FINLAND

   Sf in Finland, now over a century old, has been diverse, with few clear-cut lines of development. The earliest story was the serial "Muistelmia matkaltani Ruskealan pappilaan uuden vuoden aikoina vuonna1983" ("Memoirs of My Trip to the Vicarage of Ruskeala around New Year 1983") (1883, in the newspaper Aura) by Evald Ferdinand Jahnsson. Apart from a few children's stories, early Finnish sf took the form of future, sometimes socialist, UTOPIAS. The Moon was reached by an icy ball in "Matka kuuhun" ("Voyage to the Moon") (1887) by Tyko Hagman, but the firsttrue sf was the novella "Tahtien tarhoissa" ("Among the Stars") (1912) by Arvid Lydecken, which was about Helsinki in AD2140, a Martian attack, avoyage to Mars and the beginning of peaceful coexistence on Earth after Mars has been destroyed by impacting asteroids.Fear of Bolshevism duringWWI produced several imaginary- WAR novels, the first being the excellent Ylos helvetista ("Up from Hell") (1917) by Konrad Lehtimaki. In Suur-Isanmaa ("The Great Fatherland") (1918) by Kapteeni Ter-s, Finland defeats Russia, forces the UK's surrender and becomes a superpower. Kohtalon kolmas hetki ("Fate's Third Moment") (1926) by Aarno Karimo tellsabout a war in 1967-8 between Finland and the Soviet Union, which nation (in a defence union with the Mongols) is totally devastated by strangeFinnish inventions. A typical hero of the period would be a scientist-inventor. The most curious of these "engineer novels" is Neljannen ulottuvuuden mies ("Man of the Fourth Dimension") (1919) by H.R.Halli, in which a new chemical substance enables its users to see and walk through solid objects. The best book of this period, Viimeisella hetkella("At the Last Moment") (1922), also by Halli, creates a daring time perspective into Earth's distant future.There were fewer sf books in the 1930s. Among the more notable are The Diamondking of Sahara (1935),written in English by Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspa, and Undred fran krateron("The Wonder of Crater Island") (1939), written in Swedish by Ole Eklund. There were 30 sf books published in the 1940s. The most popular were theAtorox series by Outsider (pseudonym of Aarne Haapakoski) whose eponymous character was a ROBOT: Atorox, ihmisten valtias ("Atorox, Lord of Humans") (1947), Atorox kuussa ("Atorox on the Moon") (1947), Atorox Marsissa("Atorox on Mars") (1947), Atorox Venuksessa ("Atorox on Venus") (1947),Atorox Merkuriuksessa ("Atorox on Mercury") (1948) and Atoroxin paluu v. 2948 ("The Return of Atorox in AD2948") (1948). The most remarkable book of the period, however, was Volter Kilpi's Gulliverin matka Fantomimian mantereelle ("Gulliver's Travel to the Continent of Fantomimia") (1944), where Gulliver leaves the 18th century for the 20th.The term"science fiction" itself came to Finland in 1953 with translations of US books, and the 1950s saw growing enthusiasm for sf; the publisher Otava held a competition, "Adventures in the World of Technology", whose winner was Armas J. Pulla with Lentavalautanen sieppasi pojat ("The Boys WereSnatched by a Flying Saucer") (1954), in which antlike Martians intend to invade Earth. Other books of the decade were juvenile adventures. Sf writers of the 1950s, each with several books, include Osmo Ilmari and Antero Harju, and Ralf Parland (who wrote in Swedish).The 1960s were pooryears for Finnish sf. The only notable novel of the period was Paikka nimelta Plaston ("A Place Called Plaston") (1968) by Erkki Ahonen, set on a planet whose devolved inhabitants live in herds, controlled by COMPUTERS. Ahonen's subsequent books, Tietokonelapsi ("The ComputerChild") (1972), about a human embryo's excised brain interfaced with a computer, and Syva matka ("Deep Voyage") (1976), about the evolution of consciousness on another planet, are Finland's most important sf novels. Further books worth mentioning from the 1970s are: Viimeinen uutinen ("TheLast News") (1970) by Risto Kavanne, about NEAR FUTURE power politics; Rosterna i den sena timmen ("Voices in the Late Hours") (1971) by Bo Carpelan, about the feelings of people under the threat of nuclear war; and Aurinkotuuli ("Wind from the Sun") (1975) by Kullervo Kukkasjarvi (1938-).The first Finnish sf magazine, Spin, began as a FANZINE in 1977.It was followed by Aikakone ("Time Machine") (1981), Portti ("The Gate") (1982), Tahtivaeltaja ("Star Wanderer") (1982) and Ikaros (1986). Besides translations, these magazines publish short fiction by Finnish writers, who before had had to be content with occasional publication in mainstream periodicals. Aikakone has grown to the point that it singlehandedly supports its own fandom and sf milieu, with new young authors appearing.Of these Portti is the largest, followed by Tahtivaeltaja and then by Aikakone.Recent Finnish sf is represented by Auruksen tapaus ("The Case ofAurus") (1980) by Jukka Pakkanen, a vision of the future; Amos ja saarelaiset ("Amos and the Island People") (1987) by the well known MAINSTREAM writer Hannu Salama, telling in a stylistically compact way ofthe world after a nuclear WAR; Katajanukke ("The Juniper Doll") (1988), a first novel by Pekka Virtanen; and Messias ("Messiah") (1989) by Kari Nenonen, the story of Christ's cloning from the Shroud of Turin and of theconsequences. The anthologies Jainen vaeltaja ("The Ice Wanderer") (anth 1986), Atoroxin perilliset ("The Heirs of Atorox") (anth 1988) andTahtipuu ("Startree") (anth 1990) contain mainly short stories by new Finnish writers - among the best of whom are Johanna Sinisalo, Ari Tervonen and Eeva-Liisa Tenhunen - selected from magazines and writing competitions. The annual Finnish award for best short story is the Atorox . AWARD, whose winners up to 1993 included four wins by Johanna Sinisalo.Finnish FANDOM is quite active; there have been four national conventions, known as "Finncons", all in Helsinki, held in 1986, 1989, 1991 and 1993.Tales from Finnish mythology, as collected from legends and balladsto form the epic poem Kalevala from 1828 to 1849, have not only nourished Finnish writers - as in Pekka Virtanen's "Kanavat" ("Canals") (1985),Veikko Rekunen's "Viimeinen laulaja" ("The Last Singer") (1985) and Ernst Lampen's Taivaallisia tarinoita ("Heavenly Stories") (coll 1918) - but have also influenced the works of writers abroad, as for example Emil PETAJA's four-novel Kalevala sequence - Saga of Lost Earths (1966), TheStar Mill (1966), The Stolen Sun (1967) and Tramontane (1967) - as well as his The Time Twister (1968) and, by L. Sprague DE CAMP and Fletcher PRATT, Wall of Serpents (1953-4; 1960).

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   See also: SCANDINAVIA.