Welcome to July's Irish SF News. (Part II)

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...

Octocon Poll

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. Octocon website to make your feelings felt... Again, thanks to all that voted for me.

Octocon Poll Results
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
Albedo	0
Others	10

The Most Unusual Wagon you'll ever see...

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... .

Crimelords of Sunnydale

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...

Horrorthon

The best thing for me to do here is quote the Horrorthon website, which says:

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.

Wicca still isn't what you make chairs from.

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.

In Brief

• 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 70¢ 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 the website 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.

And finally

• 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.

Regards,
Pàdraig Ó Méalóid