Welcome to the May issue

I see by my Dr Who and the Dalek's 40th Anniversary Calendar that it's May, although you wouldn't think it looking out my window. A lot of what I've got this time is comics related, it seems, so I'll put whatever *isn't* about comics at the beginning, starting with some things I'm involved with organising myself. So, and in a packed programme, we have......

First Irish SF News Anniversary Party

To celebrate the fact that this newsletter will be a year old in June, and particularly seeing as I'm always trying to persuade you all to go to things, I have decided to hold a party to celebrate. This will largely be an informal gathering in the excellent Exchequer Bar on Friday night, the 20th of June, at about 8 o'clock. You will have to be over 18, though.

I'm hoping to have gathered a few things to give as raffle prizes, with everyone getting a free raffle ticket as they come in, and I have also just been given a hundred Hulk Heroclix figures by John Hendrick of The Third Place in Crow Street, for which I thank him profusely.

I'll try to get more stuff, but this way everyone goes home with *something*! I'm hoping as many of you as possible can come along and say hello. Expect to hear more about this

What: Irish SF News 1st Anniversary Party
Where: Back Bar of Exchequer Bar, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2
When: 8.00 PM to closing, Friday 20th June 2003
Admission: Free of course

Second ISFN Table Quiz

I know I already announced that this was to happen, and that it was run by those lovely people from They Came & Shaved Us instead, but there is a good reason for that!

I know that table quizzes are amongst the most popular events that I have been involved in organising over the years, so I though that a series of these, one every two months, might go down well. I also know that anyone involved in event organising, as I am myself, can always use another few quid, so I mentioned to a few of my friends I was thinking of doing this. A few of them stepped forward with plans to run some, so it looks like well be doing this on an ongoing basis, with me taking every second one for the moment. TC&SU were planning on organising something like this around now anyway, so I simply put the one I had planned on hold, and handed the room over to them instead.

However, we're back again in June! Again, the funds are largely going towards helping out with P-CON. As usual, there will be loads of lovely things as prizes, as well as lots of good stuff for the raffle.

The details are:

What: The 2nd Irish SciFi News Quiz
Where: Back Bar, Exchequer Bar, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2
When: Wednesday 25th of June at 8.00 PM
How Much: €24.00 per Team of 4 people

I should also thank the folk from TC&SU for a very enjoyable evening on the 23rd of April. Not only that, but the team I was on, which consisted of myself, Deirdre Walsh, Richie Lawlor and David Stewart, won. Actually, this is the third time in a row David has been on a winning team, to the best of knowledge. Go David!

Medieval Festival at Slane Castle

I was writing about this a few months back, but it's worth mentioning again. It's on Saturday & Sunday the 10th & 11th of May, or next weekend, as I write this.

Full contact jousting, a medieval village, craftsmen & merchants selling their wares, falconry displays, minstrels, jugglers with sword & fire, stiltwalkers, acrobats, 'have-a-go' longbow archery with expert instruction from the Grey Goosewing Archers, sword displays with the European Historical Combat Guild & much more. Slane Castle will also be opening its doors for guided tours, as well as the Medieval Baebes in concert. And all that for only €20 per day. We're going to this!

Find out more by visiting their website.

BBC NI Big Read

The BBC were organising The Big Read, a survey to find the nation's favourite books. Not only that, but BBC NI decided to have their own poll. They have posted all the nominations on the BBC NI Big Read website.

It being a quiet Sunday afternoon, and in the interests of science and literature, myself and my charming assistant, the truly lovely Deirdre, set out to make some sort of sense of the 149 votes cast so far. The results, therefore, are as follows:

1	The Third Policeman	Flann O'Brien
2	Angela's Ashes	Frank McCourt
3	Ulysses	James Joyce
4	Desolation Road	Ian MacDonald
5	A Star Called Henry	Roddy Doyle
=	The Poor Mouth	Myles na Gopaleen
=	The Butcher Boy	Patrick McCabe
6	At-Swim-Two-Birds	Flann O'Brien
=	Dubliners	James Joyce

The books that could be regarded as genre titles came in like this:

1	The Third Policeman	Flann O'Brien
2	Desolation Road	Ian McDonald
3	The Poor Mouth	Myles na Gopaleen
4	At-Swim-Two-Birds	Flann O'Brien
5	Artemis Fowl	Eoin Colfer
=	Sacrifice of Fools	Ian MacDonald
=	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Oscar Wilde
6	Orbitsville	Bob Shaw

Only two of these authors are still alive, and one of them is going to be a guest at P-CON in September. Join now!! Phoenix Convention website at www.slovobooks.com/phoenix. (Apologies for the gratuitous plug there.)

The poll seems to still be open, so you're not too late to go vote. The voting form can be found on the BBC Northern Ireland Big Read website.

Alan Moore 50th Birthday Event

Alan Moore, beyond doubt the greatest comics writer in the world, will be turning 50 on the 18th of November. Myself and the people in SubCity have plans to organise something to celebrate the fact. Richie has promised to dress up as Moore, and we are hoping that people will come along dressed as their favourite Moore character.

More on this as we get it more organised.know.

In Dublin City

I have been going on about this for quite some time now, and it's finally off the presses and on the shelves. This is simply the best comic to come out of Ireland yet, in my opinion. You can get it in SubCity, or in the Forbidden Planet here in Dublin, and I'm not sure of its availability elsewhere yet.

All the proceeds are going to the Simon Community charity, so you have no excuse whatsoever not to buy a copy.

The Jig is Up

Bob Byrne, who produces that wonderful comic MBLEH!, is looking for submissions for a new project of his. He asked me to pass this on wherever possible, so this seemed a good place for it...

Bob says:

You can also get in touch with Bob by email at submissions at clamnuts.com. He has a website at www.clamnuts.com, too. Best check with him beforehand, though, before you send any huge files by email!

Quizlet

The people who won prizes in the last quiz but one are :

Aces & Aircraft of World War I	Gerry Doyle
Johnny Coffin: School Dazed	Peter McClean
Kingdom Come	Nigel Quinlan
Poster Map of Middle Earth	Mary O’Brien
Ringworld	Jer Hogan
The Big Book of Urban Legends	Bobby McLaughlin
Ringworld	Jer Hogan

A million thanks to all the people who gave me things, and I’ll be giving them all a big Thank You in the next NL.

For this month’s quiz, I want you to tell me who you think is the best-selling Irish author of all time. I’ll have a few prizes, hopefully, so a few of you should get something. Just send me a mail with your guess in it, and, if it’s right, it’ll go in the hat with all the rest…

In Brief

• I met Nicholas Whyte during the past week, who was in town to launch his new book, called The Tallyman's Guide to the Northern Ireland Assembly Election 2003. Nicholas is also the author of "Science Fiction and Fantasy set in Ireland: a checklist" which you can find at explorers.whyte.com/sf/irsf.htm and which lists all the appearances of Ireland in works of SF&F. Well worth a look, and always worth mentioning.
• Congratulations to Diane Duane on winning the Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize in Children's Literature for outstanding contribution to children's fantasy literature, for her Young Wizards series. The commendation said, "The Committee congratulates Diane Duane's Young Wizards series for its courage in tackling moral and emotional issues set on the frontiers of magic. In addition, the author's diverse worldview enhances the appeal of the series."
  
  The last time I met Diane, when we had sushi with herself and her husband Peter Morwood, she was telling me that sales of her Wizard books had picked up since the Harry Potter books came along. A rising tide lifts all boats, all the same.
• I hear that open castings were being done during April for a new film, called King Arthur, which is to be shot in Ireland from June to November this year. It’s being made by World 2000 Productions with Antoine Fuqua directing. It will star Clive Owen as King Arthur and Stephen Dillane as Merlin.
• There’s a Music, CD & Record Fair on in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire on Saturday the 10th of May, from 10.30 AM to 5.30 PM, and it’s € 3.00 to get in.
• On the same date, Saturday the 10th of May, there’s the Irish Militaria Fair, in the North Star Hotel, Amiens Street, Dublin 1.
• As if I haven’t enough to be going on with, I’ve decided to get myself one of those live journals. So, if you want to know what I ramble on about when I’m not writing this, go have a look at www.livejournal.com/users/slovobooks. It’s probably less interesting than you think…

Replies

Nicholas Whyte had this to say about my piece on Schrödinger living in Ireland:

In response to my quiz question about Banana Splits, Mr MJW wrote:

In the Next Issue

In the next newsletter, seeing as the NL is now a year old, and that most of the 177 people currently getting it weren’t getting it at the beginning, I’m going to do a rundown of the various groups and individuals who are active in event organisation here in Ireland, which I hope to do once a year, if all goes according to plan. If you know of anything I’ve missed over the course of the year, then let me know, and I’ll gladly include it.
Regards,
Pádraig Ó Méalóid