expensive in Sweden, but I haven’t been to Swedish hospitals in decades
so I can’t say for sure.)
Meanwhile I had missed the GoH speech and a translator panel.
But I didn’t miss my meeting with a local (non-sf or fandom) celebrety, artist
and singer Sixten Jansson. We had organised meeting long before the con (we
were to meet at the Adlon 18.30 - he was in the lobby 18.35 when I came).
Sixten is well-known all over Åland and has made a couple of CDs in his own
strange style. Just *after* Åcon he was to sing at the 12th anniversary evening
of the cult music club Sunkit in Stockholm, and since I was going to his
hometown I thought it’d be a good idea too look him up before this concert.
We talked for maybe 1.5 hours and some of this was used for a short article
or mini interview which I have now written for the homepage of club Sunkit (I
don’t know if it’s up yet, but their URL should be www.sunkit.net).
I was still feeling a bit weak and dizzy, but was improving. I heard the
fanzine panel (but can’t remember much from it - expect that I commented that I
might revive one of my fanzines, since there are so few of them around now) but
missed the quiz (which was named “Never mind the buzzaldrins”; I heard that Ben
Roimola’s team won) and after that there was some other program going on which
never seemed to stop (it went on to well after midnight).
It was getting near Party Time. I asked around, but nobody seemed to have a
room party going on. There is this problem with roomparties: once you decided
to host one, the room doesn’t belong to you and you can’t decide yourself when
to go to bed. The party will have its own living mass, and this factor may have
made people reluctant to host a party.
But we soon came up with a very simple and brilliant solution: a corridor
party!
We had the whole floor two as a party zone, and more than half of last nights
204 party was in the corridor anyway (since all people didn’t fit into the
room). So we (about a dozen people) simply sat down in the corridor of floor
two, people brought out their tax-free booze and we started to have our party.
It worked very fine! Nobody in the rooms complained (they knew it was a party
zone) and all present seemd to be in high spirits. Personally, I took it very
easy with the drinking because of my stomach (about one glass of wine and two
drinks mixed with soda) but it went fine. I left just after 4 am once again; I
believe the corridor party dissolved around 5 am.
Day four and Sunday. Two things on the light program:
A gripe session, talking about the con - what went well and what went wrong?
And a session for summarizing the sf and fandom year of 2007. Con chair Eemeli
A was running around organising the committee for Åcon 3 (if you didn’t run
fast enough you’d be caught in his net!) and such a committee was formed, I
think 50% Finns, 50% Swedes. One problem is of course that several possible
committee members have other cons to organise, so the people who are free are
fewer than expected. (And I kept away that concom too, since I‘ll probably have
more than enough to do with the Baltcon 2009.)
I’ve always felt that the last day of a con is a day of depression and Agnst.
It’s all over. It’s like a mental hang-over. You walk around saying goodbye to
people and think about all the program items you missed.
But anyway, the big groups of congoers from both Finland and Sweden, left on
two ferries leaving at the same time 2.25 pm. I joined Ian McDonald to the
ferry terminal and said bye to the Finns, and then borrowed our cabin to have a
couple of hours sleep (generally tired from last day’s illness). We were about
a dozen people who shared one cabin in which to have our luggage.
When I woke up, the weather was very nice, and I saw the small islands in the
wonderful Stockholm archipelago float by as we made our way home...
A science fiction feeling came over me.
--Ahrvid
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