The Tenth National Irish
Science Fiction Convention
OCTOCON X
Guests
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Robert Rankin
Our Guest of Honour, Robert Rankin, gets his own page. |
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Storm Constantine
Storm is best known for her striking beauty as well as her Wraethru series. Still
only 22, she has tons of short stories and over a dozen novels published. Her forte is
Dark Fantasy, in which she explores occult lore and forbidden sexuality. Her newest book
is Sea Dragon Heir, due out in April from Gollancz/Orion.
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Maggie Furey
Maggie was born in North East England, where in a former life she was a
schoolteacher. She wrote the much loved Articles of Power series, part four of which was
launched at Octocon in 1997. Her latest novels are The Heart of Myrial and Incondor's
Challenge. She has also written Sourceress for Dolphin’s
children’s series, 'The Web'. She now lives in County Wicklow with her husband, Eric,
and six cats.
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Robert Holdstock
Robert is a man of Kent who came to prominence with his Mythago Wood
fantasy series. This is his third appearance at Octocon, where in previous years he has
proven to be nearly as charming and entertaining as his beautiful companion, Sarah.
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Graham Joyce
Three time British Fantasy Award winner, Graham Joyce is always a welcome visitor
to Octocon, and this year will be his third appearance. His novel count currently stands
at six with his seventh, Indigo, due later this year. He is currently in Thailand
researching novel number eight. The words "bastard" and "lucky" spring
to mind. |
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Tom Mathews
Although technically a free-lance cartoonist, Tom's work appears in The Irish Times so
often that he practically owns the place. Tom is a founder member of the board of Yellow
Press. He drew the comic strip 'Porky the Tapeworm and Larry the Leech'. His latest book
is A Bit Off the Wall. |
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Ian McDonald
Born in Manchester, Ian McDonald spent most of his early life in Belfast, where he
still lives. He has written many novels such as Desolation Road, Out on Blue Six, and his
most recent Kirinya. He is now writing for a TV series, Doomwatch, based
on the 1970s show of the same name. A pilot episode has been produced, and the series will
hopefully air in the autumn. |
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Kim Newman
Guest of honour in 1995, Kim was probably one of the best we’ve ever had. He
lives in London, and when not critiquing films he writes some pretty fine horror novels.
His latest is Bloody Red Baron, a sequel to Anno Dracula. Both are set
in an alternative history with vampires booting about the place. His anthology, Dr
Shade and Other Stories, is a great starting point for any who wish to.
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Geoff Ryman
Canadian writer Geoff Ryman is probably best known for fantasy novels such as The
Warrior who Carried Life and The Unconquered Country. More recently, he has
been exploring new ground with the internet novel 253 which explores the lives of
two hundred and fifty three people aboard a London Underground train hurtling towards a
crash. The paperback version, published last year, won the Philip K. Dick award.
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Michael Scott
A former Octocon committee member, Michael has published over eighty books in a
variety of genres. The Tales of the Bard trilogy, widely regarded to be his finest work,
is due to be reprinted by US publisher White Wolf later this year. Michael is probably
best remembered for his superlative auctionering skills at Eurocon. |
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Brian Stableford
Guest of Honour at Octocon in 1996, Brian has a long and distinguished career in
the publishing world. He wrote his first novel, Cradle of the Sun, while he was
studying for a PhD in biology. Since then he has written many non-fiction and academic
texts, edited and contributed to numerous reference works, written articles and reviews,
given lectures and won several awards. Despite this distinguished academic career, he has
found time to write many science fiction, fantasy and horror novels. |
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Dave (Daev) Walsh
As well as being a regular contributor the The Fortean Times, Dave Walsh
produces Blather, the weekly e-zine of strange phenomen which is distributed free
by email. Each issue rattles the cage of whatever paranormal pabulum has strayed into the
editorial trap - UFOs, lake monsters, weird Irish locations and studies of synchronicity.
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James White
We regret to report that James White passed away
on 23 Aug 1999.
James lives in Portrush, Northern Ireland. His first published work appeared in New Worlds
in 1953 to which he was a regular contributor. His first novel, The Secret Visitors
was published in 1957. His Sector General series which started in 1962 and will
be continued later this year with Contact High, are probably his most renowned
works. His other books such as Open Prison, All Judgement Fled, The
Watch Below and Tomorrow is Too Far, are highly entertaining, intriguing and
the finest examples if SF you could ever read.
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Please note: All guest appearances are subject to work
committments of the individual guests. |
