Hello, and welcome to Irish SF News.
What I’m hoping to do here is to provide a monthly
newsletter carrying details of what sort of events are
going on in Ireland that might be of interest to the
enthusiastic Science Fiction hobbyist (or ‘fan’, if
you prefer!) There are always things going on here,
but it’s not always easy to find out about them, and I
couldn’t count the amount of times I found out about
something a few days after it was over. However, with
the wonders of electronic communication, I’m hoping
that I’ll be able to get details from the various
organisers well in advance so that I can pass them on
to you.
I’m going to start by doing a run-down of what’s
going on, and, for the purposes of this introductory
mail, I’m going to presume that none of you have ever
heard of any of this stuff. So…
The regularly held events that I am aware of in
Ireland are:
OCTOCON:
Octocon, The National Irish Science Fiction Convention
(to give it it’s full name) is held every October in
Dublin, usually in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun
Laoghaire. The first one was in 1990, and I’ve been
to all of them! There is a web site at
www.octocon.com. Regular attendance floats between
250 and 300.
Saturday and Sunday 19 & 20 October 2002
Guest of Honour: China Miéville
MECON:
MeCon is held in Queen’s University, Belfast every
March. The most recent one was their fifth. I know
that there are plans to demolish the Senior Common
Rooms in Queen’s, which is where they have held all of
the cons so far, so there is no certainty that there
will be a convention next March, as far as I know.
(The last time I wrote this, I got a curt note from
the chair of MeCon 6, telling me they were going
ahead, but, as I received no reply to my mail asking
for more details, and allowing for the fact that I can
find no mention of M6 on the web anywhere, I’m still
taking the position that it’s in doubt, until I hear
otherwise. A shame, as I really enjoyed the two I’ve
managed to get to.)
SUBCON:
SubCon is a comic con, although this is more of the
mart variety, generally with a guest or two at a top
table, signing autographs and drawing sketches, and a
two rooms full of the best comics you’ll find! I’ll
be there, too, selling books.
SubCon is run by Robert and Brian Curley (of
SubCity). This has moved about the calendar, although
I think they favour February. There are some rumours
of them thinking of running two of these a year.
Incidentally, after having an unnamed event in 2000,
SubCon 1 was last year. They’ve renumbered this
year’s event to SubCon 3 to reflect the correct
numbering, as they’re obviously now in for the long
haul. No website yet, but I’m assured that it’ll be
incorporated into the shop’s site, when that goes up.
This year’s event is run simultaneously with CARITAS
Dublin, which is a Buffy/Angel related event, more on
which below.
6 July 2002, Royal Dublin Hotel. 6 Euro per person.
SCIFICLUB:
SciFiClub is the regular Dublin fan meeting, and is
held on the first Tuesday of the month in Bowe’s Pub
in Fleet Street, at 8PM. There’s usually a topic for
each meeting, and they run a raffle at each meeting to
help to make end’s meet. There’s an electronic
newsletter, which you can join by going to
TOY FAIR:
The Dublin International Toy and Train Fair, to give
it its full name. Brian Kelly and Terry McNally have
run this successfully for the past ten years, and they
have now moved to the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun
Laoghaire, after a number of years in the Rochestown
Lodge. There are usually four of these a year, with
the next two due in September and November.
Everything from Tin Trains and Star Wars figures, to
Beanie Bears and doll’s houses. There are few better
ways to spend an idle Sunday afternoon, it seems to
me…
ONE-OFF
EVENTS:
Besides the regularly held events listed above, there
are various one-off events, such as…
CARITAS DUBLIN 2002:
This is a Buffy/Angel related event, which is being
held in the Royal Dublin Hotel on Saturday 6th of
July. I covered this extensively in a mail-out from
the Octocon Newsletter, so I’m not going into too much
extra detail here. Lots more info at:
http://www.dmzevents.cjb.net/
FINALLY:
I’ve a lot more news, which I’m going to cover in the
second half of this mail, which I’ll send out within a
week. I sent a letter out to various people asking
for news, and a lot of them wrote back, so there’s all
that, as well as information on Crazy Dog Live!, the
new 6-part radio show from Roger Gregg & co, and much
more besides. Not to mention an explanation as to why
I’m holding a World Cup draw, especially with my own
extremely negative opinion of football.
Don’t forget that Sunday the 16th of June is
Bloomsday, a day on which Dublin celebrates the works
of James Joyce with various events all over the city.
I tend to have my own reason for celebrating
Bloomsday, as it is on that day 5 years ago that I
gave up the demon drink. For good, it seems.
Before I go, I would like to thank all of you who
subscribed to this list from the Octocon newsletter,
some from all over the world, and especially those of
you who said some astonishingly kind things about my
previous efforts. You made an old man very happy!
Pádraig Ó Méalóid
CALENDAR OF FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
June 16: Bloomsday
July 2: SciFiClub monthly meeting,
Bowe’s pub, Fleet Street, Dublin
July 6: CARITAS Dublin, Royal Dublin Hotel,
O’Connell Street, Dublin
July 6: SubCon 3, Royal Dublin Hotel: 10AM 5PM
July 14: Toy Memorabilia, Wynn’s Hotel, Abbey Street,
Dublin
August 6: SciFiClub monthly meeting,
Bowe’s pub, Fleet Street, Dublin
September 3: SciFiClub monthly meeting,
Bowe’s pub, Fleet Street, Dublin
September 10: Toy Fair, Royal Marine Hotel
October 1: SciFiClub monthly meeting,
Bowe’s pub, Fleet Street, Dublin
October 19-20: Octocon, Royal Marine Hotel
November 5: SciFiClub monthly meeting,
Bowe’s pub, Fleet Street, Dublin
November 16: SubCon 4, Wynn’s Hotel, Abbey Street,
Dublin
November 24: Toy Fair, Royal Marine Hotel
December 3: SciFiClub monthly meeting,
Bowe’s pub, Fleet Street, Dublin
December 17: SciFiClub Christmas Party,
Bowe’s pub, Fleet Street, Dublin