Raimo Nikkonen

A "Best Of" collection. When you take N best from a small population, it is obvious that there will be more mediovre stories than if you take the same N from a large population. Still, an enjoyable read.

Contains
"Keskiyön mato Ikaalisissa", S. Albert Kivinen (a pretty good HPL pastiche) ****;
"Manan mailla", Olavi Markkanen (gutter journalism) **;
"Desierto.bas", Maarit Verronen (one of the few innovative computer/fantasy stories I recall) **;
"Heitä oli neljä", Maarit Verronen (interesting, not too explicating dark scifi) ***;
"Aivan luonnollinen erehdys", Juhani Niskala (reminiscent of early Simak) **;
"Kaitsijat", Veikko Rekunen (traditional juvenile robinsonade) **;
"Maksettu matka mustalle aukolle", Antti Oikarinen (close to noir-ish space opera) **;
"Veljmiehet", Pekka Virtanen (lightweight humour piece) **;
"Valoja vedessä", Jukka Terästö (invaders) ***;
"Maailmanrekisteri", Matias Ranta /pseudonym (personal implications of really real-time status monitoring like Facebook/Twitter on steroids) ****;
"Universaalinen rakkaus", Matilda Ranta /pseudonym (logical endpoint of conflating masculine sexuality and macho militarism) **;
"Happoa", Olav Tirkkonen (dystopia of male parthenogenesis) **;
"Siegfriedin laulu", Olav Tirkkonen (cyborg warfighters and magic-mushroom hippies) ****;
"Uhrit", Timo Surkka (ghouls and their supplier) ***;
"Ilmetty sir Lazarus", Osmo Ilmari /pseudonym (comic reincarnation) ***;
"Paikka ulottuvuudessa Q", Ramon Páz /pseudonym (comic alternative biology) **;
"Pirunkirjojen kintereillä", Boris Hurtta /pseudonym (pretty good HPL pastiche) ****;
"Aikaportti",, Boris Hurtta /pseudonym (run-of-the-mill but not bad time travel guilt tripping) ***;
"Kiviperkele", Boris Hurtta /pseudonym (garden-variety talisman with a curse) **
--… (mehr)