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Borne Review
Tonight I reviewed Borne, the latest novel by Jeff VanderMeer, for the RTÉ Radio 1 Arts show, Arena.
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Talking vegetarianism
I don’t talk about it terribly much, but I’ve been a vegetarian for twenty years at this point. Recently, I was invited onto The Culinary Muse radio show on Kinvara FM, hosted by Anna O’Donnell, to chat about vegetarianism, as well as playing some themed music on the subject. You can listen to it online now. It was a fun show, but I always enjoy doing radio.
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Kindred – the graphic novel
I recently appeared on RTÉ Radio 1’s culture and arts show, Arena, in which I gave a brief overview of the graphic novel adaptation of Kindred, the award-winning novel by science fiction legend Octavia E. Butler. The graphic novel is adapted by Damian Duffy (writer) and John Jennings (artist), and published by Abrams ComicArts. You can listen to the show as a podcast online, and my segment is at the end. It’s a pity I didn’t have more time as I could have talked for longer about this fine work. Butler was a writer hero of mine when I was a teenager; her sf novels about the struggles with identity,…
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Talking Bande Dessinée on Arena
This evening between 7pm – 8pm I’ll have a segment on Arena – RTÉ Radio 1’s Arts & Culture show – to discuss the forthcoming Fête de la Bande Dessinée, the Irish / French Comic Book Festival, which is taking place from 2 -3 March in Dublin. I’m very much looking forward to this event in Dublin, and delighted to be able chat about it and promote it with the Arena audience. Here’s the programme for the festival: Wednesday 2 March, from 6.30pm Pulse – Irish Comics Now Mart Firestation: 190a Rathmines Road Lower, Dublin 6 Pulse takes a snapshot of what’s happening in Irish comics right now. From small-press…
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discussing Trigger Warning
I’ll be discussing Neil Gaiman‘s latest short story collection, Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances, on RTÉ Radio 1’s culture show, Arena, this Monday, 9 March, at some point between 7pm – 8pm.
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Off again…
I haven’t even had time to write up about my time at World Fantasy Convention in Brighton (it was big, busy, and fun!), and I’m off again to Leeds this weekend for the Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival. Stephen Downey, the artist on Jennifer Wilde, the comic I write for Atomic Diner, will have a table at the convention, so make sure to drop along, say hello, and perhaps buy a comic! He’ll be at table 120 in New Dock Hall. A funny thing happened en route to World Fantasy Convention – I was at the airport and got a phone call from the producer of RTÉ Radio 1’s art…
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latest audio
I had a fabulous time at ArcadeCon this weekend. I’ll do a proper write-up tomorrow when I have the time. In the meantime I wanted to mention my trip on Friday evening to RTÉ Radio 1 for the broadcast of Arena. I’ve done audio work before – a series of culture discussions for web radio, and some podcasts – but this was new territory in regards to the prestige of the programme and that it was live. I swotted up on Neil Gaiman‘s career in advance, and arrived well prepared at the Donnybrook campus a little keyed up, but at a manageable level. Radio is intimate and much more conducive…
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ArcadeCon & Arena
I’m very much looking forward to this weekend in Dublin, where I’ll be one of the special guests at ArcadeCon. It’s a multi-media convention so there’s a variety of geeky interests for the fans: cosplay workshops, anime, comic book discussions, pop culture exegesis, music, as well as interviews with actors and actresses from genre TV and film. The FAQ and programme of events is online, and you can even download an Android app with all the details you’ll need for your weekend of fun and entertainment. There are a couple of events starting on Thursday, but the convention kicks off properly on Friday afternoon. I’ve also been asked to appear…
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dynamic trio
I utterly failed to post images last week, as I promised, so I’m endeavouring to do better this week. This dynamic trio is Wonder Woman, Catwoman and Hawk Girl, and was a small splurge on my part while I was in Dublin last week. I was smitten with the expression on Hawk Girl’s face in particular. There is also a Harley Quinn in this set, but alas she sold out first (no surprise). I was up in Dublin last week for the 2011 ZeBBie Awards Ceremony, the annual awards voted upon by the members of the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild. It’s an event that honours Irish writers of radio,…
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sun in the sky you know how I feel
I’ve been getting a constant stream of birthday greetings from people via Facebook and Twitter today, and it’s lovely. Thank you all! People might grumble about social media, but it has its good uses too. I’m just about recovered from my two-week trip with back-to-back convention in the UK. World Horror Convention was probably the highlight because it was a well-run convention, and I met loads of new people at the event since the horror/dark fantasy crowd aren’t well represented at the likes of Eastercon (which focuses more on SF and Fantasy). It’s pretty much confirmed that I’ll have to start attending Fantasy Con in England, and I’ve already joined…
