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January 31, 2007
Posted 3 years, 10 months ago on January 31, 2007
It’s less than 40 days to the next P-Con. This year’s Phoenix Convention, the fourth, will be held in Wynn’s Hotel on Abbey Street in Dublin over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of March next.
Guest of Honour at the convention is Kim Newman. Other guests include the editorial team from Albedo 1, Michael Carroll, Paul Cornell, Raven Dane, Diane Duane, George Green, Conor Kostick, Oisin McGann, Juliet E McKenna, Ken MacLeod, Deborah J. Miller, Leah Moore, Peter Morwood, C E Murphy, John Reppion, John W Sexton, Colin Smythe and Charlie Stross.
More information as always from the P-Con website.
Story by IFS
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August 28, 2006
Posted 4 years, 4 months ago on August 28, 2006
The first issue of Puny Earthling, an irregular free fanzine from our glorious leader, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, is now available.
I’d wanted to do a fanzine for a few years now, Pádraig told me, and now that I’ve retired from conrunning, I found I had enough time to finally give it a go. Originally I was going to write it all myself, but instead i ended up asking a few friends for contributions, and ended up with more material than I could use in just one issue. So, I’m already well ahead on Puny Earthling number 2, which I’ll have out in time for P-CON IV, next March.
Puny Earthling #1 contains contributions from quite a number of people, including cover artwork by Leah Moore; cartoons and comics by Bolt-01 & Ed Berridge, Brian Caffrey, Dónal Casey, Brian Coyle, Gerry Hunt, Kyle Rogers, and Ian Whelan & Alan Nolan; fiction by Jody MacGregor and Julian West; and articles and various other contributions from Ed Berridge, Paul Cornell, Robert Curley, Joe Gordon, Grolf, Oisín McGann, Juliet E McKenna, John Reppion, Nina Shiel, Ian Watson, and Nicholas Whyte. And, even if we say so ourselves, it’s all rather good.
A few copies have already been distributed thorough some of the Dublin comic shops, and further copies at Mecon a few weeks back, and what will probably be the final batch of Puny Earthling #1 will be available at Octocon in Maynooth in a few weeks’ time.
If you’d like a copy of Puny Earthling, drop a line to Pádraig at pomealoid [at] yahoo.com, who’ll tell you how to get a copy from him. This’ll probably entail sending him a small sum of money to cover postage costs, which we believe is customary in these situations. . .
Story by Anne M Kletcha
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July 10, 2006
Posted 4 years, 6 months ago on July 10, 2006
Bob Byrne, creator of Irish comics MBLEH! and The Shiznit, is the latest comics creator to be highlighted in Judge Dredd: The Megazine’s small press section. Issue #247, now on sale in all good comic shops and newsagents, reprints Bob’s Mr Amperduke story, which originally appeared in Bob’s own comic, MBLEH!.
Bob told me, I heard in January about the plans to include a small press section in the Megazine from a friend in the UK So I mailed the editor with the 6-page Mr Amperduke story and 20 minutes later he replied. It’s going down a treat with the hardcore fans so hopefully it’ll make my next submission easier to swallow.
Responses on the 2000AD forum have been good so far, and, all in all, the rest of the world is finally finding out what some of us in Ireland already knew, which is that Bob Byrne has a unique talent.
Bob had a website that is well worth visiting, and his blog rants are also available through a brand new LiveJournal feed.
Story by PÓM
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July 4, 2006
Posted 4 years, 6 months ago on July 4, 2006
Word reaches me from Albedo One, Ireland’s Magazine of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, that they are launching the Aeon Award for 2006-2007, with a grand prize of €1000, as well as guaranteed publication in a future issue of Albedo One. This is a competition for short fiction in any speculative genre.
The inaugural award, for the period 2004-2005, was won by Julian West for his story My Marriage, eventually chosen from a shortlist by well-known writer Ian Watson, with the award ceremony being part of 2005 Worldcon SF Convention in Glasgow. Julian has also won the other Irish SF short story competition, the James White Award.
Full guidelines for submissions can be found on the Albedo One website. In brief, however: stories should be no longer than 8000 words, can be sent either snail mail or electronically, and require an entrance fee of either €5, STG£4 or US$6. Stories will be judged by a panel of judges on a ongoing basis, with the final deadline for submissions being June 2007. The final shortlist of stories will once again be sent to Ian Watson, who will chose the winner. The top three stories will be published in Albedo One.
So get writing, folks!
Story by PÓM
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July 23, 2005
Posted 5 years, 6 months ago on July 23, 2005
The latest addition to the links section is a list of Irish Comics links, which includes all the Irish comics’ companies that we are aware of, that is to say individuals or groups of people publishing comics in Ireland that are currently active, or were active in the recent past. There are undoubtedly some we’ve missed. There are also lots of Irish comics that were published in the past, which we’ll try to get into some kind of Irish Comics Archive, as time allows.
This list doesn’t cover Online Irish Comics, which we’ll be getting to soon, or Irish-born comics’ writers or artists, who will also get done as time allows.
The Irish Comics links section is available here.
Added by POM/WEB
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July 19, 2005
Posted 5 years, 6 months ago on July 19, 2005
Irish small press publishers Aeon Press, who publish Albedo One, Ireland’s SF short story magazine, are to publish a collection of Irish SF, fantasy, and horror stories. The collection, which will be available in time for Interaction, the 2005 Worldcon in Glasgow this August, will contain eighteen stories from both well-known and new authors, all of whom are born in Ireland, the solitary exception being Anne McCaffrey, who has been resident in Ireland since the sixties, and who is now an Irish citizen.
The anthology contains stories from well known names like, as mentioned above, Anne McCaffrey, as well as Bob Shaw, William Trevor, and James White, as well as more recent Irish talent like Mike McCormack, Mike O’Driscoll, David Murphy, and John W Sexton. Stories range from the mordant black comedy of Mike McCormack’s Thomas Crumlesh – A Retrospective to the charm and dignity of James White’s favourite of his own stories, Custom Fitting, and all points in between, and comes with a fine cover from Denise O’Moore, whom I predict we’ll hear more about. The collection is edited by Frank Ludlow and Roelof Goudriaan, runs to 293 pages, and received funding from the Meath Leader Project. The cover price is Euro 9.99, and will be available from the Aeon Press website.
All in all, the collection is an important contribution to the publication of genre fiction in Ireland, and I commend it to you all. Go order a copy from them now!
More information from the Aeon Press website
Story by POM
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June 29, 2005
Posted 5 years, 7 months ago on June 29, 2005
As part of the Ark Children’s Cultural Centre’s SAVE THE ROBOTS! festival, taking place throughout Dublin from June until September, Anthology Books of Meeting House Square in Dublin’s Temple Bar are putting on an afternoon of science fiction and fantasy readings for all ages on Sunday the 10th of July at 3 PM.
The readings will be conducted by Sandy Fitzgerald, who is a founding member of Dublin’s City Arts Centre, and has written several books for children; David Murphy, a well known Irish SF writer, and a member of editorial board of Albedo One, Ireland’s SF short story magazine; and, eh, Pádraig Ó Méalóid of Irish SciFi News. Which would be me…
I don’t know about the other two, who are presumably reading from their own works, but I’ll be reading from John Sladek’s Tik-Tok, a charming tale about a killer robot.
What: SF Reading
Where: Anthology Books, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, Dublin 2
When: Sunday the 10th of July, 3 PM
How Much: Free admission, but advance booking recommended
Website: Anthology Books website
Telephone: (01) 635 1422
Contact: info at anthologystore dot com
Story by POM
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February 20, 2005
Posted 1 week, 1 day ago on February 20, 2005
Bob Neilson of Aeon Press is looking for artists for graphic novels and comics. You can get in touch with him at bobn at yellowbrickroad dot ie
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Posted 1 week, 1 day ago on February 20, 2005
- The Trinity College book sale takes place again this year, from the 7th to the 9th of April. Well worth a visit!
- Sub City are having a sale, although it is almost over at this stage. However, up to the end of February, they’re selling three graphic novels for the price of two, ditto for RPGs, a two for one on figures, half price on models (no, I don’t know the difference between figures and models…), and all back issues E1, except for Gold and Silver Age comics, which are reduced by 50%.
- Steve Westcott tells me he has had a short story, Hell’s Bells, published on the Eternal Night webzine. It’s here
- The lovely Danielle Ackley McPhail tells me this:
Here’s a bit of news for you, I’m editing an anthology for Lite Circle Books in Baltimore. It is called ‘No Longer Dreams’ and will be launched at the World Horror Convention in New York, in April. Some of the big names involved in the project are John C. Wright, CJ Henderson, Darrell Schweitzer, Will McDermott, Theo Black (as artist), as well as myself and Ruth Lampi, the artist from Children of Morpheus, which came out last May, also by Lite Circle Books.
- David Murphy tells me:
I sold a novel “Longevity City” to Five Star Publishing, a division of Thomson Gale one of the biggest publishers in the US. It’ll be a hardcover due in 2005. I’ve finished the line-edit and it’s now at the copy edit stage. It’s a hard SF novel set mainly in the 22nd century.
Again, more news as I get it.
- If you’re anywhere near Belfast, you might want to check out the B Special Movie Club. It’s at the Pavilion on the Ormeau Road in Belfast on the last Friday night of every month, and you can find out more about it at their website
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March 18, 2004
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago on March 18, 2004
- The most recent issue of Albedo 1 is now out, and should be in all good bookshops now. This is their first issue with a colour cover, and is also the first issue that is square bound, or perfect bound, so the A1 boys are very proud of themselves indeed. More information at the Albedo 1 website.
- The Galway Early Music Festival takes place, as you might imagine, in Galway, from the 20th to the 23rd of May 2004. This has nothing to do with SF, but sounds interesting, so I’m putting it in! Their website is at www.galwayearlymusic.com.
- Someone has put up a site for aspiring Irish teen witches. You can find it at www.teenfainne.com.
- Before any of you start to call the writer of this newsletter a mephitic cunctator, and writing threnodies at its desuetude because you’re missing its demulcent gallimaufry, its foudroyant salmagundi, fear not. Along with my pyknic myrmidon I am ensuring that its concinnity will be before you again soon. What am I talking about? Well, I’ve been doing the Schmies Vocabulary Test, which you can find here, and got a score of 167. The above are just some of the words I didn’t understand!
- There is a new Irish SF resource, called iSci, on one of the Yahoo! Groups. You can find it at groups.yahoo.com/group/iSci/.
- There’s a Yu-Gi-Oh! Tournament in Huntstown Community Centre, Dublin 15, on Saturday the 20th March, starting at 10 AM. Tickets, available at the door, cost €8. More information on the website.
Irish author David Murphy, one of the stalwarts behind Albedo 1, has a new website for his work. Click here for David Murphy’s website.
- Next month, the Science Walk returns, along with news of an American publisher named after a Dublin street, and a comprehensive piece about the DMZ, who have been having troubles of their own of late.
- If any of you are at Dominicon in Maynooth at the weekend, I’ll be there, in the company of the lovely Deirdre, flying the flag for P-CON and Irish SciFi News, as well as selling a few books. Come over and say hello!
- Finally, congratulations to Ashling and Hugh McSweeney, who became the proud parents of a baby girl, Tara, born on Friday the 5th of March 2004, at 7 lb 8 oz. All our love from Deirdre and myself to the lot of them!
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