Category Archives: Octocon

#YAieDay and Octocon

Awesome authors, links and stuff, New Books, New releases, Octocon, Out and About, YAIE, Young Adult, , , ,

So, #YAieDay is on Twitter tomorrow, a day when we celebrate all things YA in Ireland, and I’m going to be on from 1.10-1.50 swearing… sorry “talking” about swearing with Kim Hood and Sally Nicholls. Follow the #YAieDay hashtag on Twitter and the full (amazing) lineup and programme is here. Thanks to the marvellous Michelle Moloney King for putting this together.

And then, next week it’s Octocon. And the programme is now up online too. Another brilliant line up of people and lots of YA here.

So this is what I’ll be up to.

Busy busy busy…

  • Friday, October 9
    7pm
    Ireland as a location
    A. Tivoli/Yeats, 7pm – 8pm
  • Saturday, October 10
    1pm
    As the creator Intended?
    C. Gaiety, 1pm – 2pm
  • 3pm
    Historical Inaccuracies.
    B. Abbey, 3pm – 4pm
  • 7pm
    Late Night Panel: Sex In Fiction/Erotica
    B. Abbey, 7pm – 8pm
  • Sunday, October 11
    2pm
    A Fantasy of My Own
    A. Tivoli/Yeats, 2pm – 3pm
  • 3pm
    Irish Mythology And Its International Spread
    A. Tivoli/Yeats, 3pm – 4pm
  • 4pm
    Readings from our Authors featuring Planetfall by Emma Newman
    B. Abbey, 4pm – 5pm
  • 5pm
    Practical Magic: Perspectives of Pagans, Gamers, and Fantasy Authors
    B. Abbey, 5pm – 6pm

The whole programme can be found here. Come along and say hello! I will probably be the person rushing between panels but say hello anyway! 😀

Worlds Beyond!

Interviews, Octocon, Out and About, Young Adult, , ,

So, a little while ago, I was part of the Worlds Beyond on PhoenixFM 92.5FM, sponsored by Octocon, and I ramble quite a lot about all sorts of things writing and fandom. It’s an hourlong show, hosted by the wonderful Janet O’Sullivan and I’m there from about the 30min mark. You’ll also hear Janet and John Vaughan discussing the Golden Blasters.

You can listen here in all its glorious rambliness*.

PhoenixFM
Unexpected photo of me at the radio station, taken by Janet. Was not expecting that!

 

*rambliness just applies to me, naturally. Everyone else is very to the point and fascinating. 😀

Ocotocon is coming…

Octocon, Out and About,

 

Octocon 2013

Octocon is coming (11th to the 13th October), in the Camden Court Hotel in Dublin. This year they have a very cool app to keep everyone up to date on what’s on where and who will be there.

These are my panels but I’ll be around both days. Makes sure to say hello if you’re there. And if you aren’t there, you really should be!

Saturday, 12 October

11:00
Raising the Next Generation
Abbey, 11:00 – 11:50
15:00
I Don’t Believe It, But It’s True
Abbey, 15:00 – 15:50

Ruth Frances Long (m), Leann Hamilton, Maura McHugh, Alan Nolan

True Irish Myths, Legends, and Fairy-tales

 

Sunday, 13 October

12:00
Showing Your Ass on the Internet
Abbey, 12:00 – 12:50

Ruth Frances Long (m), Dr. Noirin Curran, Gerry McEvoy, Robert McGregor, Lynda Rucker

On Twitter… everyone can hear you scream

13:00
By Loki’s Mane!
Abbey, 13:00 – 13:50
16:00
Banking on the YA Bubble
Abbey, 16:00 – 16:50

Ruth Frances Long, Catherine Sharp (m), Deirdre Thronton, Paul Shortt

Is the growth in YA books here to stay, or is it a bubble?

Breaking cover

EpicCon, Octocon, reviews

Shhh, I am not really here. I am working very hard. I promise.

But I had to post about this super review for The Treachery of Beautiful Things which I came across this morning from Beauty, Books & Ramblings. It comes in both Spoiler free and Spoiler-ific varieties so you can take you pick, but go and look. I particularly like

The pros: Beautifully written, incredibly
imaginative storyline, flawless world building
The cons: Honestly cannot think of any!
Rating: 5/5
Recommend? Oh my goodness yes!

and of course

With beautiful world-building, fascinating characters, and ancient lore intricately and flawlessly woven into the story, The Treachery of Beautiful Things is without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read

I will look at it sparkle all day and smile.

In other news – I will be at Epic-Con in Maynooth on the 23rd & 24th of February, and of course at Octocon in October. I hope to be in some other places too.

I have no other news. The Ninja puppy and the Patchwork Cat continue their covert war of attrition.

And I am writing. Something new. I think. Look, there was this plot bunny, sitting there all on its own. It was so pretty. So I went over to it. AND A WHOLE MOB OF PLOT BUNNIES ATTACKED ME!

It’s so shiny and new though. SO SHINY.

Back under cover I go. Talk soon.

Octocon this weekend

Awesome authors, Life Happens, links and stuff, Octocon, Out and About, ,

This weekend is Octocon weekend! The full timetable is here. And general details here.  Liz Williams is GOH and a host of wonderful guests including C.E. Murphy, Celine Kiernan, Oisín McGann, Michael Carroll and me!

This is what I’ll be up to: (busy busy busy)

Saturday

11am Room 101 – putting away all those SFFH tropes

1pm – Realistic Relationships in SFF – What makes for a realistic relationship, and does a different world change what is realistic in a relationship?

3pm – LGBTQ in YA – What is the impact of having LGBTQ characters in Young Adult Books? What are the possible
pitfalls?

4pm – Reading – I’ll be reading from The Treachery of Beautiful Things (and maybe more)

6pm – What does the term strong female character actually mean? – We use the term all the time, but there seems to be a lot of disagreement as to what is and is not a “Strong Female Character”

Sunday 14th

(phew! A lie in)

Noon – Why so violent? – Why do so many stories resort to violence? Surely we can all just get along

1pm – Roots of Irish fantasy – Irish Myths and Legends go back thousands of years, and have been changed by interaction
with the Catholic Church, and the Catholic Church has been changed by the Irish people and our myths (I accidentally talked my way into this. Be warned, I have been doing research!)

5pm – Is there space for religion in Science Fiction? – Some see science as being about facts and figures, and believe that science fiction shouldn’t include relgion. We hope to explore these ideas.

I always have an awesome time at Octocon. (And collapse in a heap afterwards). But don’t forget that there is also the Friday night welcome drinks and the Dead Dog party on Monday!

Copies of The Treachery of Beautiful Things, Soul Fire, The Scroll Thief and Songs of the Wolf will be available in the Dealers room.

Come and say hello if you’re there. And come to the reading so I’m not talking to an empty room! Pleeeeeeease!

Octocon schedule

Octocon, Out and About

Yes, it’s Octocon next week. Programming runs throughout the 15th & 16th October 2011 at the Camden Court Hotel, Dublin. That said, we usually meet up the evening of the 14th as well to catch up. The full schedule is available here. And Octocon is 21 this year, so I’m expecting a party.

As for the work side of it, this is what I have on:

Saturday
13:00   The Curse of Paranormal Pop culture
15:00   “Women in Scifi/fantasy/comics panels” – do they marginalize women.
16:00   Reading (!)

Sunday
11:00   The Ideas Book – Pitches that failed
12:00   Well Written Characters
16:00   Writing for Kids is Easy– why writing YA is hard.

Yes, that’s right, I’ve a reading on Saturday afternoon. So when I’ve been lured out from under a table by offerings of crisps and fizzy pop, as well as reading from one of my currently available books, I’m planning on reading something from THE TREACHERY OF BEAUTIFUL THINGS. Who knows, maybe 2 things. We’ll have to see how time goes.

Free Octocon Anthology

Awesome authors, Free Read, Octocon, , ,

As part of the run up to Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention held (funnily enough) in October, my story CARRYING KEPTARA is currently available as part of their free showcase anthology, along with stories by Peadar Ó Guilín, Brian J. Showers and Derek Gunn.

It’s available in ePub, Kindle and PDF formats.

Plus they are running a short story competition.

What are you waiting for? RUN!

 

2010 and onwards

Life Happens, links and stuff, New releases, Octocon, PCon, Publications, RNA, Wexworlds, Writing Life, , , , , , , , , , , ,

(Yes, I’m late. Why does this surprise you?)

Well, it’s been quite a year. Let’s see if I can sum it up… er…

In January The Wolf’s Mate came out as an ebook, the novella tracking the further adventures of Jeren and Shan from The Wolf’s Sister sporting a gorgeous cover from Natalie Winters.

In February I finished the first draft of The Wolf’s Destiny.

March brought the Pheonix Convention or Pcon which is always awesome fun.

April and the awesome news that May Queen had sold to Dial Books for Young Readers. OMG the stress and excitement.  Then there was a blurr of contracts, rewrites, and a variety of things I’d never imagined.

In May Soul Fire came out in print. I was so busy I almost missed it. Poor neglected book. Paranormal Romance with sexy sidhe should never be neglected. If you missed it, you might like to go and look now. It also has a magnificent cover. I’ll wait.

Spent most of the summer writing Graffiti Angel and editing The Wolf’s Destiny. In July I went to the RNA conference in Greenwich which was incredibly fun! And just a bit glam!

Sad news reached me in August that my wonderful super-agent Colleen Lindsay was giving up agenting but luck was with me and the equally fantastic Suzie Townsend won the wrestling took me on and things have been going swimmingly since then. And I can still have random chats with Colleen about Dr. Who and mad cats whenever! 🙂

September… I think I lost September somewhere. Checked down the back of the sofa but no joy.

October means Octocon. George R. R. Martin was Guest of Honour. Met so many wonderful people! <3 to you all. I was also a Geek of the Week.  At the end of October we went to Ashford Castle for a Harry Potter night. It was awesome!

November was Wexworlds which was a winter wonderland edition as all the snow in the world decided to fall on Wexford that weekend. We met, among others, Eoin Colfer which made my son’s decade (a feat as he’s not quite a decade old)! It also brought rewrites on May Queen which are now all done.

December brought Songs of the Wolf to print, The Wolf’s Sister and The Wolf’s Mate collected together for the first time with another lovely Natalie Winters cover. My first and latest Samhain novella together. Pretty! And a freakin’ unbelievable amount of snow! I mostly hibernated. This also meant I got the second round of edits on May Queen finished early (Yay me!) and sent them back.

So what next? Well, we’ll have to see what 2011 brings. I’m off to Rome for a libraryland conference this week – will be sure to bring back photos. Many many photos. And tonnes of inspiration. I’ve started working on Forest King, the sequel to May Queen, and a number of other things (of course). Looking forward to the Pen dinner in February and PCon in March – anywhere writers gather really. RNA conference is in Caerleon this summer and as plans stand I’m definitely going. It’s only a ferry ride away. Ok, a ferry ride and a drive/train, but close enough. And this is the year we will knock May Queen into its final shape.

It’s shaping up to be an exciting year. Can’t wait.