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Octocon 2012
In a few hours I’ll be heading to Dublin for Octocon, the Irish National Science Fiction convention. It’s always a fun event and I’m looking forward to meeting people. Here’s my schedule: Saturday, 13 October Noon in the Abbey Room – Brains, Brains and Brains! With Emmet O’Cuanna, Derek Gunn, and Lynn Moran 1pm in the Pavilion Room – Masterclass in Modern Science Fiction. With Peadar Ó Guilín, and Carol Connolly 5pm in the Tivoli Room – Serialisation vs graphic novels. With C.E Murphy, Michael Carroll, Alan Nolan, and Rob Curley Sunday, 14 October Noon in the Tivoli Room – Why so violent? With Oisin McGann, Heather Turnbull, Celine Kiernan,…
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Octocon 2011
One of my favourite Irish conventions of the calendar has rolled around again: Octocon. It’s taking place in the Cameden Court Hotel in Dublin, and features Guest of Honour John Higgins as well as a plethora of guests (including me). Here’s my schedule for the weekend: Saturday 12:00 Essentials of Horor Fiction 15:00 “Women in Sci-Fi/fantasy/comics panels” – Are they still needed? 17:00 Atomic Diner – Are Irish comics viable? 18:00 If at first you don’t succeed Sunday 11:00 What fresh hell is this? 12:00 Reading 14:00 Golden Blasters 17:00 Awards Ceremony I’m very much looking forward to the Golden Blasters Awards – which is the screening of five short…
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three secrets of writing
The above picture is Sir Terry Pratchett twenty years ago when he attended the first Octocon convention in Ireland as Guest of Honour. It was early in his career, and I remember him as affable, friendly and willing to socialise with the fans (not always the case with authors). The convention introduced me to his work, and I’ve been an admirer of his Discworld novels ever since. Today, Pratchett has sold over 70 million books worldwide and his hair is much whiter. He’s also coping with early-onset Alzheimer’s with rare honesty, as evidenced in last year’s two-part BBC documentary. Pratchett is currently in Trinity College Dublin for a month as…
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Übermensch
If you would like to watch ‘Übermensch’, which won the Golden Blaster for Best Short Film at Octocon, here it is: https://dailymotion.com/video/xdm0p6?width=480&iframe=1&additionalInfos=0&autoPlay=0&hideInfos=0 ÜbermenschScreenplay by Daniel Poole, adapted from a short story by Kim Newman; Director: Simon Temple. For those who were at Octocon you can now watch the closing title sequence in full, which I recommend.
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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. 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…
