Octocon 2010

This weekend I’ll be a guest at the 2010 Octocon convention in the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin. The Guest of Honour is George R.R. Martin, best known as the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels.

The first novel in the series, Game of Thrones, is currently being filmed in Northern Ireland as a HBO mini-series. Its tone has been described as ‘Sopranos with Swords’, and since HBO rarely does anything badly, this could be the fantasy television series of a generation.

Here’s the teaser trailer that HBO has released:

It’s a considerable coup for an Irish convention to have such an established author as a guest, and I hope there will be a good turn-out to welcome him to our shores. By next year, once the series has been aired, my guess is that Mr. Martin will be in considerable demand, and not just on the sf convention circuit.

Here’s my schedule for the convention:

Saturday

• 1pm Room Two – Comics From Here You Should Read

Sunday

• 12pm Room One – Defining Horror Culturally
• 2pm Room One – Getting Your Script To The Screen
• 4pm Room Two – The Golden Blaster Awards
• 6pm Room One – Working in Other People’s Worlds

Once again I’m part of the Golden Blasters judging triumvirate, which this year includes Dave Lally and Michael Carroll.

Five short sf/fantasy/horror films have been selected by the legendary John Vaughan from an international field to compete in the Golden Blasters. Two awards will be handed out: one selected by the jury, and one selected by the audience. John Vaughan deserves much kudos for all the hard work he’s put into the competition already.

I hope loads of people will turn up to watch the films and to nominate their favourite. I’m certainly looking forward to it!

As much as I enjoy discussing topics dear to my heart, the highlight of Octocon for me will be time spent with friends I meet infrequently. It should be a great weekend!