john vaughan

Well well well! It looks like the 2010 guest list is taking quite the pretty shape already!

We're very pleased to announce the return of Alan Nolan, C.E. Murphy, Derek Gunn, Peadar Ó Guilín, Rob Curley and even 2009 Guest of Honour Mike Carey!

We also want to announce the official enguestenation of the wonderful R.F. Long, who launched her new book The Scroll Thief at Octocon '09!

Plus, don't forget the wonderful Michael Carroll, John Vaughan, Alex de Campi, Fabulous Lorraine and our shiny new Guest of Honour George R.R. Martin!

Oh. Em. Gee. 2010 is looking wonderful! And this ain't all, folks! Stay tuned to http://Octocon.com/2010 for more announcements soon! :)

Lots of Octoconical Love,

Octocon

Hello again everyone!

For those of you that couldn't make it, the first ever Blaster awards were decided this weekend after screenings that took the audience's breath away!

First up, The Silver Blaster award was decided by our panel of judges, which was made up of film maker Maura McHugh, writer Mike Carey and superfan Dave Lally. After much deliberation, the Hungarian-made time travel story Elobb Utobb (Sooner Or Later) was chosen for this prestigious award.

The film is astounding in both its simplicity and complexity and truly deserves the award! The film was directed and written by Istvan Madarasz.

But there can only be one winner of the audience-chosen Golden Blaster award, and it certainly was a close one!

The visually stunning Irish film, The Silent City, has been chosen by a single vote to be this year's winner! Director Ruairí Robinson makes a very believable future war zone come to life with some of the best special effects we've ever seen!

Our audience prize was also given out to one lucky attendee, which was a voucher from the lovely people at The Secret Book & Record Store on Wexford St. in Dublin City Centre!

Congratulations are due to all of our award-winners, but every film was chosen by Mr. John Vaughan because it was a fantastically entertaining piece of sci-fi, fantasy or horror. They all deserve a huge round of applause or the nearest internet-based equivilent! :)

Oh hi there, October Convention-lovers!

These past few days, all we've been hearing are staged whispers about "letting out your inner geek" and "nerdgasming" and "transforming" and "rolling out", but what does it all mean?

Well, it may indicate a change in neuro-linguistical programming brought on by some kind of new mass-marketing machine built by Doctor Advertiso, OR, it could mean that Octocon 2009 is nearly upon us!

With only six days to go, we're putting together our final preparations for one of the greatest conventions of all time!

So, what do you have to look forward to besides The Golden Blasters film festival, Octocon's Next Top Monster, meeting Mike Carey, Derek Gunn, Michael Carroll, C.E. Murphy and more, meeting your fellow fans, and "competing to be the worst" at The Red Shirt Olympics?

We're glad you asked!