Book about Finnish space colonists?

February 9, 2007 12:15 PM

ScienceFictionBookFilter: What is the title of a science-fiction book about a cold, snowfilled planet being colonized by residents from Finland? Artificial suns and mystical powers involved...

I remember reading this in the early 90s. The book was about a frozen planet that was colonized by people from Finland because of their hardiness with dealing with frigid temperatures. In the book a large mirror in space had been setup to reflect light from an existing sun down to the planet's surface. This caused a band of warmth to encircle the planet's equator and in this most residents were able to live a normally-warm existence. However, there were a group new-age types who travelled to the snowy outer reaches of the planet and somehow gained mystical powers. If I recall correctly there was a lot of discussion about skiing, mysticism, a guy named "Anders" and some sort of "secret lair". Any ideas?

posted by rlef98 to media & arts (4 comments total)

Is it Allies and Aliens? I'm not familiar with it, though I'm a big sci fi lover, but googled finland planet colonize and this is what I found. It sounds interesting!
posted by purenitrous at 3:23 PM on February 9, 2007

Hmm, I don't think that's it. But that book sound pretty fun too!
posted by rlef98 at 3:52 PM on February 9, 2007

I haven't read any of them, but I remember hearing about a couple of science fiction reworkings of the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, and I wonder if it was one of those.

There seem to be two examples of these- one is a series of four books written in the 60s by Emil Petaja. The titles of them are Saga of Lost Earths, The Star Mill, The Stolen Sun, and Tramontaine. The other is a more recent two-book series called the Books of Mana by Ian Watson, consisting of Lucky's Harvest and The Fallen Moon.

From your description it sounds like it could easily be based on the Kalevala- along with the Finnish aspect, the Kalevala also involves a group traveling to the frozen north and gaining mystical powers. I'm guessing it probably is one of the reworkings, but I could be wrong. Hope that helps, and good luck!
posted by a louis wain cat at 4:17 PM on February 9, 2007

For those interested I was able to find the answer myself. It's a book called the Snows of Jaspre by Mary Caraker. Here is the description:

Morgan Farraday, an administrator from Earth, becomes involved in the destiny of the planet Jaspre when her daughter Dee meets the charismatic Anders Ahlwen, whose followers receive psychic powers and a transcendent spiritual reality from the artificial sun Argus.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/mary-caraker/snows-of-jaspre.htm

Thanks for the help and the good ideas!
posted by rlef98 at 9:16 PM on February 9, 2007