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Award from the Artist Support Scheme 2020
Galway County Council's Arts Office has selected my work for an award under the Artist Support Scheme 2020.
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Fantasycon 2018
Newly arrived in Chester, UK for the start of the always-fun Fantasycon weekend, I’m dressed appropriately. I’ll be on the following panels: 5 pm on Saturday, 20 October The Horror Writers Association Panel I’m moderating, and also attending is Marie O’Regan, Ramsey Campbell, CC Adams and Phil Sloman 6 pm on Saturday, 20 October Screenwriting for TV I’m moderating a panel with Stephen Volk, Terry Grimwood, Gavin Williams and Stephen Gallagher. 8 pm on Saturday, 20 October Brave New Words I’m on the Brave New Words podcast with Ed Fortune, Anna Stephens, Rebecca Derrick, Anne Fortune and Claire North 1 pm on Sunday, 21 October Strange Fictions I’m on the…
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Interviewing at the Galway Film Fleadh 2018
I’ll be conducting Q&As after the screenings of three films at the Galway Film Fleadh this year: Possum Wednesday, 11 July at Pálás Screen 1 – film begins at 22:00 I’ll be chatting to writer/director Matthew Holness (Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) about his dark debut feature, and its development from short story to screen. Holiday Thursday, 12 July at Pálás Screen 1 – film begins at 20:45 I’ll be discussing this challenging feature film debut by Swedish filmmaker Isabella Eklöf (Notes from Underground). Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Saturday, 14 July at Pálás Screen 1 – film begins at 22:45 I’ll be talking to screenwriter Ed Solomon (Men in Black) about…
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Adapting your Voice workshop
At the Junior Film Fleadh in Galway this Saturday I’ll be giving a workshop on Adapting Your Voice: Tailoring Stories for Various Media. It’ll be a two-hour whistlestop overview of the basics of storytelling, with tips and suggestions on how to tailor your story idea for different media: prose, Film/TV/Internet, theatre, games, comics, and radio/podcast. All for €12.50! The Junior Film Fleadh is the young people’s arm of the prestigious Galway Film Fleadh, and offers four days of fun and useful events aimed at budding filmmakers and young film fans.
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Fantasycon 2017
I’ve always found the British Fantasy Society’s annual convention, Fantasycon, to be a welcoming and friendly event, so I’m looking forward to another fun weekend of conversation and perhaps the occasional tipple at Fantasycon 2017 (29 Sept – 1 Oct). Here’s my schedule for the event: FRIDAY Writers and Computer Games – 4 pm (Panel Room 1) Maura McHugh (mod), Chris Brookmyre, Allen Stroud, Nate Crowley, Jonathan L. Howard Book launches by PS Publishing – 5 pm (Broadway Suite) I’ll only be at the event for a short time, but it should be a fun occasion TV Treasures – 5.30 pm (Panel Room 2) Maura McHugh (mod), Anne Lyle, Stephen Gallagher, Steve J. Shaw, Gavin Williams SATURDAY…
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We Are The Martians – The Legacy of Nigel Kneale
After a change of publishers I’m delighted to say that the We Are The Martians – The Legacy of Nigel Kneale, edited by Neil Snowdon, is now available for pre-order from PS Publishing. It is due to be published next month. This is a collection of essays and observations about the film and TV work by the incredibly influential and ground-breaking British screenwriter, Nigel Kneale. Here’s the Table of Contents for this terrific anthology, which will be a must for anyone who was a fan of Kneale’s work. CONTENTS Foreword – Mark Gatiss Introduction – Neil Snowdon King Of Hauntology – Mark Chadbourn The Literary Kneale – Tim Lucas The…
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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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flipping the gender
Thanks to Bad Reputation – a blog that’s become part of my regular reading – I discovered the awesome The Girls on Film. The team is made up of Ashleigh Harrington (co-creator, actress, editor, effects artist), Cat McCormick (co-creator, actress) and Jeff Hammond (co-creator, director). The trio re-makes scenes from male-dominated movies with the women playing the parts of the men. Thus far they’ve re-created scenes from Star Trek, The Town and Fight Club. Here is the Fight Club clip in all it’s wicked glory. The remade scenes – or cocktails as TGOF call them – underline the potential of putting women into roles that are not conventional. Both the…
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contribution by women in recent horror anthologies
On the Black Static web site today regular columnist Peter Tennant has analysed the contribution by women to horror anthologies over the past year. I thought it might be instructive to look at how women writers are represented in the current crop of anthologies, using the thirteen anthologies I reviewed in #19, Lovecraft Unbound from #18, and three others that are waiting in the TBR pile (Haunted Legends edited by Ellen Datlow & Nick Mamatas, End of the Line edited by Jonathan Oliver and More Stories from The Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling). Of course, this is too sparse a sampling to draw any hard and fast conclusions, and…
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blasted winners
I took the above picture of graffiti and tags in Temple Bar in Dublin today. Despite being in the vicinity I never got a chance to drop by to Octocon‘s Dead Dog get-together in the Porterhouse as I was busy in the afternoon. Since I was on the jury for the Golden Blasters Short Film Competition with Michael Carroll and Dave Lally I figured I should mention the winners of the competitions: Golden Blaster Award for Best Short Film (Jury Award): ‘Ubermensch’, directed by Simon Temple and written by Daniel Poole, based on a short story by Kim Newman. Silver Blaster Award for Best Short film (Audience Award): ‘The Astronomer’s…