Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #18 September 2015 | Página 28

The weather was variable, often sunny but
with a bitingly cold wind. The original name of the
island was Ahvaland, which means ‘land of water.’
Hotel Arkipelag is just off the central street and close
to the islands shops and restaurants.
The opening ceremony included music from a
brass band, and then the chairs, the Finn Sari Polvinen
and the Swede Johan Anglemark, gave us a warm welcome. The Con consisted of several tracks, with interviews, panels and talks, mostly in English but with
some items just in Finnish or Swedish. There were a
few familiar faces in the crowd, some writer friends
from the UK, but we soon made new friends too.
One of the first panels we saw was titled
Writers from Different Countries and included writers
from England, Russia, Latvia, Sweden, Finland and
Iceland. It was interesting to compare their various experiences of publishing. One thing they emphatically
agreed on, after being asked a question by a member
of the audience, and controlling their laughter, was
that it was very difficult to make a living from writing.
Once the program was over for the evening,
we faced our next challenge. When queuing for the
bar, to pay €7 for a bottle of beer, the bar man pointed
to the person behind me and said “you’re the last person I’m serving.” It was 9pm. We thought this a little
odd. Whilst sat drinking some minutes later a member
of staff came up to the table and said “we’re closing,
please finish your drinks and leave.”
So it was that we discovered that the evening
‘program’ was across the road in the hotel Arkipelag.
Entering the reception of the hotel opposite we saw a
bunch of people waiting for the lifts and asked them
where the party was. They informed us that you had
to take the lifts to the third floor, then find another lift
to take you back to the first floor. There was a number
of Brits, and we decided that the rather old and very
small lifts were too slow and sought the stairs, only to
discover that the stairs didn’t allow you out without a
card.
Back in the lobby we patiently awaited the
lifts, and eventually our turn came. Once we’d nego-

tiated the labyrinth and made our way to the pool via
many turns around corridors, and using what looked
like a service lift, we eventually arrived at the party.
Only to find that if we’d left the hotel and walked
around the side of the building we’d have been there
much, much sooner.
There was a Finnish choir, that sang a Star
Wars song, in Finnish, and an Evil Laughter competition, ably won by UK writer David Gullen, and we
made much use of the box of wine.
Early the next day I ensured I was at the
Worlds of Water talk that was given by Estonian archaeologist Kristin Ilves who was doing research on
the island. This, as well as the talk about architecture
and the walk around the island, was one of the most
interesting for island aficionados.
Ilves’s talk was all about geo-mythology and
Viking Age Aland. The Viking Age was all about
mobility thatchanged the world, or at least our little
corner of it. Although, she did show evidence of just
how far the Aland Vikings had spread, from Iceland to
the Ukraine.
It is now apparently well understood that
Ragnarok, and specifically Fimbulwinter, is the folk
memory of a disaster that occurred in the sixth century
whena super-volcano, identified as Llopango in San
Salvador, ushered in several years without summer as
the world was blanketed by a dust veil.
Using the archaeological evidence of declines
in settlements on the Nordic mainland and the rise
of settlements on the archipelago, as well as changes
in burial customs, social stratification and woodland
advance as evidence of agricultural decline. Ilves put
forth the well-accepted theory.
Aland, as a place with a very large seal population, and less dependent upon agriculture, became an
important centre of Nordic civilisation, as evidenced
in clay ‘bear-claw’ ornaments and sword chapes, made
on Aland and spread far and wide. It appears that
Aland was at the cross-roads between the Middle East
and I