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Twisted Fairy Tales
I'm delighted to announce that my first collection, Twisted Fairy Tales, will be published by Barron's in the USA in Spring 2013.
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Jennifer Wilde 2
Issue 2 of Jennifer Wilde is in the final prep stages and should be heading off to the printers soon. So, as an appetiser here’s the cover of issue 2. Once again artist Stephen Downey has delivered another captivating image.
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Róisín Dubh issue 2 cover
The cover of issue 2 of Róisín Dubh, the comic book mini-series I’ve written for Atomic Diner Comics. All art – including this dramatic image – and lettering are by Stephen Byrne.
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going up north
This weekend I’m heading up north to Derry’s 2-D Comic Book Festival. It’s my first time attending, but I’ve heard really positive things about the event, so I’m looking forward it to (but not the 5 1/2 hour bus journey!). It’s taking place from the Thursday, 2nd June – Saturday, 4th of June, and is completely free. The Guests of Honour are Mark Chiarello, Mick McMahon and Glen Fabry. The guest list includes both Irish and International comic book writers and artists, including Stephen Downey who is the artist on the other Atomic Diner title I’m writing, Jennifer Wilde. I’ll be attending from Friday evening just in time to catch the panels that…
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in the spotlight
The image on the right happened the night after I returned to my hotel room after the ZeBBie Awards in Dublin. Perhaps there was a version of “I feel pretty” playing in my head, as I don’t get the opportunity to dress up often. This started as a blurry picture of me without my glasses (rather appropriate), and as I do sometimes I began mucking around with the image. Of course I should have gone to bed, but after the buzz of a party I wasn’t in the humour to sleep. I ended up looking a bit like a comic book character, which dovetails nicely with what I’m writing at…
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take a deep breath
I like to play around with images in Paint Shop Pro: change their colours, deform them, reverse them, etc. and see what happens. A lot of the time I have no objective other than to see what arises. It’s an enjoyable exercise for me. This started out as a photo I took of a children’s ride outside a café in Santa Ponsa, Mallorca last February. It was late at night and the town was deserted. This gnome and his crazy, wild-eyed horse companion had that weird, startling life of the neglected toy. Perhaps I was inspired by tonight’s fun episode of Fringe, with its homage to Inception, A Scanner Darkly…
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cú chulainn mural
Last week I was lucky to get a tour of the new Google building in Dublin. I was blown away by the interior design. I don’t believe I’ve encountered another company that has invested so much thought and consideration into designing functional and fun environments for their employees. Each floor is themed in a particular way, and as a mythology nut and a fan of comics I was delighted with the Emain Macha floor. Here’s most of the full-wall mural in the games room/café on that floor: Here’s a close-up: I’ve more images from this on my Flickr account. That’s the Irish hero Cú Cuhlainn, no doubt doing his famous…
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old horror
Today I was selecting photographs to post to my Flickr stream from those I took at the Church of Saint Bartholomew in Sóller, Mallorca. One of them was the above photograph of the eponymous saint himself, Saint Bartholomew. As I was examining the photograph I realised there was another face hanging from the Saint’s waist. It was a WTF? moment. I hadn’t even seen it when I’d taken the original photograph. Thankfully, a small bit of Internet research cleared it up. Bartholomew is reported as being martyred in three different ways, all of them bloody. The most popular variety is being skinned alive. Hence, pictures and sculptures of the saint…
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gallery cats
Mallorcans love cats and dogs. They are well-treated and indulged, and are everywhere on the island, usually not far from their doting owners. I snapped this mother and daughter duo in a Gallery in the incredibly picturesque village of Sóller. I caught the rickety train, with its old-fashioned wooden carriages, into the mountains to explore the town for a couple of hours. The train trundled upwards past almond trees shedding their blossoms, trees dripping with lemons and oranges, and ancient olive groves. Sóller’s buildings are relatively unaltered, with terracotta roofs, wrought iron balconies and sturdy, polished wooden doors. Many of its winding, narrow streets – loomed over by serrated mountains…
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Mise en abyme
This is a set of Matryoshka dolls, or Russian nesting dolls, I bought recently at the craft fair in Galway (they are from Minsk). I’ve always wanted at least one set, because there is something about the self-similarity aspect of the dolls that appeal to me a great deal. I was introduced to the concept of fractals by Martin, quite soon after we met. Martin was an engineering student at the time, and loved the elegance of fractal mathematics and the Mandelbrot set in particular. When I saw the recursive patterns printed as images it immediately reminded me of the artwork by M.C. Escher. When I was a kid a…
