Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Science fiction has never been one of the great success stories of the Finnish book business. But interest in the genre is nevertheless undoubtedly greater than the sales figures give us to understand. And there are other pointers: at present, for instance, five magazines entirely devoted to the subject are published in Finland.

In 1986 the astronomical society Ursa organised a science fiction writing competition, in connection with which a preliminary bibliography of Finnish science fiction was put together.

That bibliography revealed some surprising science fiction enthusiasts: some of the best-known names in Finnish literature, such as Mika Waltari and Toivo Pekkanen, turned out to have given their imaginations a holiday at some point in their careers and turned their hands to a couple of colourful pieces of science fiction. More…