Dec 14, 2016

Finnish Speculative Fiction

So, I won a hundred euros in the Portti writing competition and decided to blow the whole thing on Finnish speculative fiction. What could be more fitting? I've been eyeing many of these novels for a while now, so I knew just what I wanted. I bought these from aavetaajuus.fi  and kirjapuoti.fi. Kirjapuoti has great deals to be had (and shipping is included!) and Aavetaajuus also sells used books, so they're worth checking out, because more is more when it comes to books, am I right?

Wanna see what I got? (I'll list the prices so you can see I stuck to my budget.)



I've been enjoying Katri Alatalo's short story collection Älä riko pintaa (in Finnish we don't capitalise all the words in a title, so that's why these might look weird to any non-Finnish readers...) so much that I wanted to check out the  fantasy series she wrote that's based in the same world. All of these are from kirjapuoti.fi. There's no English transition (yet?), sorry.

Karnin labyrintti 15 e

Laulu kadonneesta saaresta 12 e

Kevääntuoja 12 e

The rest are from Aavetaajuus.



I've been meaning to read Emmi Itäranta's award-winning novels for a long time now, so I got the first and second one both. Pretty sure they're worth it. And hey, there are English translationS of both books! Here's the blurb from amazon.com for Memory of Water:

"Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village.
But secrets do not stay hidden forever, and after her father’s death the army starts watching their town—and Noria. And as water becomes even scarcer, Noria must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship."

Teemestarin kirja (Memory of Water) 5 e (used)

Kudottujen kujien kaupunki  (The Weaver) 11 e



Then I got J. S. Meresmaa's newest book. I've read the first Mifonki book and quite liked it, but because the whole series would have pretty much eaten up my budget, I went for this stand-alone.  No English translation, bah.

Naakkamestari 20 e



My last choice was the young-adult werewolf story from Elina Pitkäkangas.  No translation of this one, either. This has one of the most beautiful covers I've ever seen.

Kuura 20 e.

The last few euros went to shipping, but seven books is a pretty good, I think.

What about you guys? Who are your favourite Finnish spec fic authors? Have you tried the English translations? What did you think?


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