Here I am, safely arrived in Helsinki. It is warm and sunny — much nicer than the UK, I gather, having seen Al Reynolds’ tweet stream today — and Finncon is slowly coming together. This morning we did the traditional press conference. It was fairly quiet, but Jussi from Helsingin Sanomat (the most prestigious newspaper in Finland) did turn up and do an interview with Richard Morgan. Nalo Hopkinson’s books have not yet been translated into Finnish (and if you’ve read them you’ll have a good idea why) so she’s a harder sell with the national media, but I’m sure she’ll be a big hit with the fans.

After that we had a lunch meeting with a lady from the Finnish Cultural Institute to talk about how Finnish writers can get more exposure in the English-speaking world. Much to my surprise, we found Val Grimm in the same restaurant. She’s over here on business and won’t be able to make the con, so it was great to catch up.

Nalo and Richard have been whisked off to Turku by train in the company of the ever-efficient Tino and are getting a tour of the Ã…land archipelago tomorrow (weather forecast excellent, thank goodness). I’m staying on in Helsinki for another night to get some work done, and to try to get my head into Finnish time. Fortunately I have no problem cat-napping. Falling asleep is something I’m very good at.