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Hello. This is more or less a continuation of the July
Newsletter (NL from here on), which I sent out three weeks
ago, rather than being the first part of the August NL. Well,
it all makes sense to me...
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I want to thank all of you who went
to the Octocon website to vote for this NL as their
favourite source of SF news. Besides the fact that it is very
complimentary, there’s also the fact that it may, at some
stage in the future, be useful to be able to say that I was
chosen as the most popular news source in an independent online
poll, especially if I’m looking for sponsorship or something
like that. I’ve included the final votes, for those who are
interested, as the poll is now closed.
I should point out that Albedo
1, which got no votes at all, should never have been in
the running in the first place, as it is a short story magazine,
and could not really be anyone’s source of SF news. Other
that that, all the rest are bona fide news sources. They’re having a poll now on the popularity or otherwise of
the Royal Marine Hotel as a convention site, so I’m
sure at least one recipient of this NL, down in Ennis, will
be pleased at the opportunity to officially register his antipathy.
Go to the Octocon
website to make your feelings felt... Again, thanks to
all that voted for me.
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OCTOCON
POLL RESULTS
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| Irish SF News |
36 |
| Lost Car Park |
27 |
| SF
in Ireland |
21 |
| Ansible |
17 |
| Plotka.com |
10 |
| SciFi.com |
8 |
| SFX
Magazine |
8 |
| Locus |
6 |
| Silveroak.co.uk |
6 |
| Fans Across the
World |
2 |
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Albedo 1 |
0 |
| Others |
10 |
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After a number of people expressed interest
in going to see the original horsedrawn wagon from ‘Wanderly
Wagon', I’ve decided to organise an outing! As the event
is on Saturday the 10th of August (and not the 11th, as I
inadvertently listed in the bit at the end of the last NL),
at the National Museum of Decorative Arts & History,
which is at Collins’ Barracks, Dublin 7 at 12 noon,
I’ve decided that we should all meet in the main bar in the
Ashling Hotel on Parkgate Street at 11:30
that morning.
If you’re interested in going, let me know, so I’ll know how
many of you to expect. If you’re not sure how to find the
Ashling, have a look at this helpful map
on the Ashling Hotel web site.
More information on Wanderly Wagon at the Wanderly
Wagon on the Web! web site. Sadly, RTÉ wiped the tapes
as they were going on for economic reasons, it seems, so there’s
no real chance of Dave Lally deciding to do a Wanderly Wagon
video special at his next convention as video room supervisor.
Almost sad, really... .
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"Science Fiction and Fantasy set in Ireland: A Checklist" is a website run by Dr. Nicholas Whyte which is well worth a look. As it says, it’s a checklist of SF&F works featuring Ireland. Myself and the lovely Deirdre met the good doctor in Belfast while we were up there at MeCon earlier this year, where he got us all locked into the Botanical Gardens, and showed us various fine restaurants which we will be returning to. I’m looking forward to seeing him at Octocon this year. Maybe I can bring him to the Botanic Gardens...
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The best thing for me to do here is quote
the Horrorthon website, which says: “The Horrorthon
Festival is a yearly event at Dublin's IFC, bringing
the best in new and classic horror to an eager Irish audience.
Always well attended and attracting celebrity guests from
the international horror scene, each year has seen Horrorthon
become bigger and more successful and we look forward to bringing
you even more frights and fun this Halloween 2002.” So now.
I know that the next festival is to take place in the Irish
Film Centre in Dublin’s Eustace Street over the October
bank holiday weekend, from Friday the 25th to Monday the
28th. More information will be forthcoming at the Horrorthon
web site.
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I’m trying to concentrate on events only
on this side of the Irish Sea, but I can’t resist this one.
Witchfest UK is billed as ‘The largest Witchcraft festival
held in Europe within recorded history,’ and looks fascinating.
It’s only a one-day event, on the 9th of November, but they
seem to have a lot going on, with a number of famous authors
and experts from the craft. Sadly I don’t know enough to know
who’s who, but at least I’ve heard of the ‘Mediaeval Baebes,’
who are providing the entertainment. More information at the
Witchfest
web site.
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- Various other things, with a greater or lesser relevance
to the primary theme of this newsletter are: The 2nd
Dublin Tattoo Festival is to be held in the RDS
over the weekend of 22-24 November, and you can find
out more at their web
site.
- ‘Toys of Yesterday’ have another fair in the Sandyford
Community Centre on Sunday the 25th of August. This is appallingly
difficult to get to, though, and beyond my meagre powers
of description... It only costs 70c to get in, though.
- There’s a Militaria Fair in the North Star Hotel
in Amiens Street, just opposite the railway station,
on Saturday the 10th of August from 10AM to 4PM. I don’t
know how much the entrance fee is. As far as I’m concerned,
this kind of think is theoretically germane to what I’m
doing here, but then I’m intending to list Cats Shows, too,
on the basis that most SF fans keep cats, as well as having
a very high percentage of sword-owners in their midst...
- I’m a great believer in free outdoor events, and therefore
I commend to you all the People’s Photography Exhibition,
which takes place around the railing of St Stephens’
Green in Dublin over the weekend of 24th and 25th
of August. If it’s anything like the art exhibition
they hold there, there’ll be some awful stuff, and a few
great things. Well worth finding out, though.
- I’m not intending to do a lot of "go look at this great
link" sort of stuff, but I have to bring this one to you
attention. It’s called "The Curse Engine" or more
properly "An tInneal Mallachtaí" as it is simply an Irish
language curse generator. Go look at "An tInneal Mallachtaí
" for yourself.
- And a brief plug: Liam Webster sells back issue
comics from a shop in Dublin called Crow Corner,
which he shares with two other sellers. It’s on the corner
of Crow Street and Cecilia Street, opposite
the side door of Urban Outfitters. Besides doing lots of
individual comics, he has a load of graphic novels, which
he’s selling at €10 each, which I think is great value.
There’s lots of desirable things there, but don’t bother
looking for all the reprints of ‘Weird Science’ and ‘Weird
Fantasy,’ as I’ve already nabbed those.
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- Don’t forget to write back to me if you’re
interested in going to see Wanderly Wagon. We might even stroll
up to the Militaria Fair afterwards.
- Does anyone know how to get mildew off videotapes? Or where
to go to get videos translated from American format to European?
And on the subject, there are loads of Babylon 5 videos for
sale at 3 for €5 in various pound shops (they’ve not
yet got to changing their names to Euro shops) around Dublin.
Try the one in Thomas Street, for a start. More stuff before
the month is out.
- Don’t forget that you’ve still got a week to send in an entry
for the quiz. I have reviews of various recent events I keep
taking out of the NL because I have too much else to put in.
Maybe if I get a quiet month…
I’ll be doing a lot of stuff on Belfast
next time, too, and something about the Transylvanian Tavern,
which slipped past me this time around. If you know of anything
I should have listed here, let me know. Regards.
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
Irish SF News
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