Clare O'Beara's Blog, page 4

March – On Writing and Writers

This month I’m covering fiction writing craft and a non-fiction author on policing in Ireland.
I’ve just read Stephen King’s memoir/advice book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Here is an excerpt from my review. And no, I have not sold as many copies as King.

Editing expertise was first demonstrated to King in the early chapters, when a newspaper editor pencilled through all the descriptive words in the student's basketball coverage. King reiterates that you leave out everything which is not the story. Good advice.

However, King then provides an example chapter about a man going into a hotel foyer, noting guests being served, and talking with a manager in the back room. The man is offered a Cuban cigar, and he explains why he does not smoke, although he has cigarettes on his person. We do not know why the man is visiting.
The edited, pencilled-through version removes the word Cuban, changes the manager's name to a shorter one to save several lines, especially for audiobook reading, and reduces the explanation for not smoking.

Shorter yet would have been to make the protagonist female, as nobody offers a woman cigars. I would have made the manager female, maybe a person of colour, to remove stock characters. And I would have got down to the purpose of the visit rather than discussing cigarettes, because at no time did either version grab my attention. By describing several guests and what is happening with them, and the placing of tobacco goods, the author is putting off telling us anything.
SF writers such as Harry Harrison have told us to use the first three paragraphs as an immediate hook, because otherwise the potential editor may not turn the page.

Several times King uses a long, invented pet word with five syllables to show that he is not interested in padding detail; why not a short word? Like Bin.
King also uses words such as mankind, not humanity, making it clear that, Carrie perhaps aside, his vocabulary is old-fashioned and man-oriented.
Full review here.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

During March I covered events including a UN conference on water – the side event which was hosted by Brooke, The Donkey Sanctuary and other groups, discussing how working livestock help people fetch and use water in developing nations. A woman may spend an hour with a donkey fetching water for crop irrigation, washing, drinking, cooking, and watering livestock including chickens. If she has no donkey, the time spent rises to four hours, and she has to keep kids out of school to help.

I also attended a talk on Italian Renaissance novels and writers such as Boccaccio, held at Trinity College.

At the end of the month I was pleased to cover a talk in a library by a retired Garda Detective Chief Superintendent, John A. OBrien. The talk concentrated on security issues during the 1970s – 80s. The capacity crowd was shown photos of the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, policing riots in Dublin, pursuing suspected terrorists near the Border, and political figures of the day. A voice interview with a Garda who helped in the aftermath of a bomb in Dublin city centre was played.
This is part of an ongoing work to gather and preserve records about 100 years of An Garda Síochána. John’s current book is called Securing the Irish State: 1922-2022.

This month I’m making Silks And Sins free to download. This is a romantic suspense story suitable for adults, about the flat racing scene in Ireland.
Grab it 21 – 24 April. Readers not in the UK or US store should use the .com link, which will offer to bring them to their local Amazon store.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EGXYKR6
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EGXYKR6

Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. www.clareobeara.ie

February – Friendships renewed, and being Irish.

February meant friendships. To begin, I attended two art exhibitions by friends, one an Irish-Indian author and clothes designer, Shabnam Vasisht, who creates art using fabrics. This was displayed at a recently-built theatre in Dundrum shopping centre. The other was a collective of artists holding an exhibition in rooms in Dublin city centre. Two of the artworks have since been purchased by the State. I’m thrilled for all my friends and wish them many more successes. Also, it was just plain great to get back to galleries and conversations.

My former journalism lecturer Henry McDonald, a Belfast-born author, and news journalist, sadly passed away after a battle with cancer. I travelled up to his home city with another former lecturer to attend the Humanist funeral; I was told 500 people attended. This event was held in the Oh Yeah Music Centre, as Henry was a lifelong lover of punk rock. Previously he had held a book launch in this modern venue.
I have been asked to create a web page as a tribute to Henry for his students and friends, and have done this. Additional material is welcome. Initially it featured my notes and photography, but I’ve now been given more content.

https://clareobearamultimediajournali...

On the home front, I’ve been reading some fantastic books, and decluttering to use the time well during bad weather. We’ve had snow, torrential rain and bitter cold winds. As March is called Many Weathers, we’ve also seen mild days and sunshine. That’s enough to keep us guessing.

To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day – and the recent International Women’s Day and Pi Day – I’m making some Irish books free to download from Amazon.
Murder at Irish Mensa will be free 16 – 19 March.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E5JMQP4

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E5JMQP4

A Pony For Quarantine will be free on March 17 – 18.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08B1KYKBN

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08B1KYKBN


Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. www.clareobeara.ie

January - Year of the Rabbit

January had a week-long gale. Neither my husband nor I ever recall a gale lasting a week. The arrival of the Year of the Rabbit was celebrated in fine style in the city centre at the end of the month, by which time, fortunately, the weather was improved. Dublin has a festival for Lunar New Year, which is welcome at a time of a lull between Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day. I remembered the last such festival I attended, with my journalism class, just before the Pandemic lockdown.

The stage was set up in Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, and proceedings opened with a strutting lion dancer among the crowd, getting everyone’s attention.

On stage we then enjoyed a few traditional Chinese dances including the silk robe dance, showing off a beautiful and elaborate costume and painted fan. This
involved little foot movement, because the wealthy lady the dancer represented would have had bound feet in the past. By contrast we later saw a local tai-chi school performing various patterns and brandishing swords, long and short staves, and stretching every muscle.


Musical instruments were played one at a time to let us appreciate each instrument. These included the Chinese fiddle, Chinese flute, Chinese guitar, and table harp, each reminding us at once of Asian themed films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Some seriously impressive percussion instruments were played as a group, including large leather drums and a gong.

Then we saw the Lion Dance, as two prancing lions were fed heads of iceberg lettuce by a costumed character, while drums and cymbals crashed to indicate the lions’ importance and ferocity. There was also a comic magic trick, involving an egg and a fifty euro note. A vanishing note, I should add. Would it reappear? The audience member from whom it had been borrowed was kept in suspense.

I ate Philippine street food of good-sized pork and vegetable spring rolls with rice vinegar for dipping. The rolls were made on the spot and cooked before my eyes. They were piping hot, just what I needed. And extremely tasty. Other stalls provided chances to try calligraphy and origami. For Koreans, this year is the Year of the Cat, and either Cat or Rabbit is considered a lucky animal. I was already looking forward to two art exhibitions by friends for February, so I felt my year getting off to a good start.

This month I am making a science fiction novel free. Download Dining out Around The Solar System Part One, 22 – 25 February.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00SONOGF0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SONOGF0

Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. www.clareobeara.ie

December – Rounding off the Year

I feed the birds over winter. This helps them survive bad weather and leaves them in good shape to build nests and raise chicks in spring. Apparently the Buddha said that feeding wild birds was good karma. A science study has also shown that watching birds even for a short time can lift your mood. Recently I hung out a suet block with seeds stuck all around it, for my visiting wild birds. Generally this lasts a week for the starlings, tits and sparrows. I looked out a couple of hours later and the block was gone.
I went out and the string was still on the tree, tied.
I am pinning the crime on the magpies or hooded crows, which frequent the area and work in small flocks. Probably the magpies as the hoodies are not keen to come so near the house. Next time I get one of these blocks, I’ll break it up and put it in the container with the suet balls.



According to Goodreads I read 156 books this year. Recent nonfiction books I enjoyed are
Mercator: The Man Who Mapped the Planet and Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest. The latter is a brilliant book to pair with the fiction I am reading right at this moment, A Ghost of Caribou.



During December it’s customary and natural to look back over the past year. This year contained a lot of firsts for me. And some other great experiences.
• I graduated from two colleges with a degree in multimedia journalism and a postgrad certificate in data visualisation.
• I won a second trophy from the National Student Media Awards, this time for work completed on my own instead of last year’s for work editing for the Journalism Society in college.
• I’ve taken many LinkedIn courses, from short film making and graphic design to diversity in the office and safety in workplaces.
• I was invited to be interviewed on live radio, and talked about independent book publishing.
• I covered the opening of the Creative Futures Academy, a collaboration between colleges, which was hosted at UCD, and I was interviewed on camera talking about my experience with the CFA.
• Due to a lack of parts, my van was off the road for five months, because the national safety tester broke a part inside the door while testing it. My husband and I walked everywhere for five months, apart from a couple of public transport trips.
• We bought, at intervals, a bread maker and a slow cooker and an air fryer. Yes, my husband has got keen on kitchen robots. They are all regularly in use.
• We stayed in Galway for a few days and Somerset for a few days. Travel is good.
• I attended Octocon as an in-person volunteer again. This was wonderful, but I’ll tell you, the Croke Park conference area is cold.
• My former school classmates organised a class reunion, which was a highlight of the year.
• I got to visit friends and relatives I had not seen since before the Pandemic – I still owe some visits, but we are now trying to avoid germs in influenza season.
• And I have been catching up on book reviews for Fresh Fiction, while trying to declutter email and stored books. Also pursuing other projects which were on hold while I studied, such as my volunteer work with the National Library of Australia, helping to digitise old newspapers. It’s amazing what a difference one person can make, so if you’re thinking of volunteering anywhere – do, and keep doing the work.
• I’ve been researching for my next books.


This month I am making Murder At Scottish Mensa free 19 – 22 January.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E78J0W0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E78J0W0

Follow my published articles on Medium or my JournoPortfolio page.
https://clareobeara.journoportfolio.com/

Watch my book trailers for my science fiction series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadPp...

Visit my website:
www.clareobeara.ie
for news, puzzles, books, reviews and events.

We have created a page for Young Adult readers. This contains plenty of horses and dogs! You can find my podcasts on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.

November – Dublin Book Festival, Creative Futures Academy, and Octocon 2021

Dublin Book Festival was held in a happy scatter of events and venues. I attended the launch of the latest edition of Tolka literary magazine at Dublin Castle.
Another visitor to the proceedings was President Michael D. Higgins. During his earlier career he was Minister for the Arts, so this was a perfect fit.

I also covered two events in the Royal Dublin Society’s Library; a splendid venue for a book festival. First was about the military archives. Then after a cup of hot coffee and biscuits, we had a talk by two authors Michael B Barry and John O'Byrne on choosing and re-colouring photographs recording the Irish Civil War. These were part of the Decade of Centenaries, an ongoing commemorative event. My attendance led directly to being asked for an interview on live radio about my book publishing.

My other engagements included the cheerful official launch of the Creative Futures Academy, held at UCD. I gained a certificate in Data Visualisation from the CFA earlier this year. I agreed to a request for a filmed interview, so I turned up early and, knowing nobody, I promptly volunteered to help with the event. I wore a lilac T-shirt with CREW on it, held a clipboard with the schedule, guided people around, held doors and answered questions. I still fitted in my interview. After the event ended, I chatted with the DJ, had some wine and food, then turned my hand to dismantling interior walls and stacking chairs.
This was fantastic fun. When I thanked the organisers and sent them a photo, I was asked to write a testimonial about my course.
The lesson I take from all this is that when you attend an event, don’t just show up, participate as fully as you may. More doors will open and more people will be pleased to know you.

Returning to my coverage of Octocon 2021, held online.
Sunday 3rd October 2021.

How has Covid-19 changed creativity and creative processes?
Nik Vincent-Abnett, Gareth Hanrahan, Aliette deBodard, Oisin McGann, Elaine Lithgow.
Confusion to fogginess – prefer to walk to café and write – no longer available and the walk was like a post-apocalyptic scene with shops shut, people wearing masks.
OMG – works with children reading his books over Zoom. His own kids kept him from being lonely or bored, but others said they did not want to be around people.
EL – finds it hard to make eye contact as you don’t do that on screen chats. Also she realised she hadn’t seen people’s feet. Less body language, shared glances in her writing now, more just dialogue.
NVA – Has lost certain people from her life that she doesn’t intend seeing again. Also at an age where she is less self conscious and more confident. AdB – Now has to take the less packed Metro. Can’t cram in.
OMG - Hard to get people to relate to a global situation like climate change – now they have a more global viewpoint, sociological impact.
NVA – I suspect we will be living much more locally and thinking much more globally.
EL – Not able to walk anywhere so she put on weight in first year, feeling depressed as not moving or going places. Started cooking carefully and eating less but better, got a standing desk, brief dance breaks.
NVA – Now does not have to fit with expectations so does not bother unless she wants to – likes solitude and writing alone. [Discussion of baking.] Discipline and motivation.
AdB – needs a work space rather than the dining room table, visual cues.
OMG – sitting at laptop is not good, hunched over.
AdB – Putting the workspace together Also a transition ritual – go to make tea, bring it to the table, marks the start of a writing session.
GH – Turned extra bedroom into an office, can close the door, a huge help.
NVA – For a long time she did not take herself seriously as a writer so did not have a dedicated space for it.
AdB – her time was not seen as important as it was not her day job, had to call it her writing job and take it seriously. What would you not change back?
NVA – Long distance travel is gone.
GH – Initially it felt like an emergency, scared and confused, but everyone willing t help one another – would like to keep community.
EL – Personal hygiene and masks, hand sanitiser. Not passing colds around.
AdB – Online component of Cons, so people can now attend from all around the world.

The Hills We Walked in Lockdown
Brian Nisbett, Ann Gry, Esther McCallum Stewart, Paul Anthony Shortt, Casey.
Gaming explosion – Zelda, Fortnite, Animal Crossing etc.
EMS – a professor of videogames.
Q from me: graphics have been enhanced at the expense of story?
BN – it depends. AAA stuff – developer wants to make you get a graphics card that could power a small city. Indies want the story.
EMC – looks over narrative, but wireframes games are visual games, puzzles. Some worlds are so vast, it has to depend on graphics, but less background and narrative. Fan art, Hugo nominations.
AG - So many indie or big studios, you can choose. The gamer is in their house, brain creates the experience, soon there will be VR suits.
C – Gaming is far broader than big titles, small studios small niches, emergent storytelling. The stories we make ourselves in the game world. A zombie apocalypse can provide own story rather than a plot. Was playing dystopians – can show how a character sees the world.

Crime in Other Worlds
Michael Carroll, Aliette de Bodard, Jack Fennell, Christopher J. Garcia.
Procedures needed to a degree. Crime writers want to move into SF – “we don’t know science but we can write crime, so handwavy science.” Political misdeeds, everyone around a politician just interested in coverup.
CJG - Fantasy – magic system has to be grounded in something. SF crime – nuggets and nuances that have to fit together.
MC – Real world data, solving bizarre crimes as paranormal stories. Crime is a longstanding genre, gives people a way to step out of their lives, a gateway drug to SF + F+ H.
AdB – paranormal romance was big but a friend had trouble selling a paranormal crime that was not romance. Plenty of supernaturals in historicals.
MC – We were taught old Irish fables as if true – Fionn, Cuchullain etc.
CJG – Overlap between history, mythology and lived life tales, in the US.
Q from me - Are hacking crimes too close to home, or SF?
A - Depends on setting as it happens now.
AdB – has read a few shorts, not novels, must be some out there.
I mentioned the High Noon in space, Outland.

Anime – Not all Magic
Faranae, Sakura Perz, Christopher Hwang, Ann Gry, Sakuya
CH – Grew up in Singapore and saw it often on TV, in Chinese, didn’t know it was anime.
SP – sees list of titles that are starting a season, picks out 20 and narrows it down to 10 over a few weeks. Gets some recommended. Anime can help you learn Japanese culture and language – don’t need to speak it but you will get the in-jokes and more layers.
CH – Sometimes I prefer to read the manga the anime is based on.

Interview with Darren Shan, author of Cirque du Freak. Real name, Darren O’Shaughnessey. Talking with Janet O’Sullivan.
Born in London – family moved over in 1960s, he was born, moved back to Limerick in 1970s. His first sold book was for adults under his own name. Wrote a dark fantasy for kids and publishers would not look at it. His agent eventually got one publisher to read it again saying it was no darker than Harry Potter, which was now out. She decided to take it with rewrites. She went on maternity leave and did not return, her successor tried to sell back the rights, agent said no, the firm sat on it for 2.5 years. Then HP really took off and the publisher took him seriously and made efforts.
Write stories you like to read. Write lots, you will get better. Don’t write to market, write exciting stories as you will be sitting alone a lot in the office.
He saw Salem’s Lot on TV aged 8 – loved horror ever since. He can pretend vampires are real because he knows they are not, his friends were not vanishing. He tries to make his horror stories as much like real life as he can – sometimes people get killed off. He knows losing a character you have invested in is hard, but it’s part of life. Zombie and werewolf books are his way of challenging racism.
Q Would you collaborate?
No, I like working by myself. I draft Book 1, move on to 2, come back, rewrite, move on to 3, come back to 1. Fans have had the quote “even in death may you be triumphant” tattooed on them. He didn’t set out to write a catchphrase but this one took off by itself. He prefers horror books to football as horror occasionally has a happy ending. After 4 years of silence, he released three books as e-books last April. Dark fantasy. Three more this year. Next year will come three more. Nine about one boy. Self published, and first is free.

Hidden Treasures of the Past
Deirdre Thornton – Dublin City Libraries. Cara Buhlert, Michael Carroll, Ian Moore, Cheryl Morgan.
MC – Someone told him they do not read SF books from before 1990. A shock to him – but is older material still relevant?
CB – Older material not diverse. Women were there and writing, and people of colour, but most material was by white men.
DT – Reads on back of book “groundbreaking new story” but women had written it previously. Katherine Kurtz killed off main characters, women dealt with gender, societal issues, race, slavery. Can use echoes of having lived through a war. Desperately did not want another war.
CM – SF is not always about the future – misconception. It uses the future to discuss people now. 1960s, 70s, CIA was looking at psionics. Much written at the time. Young readers see Iain Banks and China Mieville as “the old guys”.
MC – might not be relevant now but could be relevant in the future. James Tiptree Jr. had to prove herself, is mostly out of print now.
DT - Easons bookstore had massive stocks of Tolkien, Harry Potter, GRRM. Not much mid-list.
MC – Can now scan and store old printed works. Asimov, a lot of what he wrote was rubbish. Good ideas, not well written, perhaps also a misogynist.
DT – Can get deeper insight to people’s thoughts – rise of Hitler’s ideas in UK SF of the day.
CB – I agree, re India.
DT – We don’t want to revive these works. Colleges – 90% of reading lists are male authored. This is what is on the shelf in the college library.
Dr. Fiona Moore, comment – lecturers compiling lists feel compelled to provide historical overview, which means texts chosen for perceived influence, a feedback loop.
DT – Buys Andre Norton any time she sees them. Had to change her name as boys would not buy books by women.

I Used To Be A Fan
Gillian Polack, Mary Brigid Sullivan, Robert JE Simpson, Mary Brigid Turner, David Ferguson, Janet O’Sullivan.
GP – Australian Jewish, and was seen as exotic white there. Went to college in London and could not join SF fandom because she was female. In many books or films her group provides a person who is a stereotype or ends up dead.
DF – Comicsgate showed that some creators are toxic on line, he won’t read them any more.
JOS – A witch in a cottage away from people, with a pointy nose, is a Jewish stereotype. Golliwogs were a Dutch folklore house spirit that lived up the chimney. Some people will not buy a book by an author because of how he donates, like Orson Scott Card.
Comment – will buy secondhand so author does not get the money.
Panel - If authors are dead, we can just consign them to the history books. If alive, may be on Twitter making problematic comments – cancel culture does not leave room for learning and changing. Give people a chance and engage.
JOS – We don’t have a Superman panel, a Star Wars panel etc. We have a superhero panel, time travel panel, so we broaden the invitation and experience.
Q – Context of period?
JOS – Lots of people were not racist at those times.
GP – Dorothy Sayers wrote in the odd person with Fascist views, this does not mean those were her views. It means she was writing in the 1930s.
Q – How to feature someone but not in a good light?
A – Provide reasons why they behave that way.

Solar Panel – Hopeful Future
Oisin McGann, Máire Brophy, Noelle Jenda, Harun ŠiljakHarun Siljak, Vanessa MacLaren-WrayVanessa MacLaren-Wray.
HS – We need a change of thinking , can’t keep pushing as hard as we can on emissions.
All agreed we are / can reduce emissions and carbon use.
OMG – Works with kids, sees them worried and depressed. NS – The people at these events are often already on board, try to spread further, spread word. Not just hope, have to believe we can change things, if you’re falling forwards do you put out your hands or not? Change feels slow but people have been working on it for decades. Catching up now.
VMW – Has a few solar panels, tries to use energy at those times that sun is providing.
OMG – Energy used to mean a massive fossil fuel plant, took wealth to build it, wealth to run it., made a small number of people wealthy.
Q from me – Cassandrafreude.
MB - Yes, read of a scientist saying methane is rising in the Siberian sea, he had been telling us this was coming, now he says we’re done for.
NJ – Walking around playing fields, a friend pointed out there were no birds, no hedges. We need to plant for biodiversity. Orkney placed a datacentre in the sea, Microsoft found it very reliable. Datacentres are big baddies, but are part of life today.
Harun – things will change if there is sufficient pressure. We have to stop colonial thinking and infinite growth. During pandemic we saw global problem and response. Game Theory terms – we are losing the game as long as not everyone is playing the game. Have to get everyone on board.
NJ – solar panels, natural capital, forget continual growth,
OMG – 50 years? So many climate points are locked in by now we don’t have that time, but tidal power could still be cracked, we are developing tech so fast, but resources will be spent on tackling climate change.
VMW – 50 years ago we were burning all the coal we could find. US Military has a lot of money and satellite power. Supplement renewables and provide jobs.

Closing Ceremony – 88 attended.
Marguerite Smith and Brian Nisbett. Planning to bid for the WorldCon of 2029 to be held in Dublin. Contact them at bidchairs@dublin2029.ie
Sakura - We have 648 registered members this weekend. 375 were on Discord all weekend. 36 countries, 207 unique viewers on Twitch livestream. €869 raised for our charity.

October - Online Octocon!

While this year’s Octocon was hybrid and I helped to staff the Croke Park, Dublin, venue, in keeping with my yearly habit, I am providing my notes from covering the previous year’s Con, which was held on line. All praise to the organisers for a fantastic event. As I was at times going between panels, I noted down more content from some than others.

1st October 2021
Optimism panel
Fábio Fernandes, Francisco Verso, Paul Carroll, Kalin Nenov, S L Dove Cooper.
Solarpunk is focused on environmental solutions. Hopepunk is about building a community. Dystopian contains a hero – we currently have no hero. ‘Punk’ implies fighting the establishment.
“Right now sucks so I want to read about something better, and maybe if enough people get together we can improve our world.”
Out of time, climate change is a climate emergency. Cyberpunk and steampunk – the punk denotes doing your own thinking. Cons today are organised with methods and strategies which brought in people who would never have been able to attend otherwise.
Big industry is stuck on the dystopian and cyberpunk; hard to change. Novels of hopepunk in small press or not in English. Phases of transition of society shown.

2nd October
Early TV fantasy
Juliet E. McKenna, Paul Anthony Shortt, Romeo van Straten, Karina Steffens, Edmond Barrett.
People who grew up looking at the early content decided what they liked, and are now making and remaking those shows. Chat discussed our own favourites and I liked Fantastic Voyage. I asked about the Fianna being filmed, reply, no great knowledge of stories so no market. I said, and no dragons in the Fianna.

J McK asked for Pern. I said there had been several attempts to film it but publishers had a lot of control over licensed property. A fan said, from an earlier Octocon, Anne said film producers wanted to give dragons combable hair like My Little Pony so they would be playable toys, and it broke down.

Illustration
Oisin McGann, James Brophy, Leeann Hamilton, Sarah Bevan.
Panellist said she was creating a logo for an energy company, and the man on the email left and his replacement said, “I didn’t engage you so I’m not paying you.” She replied, “Your company’s email engaged me and not your predecessor individually.” He said, “no need to get so snappy.” She: “your first mail said, ‘I’m not paying you for your work.’ And I see a manager ccd earlier in the mail string so let’s ask him what’s happening.” The manager asked for all work done to be delivered and she was paid for her time. Just a logo so she had not invested in it.
OMG – I know artists who never made it to a day job because they didn’t put themselves out there. Unless you are in animation where there is some employment, you have to have a degree of entrepreneurship.
SB– money in designing logos.
OMG – photos needed now on web, most just use stock photos not original images. On his third Mac since 2001. Last two lasted nearly ten years each. But with software upgrades they no longer work. Once you start subscribing to a software, the publishers start dragging you after the tech, deciding what you can use. He has left Photoshop.
JB - Uses PS rented but his PC with 16mg RAM had marginally too small a graphics card for the painting app.
SB - spotted Peter Donnelly graphics on a Dublin Bus, he also does Keoghs crisp packets, and book illustrations. Pat McIntyre did bus artwork in the 1990s. Most illustrators want to be in comics or books but have to go into design because that is where the money is. This steers your career. He wanted to draw dragons and spaceships but has drawn more toilets than dragons.
JB - An illustrator got hired to draw motorparts for boxes. That pays.

Defending the villain

Dan Abnett, Nik Vincent-Abnett, Joseph Elliott-Coleman, Peadar Ó Guilín, Ruth Frances Long.


DA - Warhammer universe – grimdark was coined to describe it. Gothically dark, grew from the 1980s deeply satirical place, everything is on fire all the time, even heroes are morally dubious. Dan has worked there for 40 years now, it is exhausting. Few out-and-out villains. Have to be interesting to sustain a narrative. Once the character is out, it’s out, the reader can see new aspects in it.
Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter is a worse villain than Voldemort as readers could imagine her as a real person not a fantasy character.
NVA -Villains are sometimes more fun to write but you can take great pleasure in killing off a villain.
Fantasy prior to LOTR – Gulliver’s Travels. Discoveries, other continents, travellers’ tales, dog-headed people etc. By the 1840s people had photos.

Horror

Kim Newman, Maura McHugh, Anthea West, Gareth Hourahan, Gabriela Houston.




Primal fears of creatures, the dark, ghosts, being trapped. Globally there are many rituals with the purpose of settling the dead and keeping lingering spirits away from people. Ghosts being around people is generally recognised as a bad thing.
Anthea – horror is emotional, grief, lingering spirits not moving on means you can’t move on.



African SF

Tobi Ogundiran, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Dilman Diva, Joseph Elliot-Coleman (a bookseller).


Pre colonialism, all stories were just stories – no horror, literature etc.
People under 20 are very interested in other cultures.
Yvette told of great Zimbabwe ruins which are the second largest buildings after the Pyramids of Egypt. She writes trying to raise awareness of this. Black people can feel pushed to represent a group rather than write the story they want to write. Brought up in England – or in Africa – or in one tribe from Zimbabwe – you can’t represent everyone.

AI and consciousness
Ann Cory, Julian West, James Brophy, Pete Mullineaux.

Ann – at one time children were not considered to have a consciousness until they were older.


Coding nonhumans

Angeline Adams, Kat Dodd, S L Dove Cooper, Cherly Morgan, Faranae.
Murderbot says it has no interest in sex or gender. A cyborg. Neurodiversity and gender diverse – one character can’t represent all dimensions. Easier to make people stereotypes.

CM - it’s bad representation, when the whole point of a character is to tick a box and represent a stereotype.
Farane – metaphor. The people of that world were all the same but ambassadors are different.
SL - The Machineries of Empire - she has dyscalculia and someone told her that was in the book – she didn’t believe them, had read it. She had to get the Kindle to find the word.
CM - Some very subtle hints are about trans people who have transitioned in books. Just a mention of hormones etc. You can hire sensitivity readers.
Paul - agreed. Make more diverse characters fill your story and then add aliens. Don’t have the alien just to represent the ‘other’.
AA - if you have several characters that means no one person has to be the be all and end all of representation.
KD - Assume good faith by the author. Well-intentioned. We don’t know where an author is coming from, new author with no track record, they might be queer or autistic and have a different experience than the reader who has that characteristic too. Autism presents differently in men and women.

Orbital Tidy Towns

James Brophy, Declan Meenagh, Vanessa MacLaren-Wray, Mary Brigid Turner, James Shields, Dav Waldron, Russell A. Smith.
Turning old satellites into greenhouses for tomatoes. Not a success, mercury issues.



As with last year, I will leave it at the end of Saturday’s talks and post the Sunday content next month. This includes panels discussing their experience of creativity during Covid lockdowns.

This month, I am making The Prisoner In The Tower free. Grab it 10 – 14 November.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00NMWRM54
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NMWRM54

Follow my published articles on Medium or my JournoPortfolio page.
https://clareobeara.journoportfolio.com/

Watch my book trailers for my science fiction series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadPp...
Visit my website:
www.clareobeara.ie
for news, puzzles, books, reviews and events. We have created a page for Young Adult readers. This contains plenty of horses and dogs! You can find my podcasts on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.

September – Somerset and SF

This month I flew for the first time since before the Pandemic, over to Somerset in England to visit relatives. As car hire had got extremely expensive, I took buses from Bristol Airport, which gave me a nice few hours in Bristol. Public transport in the city now includes bright orange / pink e-scooters. People could hire them on-street with an app, presumably with payment, and leave the scooter anywhere that suited them, for re-use by another pedestrian or collection. I saw ginkgo biloba trees and mounted police on a main pedestrian shopping street.

I visited the museum of the home and stable of preacher John Wesley, who spoke against the slave trade that used this port city. This quite ordinary town house has been made into a church or meeting hall downstairs, while upstairs are libraries and meeting rooms. The former garden has been walled and glassed over, and is now a café with local artworks on the walls. This was an ideal place for a traveller to get lunch and catch up on e-mail. I also bought a couple of older secondhand books.


The small park near the bus station is ringed with major trees, mostly limes and London Planes, a few wych elms and others. I photographed the trees, which led a couple enjoying the sun on a bench, to ask me what was so special about them. Well, the elm had survived Dutch Elm Disease, the Planes and Limes had captured and stored carbon from two World Wars, and they were all fit and healthy. We discussed the leaf miner larvae of a moth which is attacking horse chestnut trees, as they had seen this for a few years in Germany but now it has spread to Ireland. They asked why they never saw this moth, just the leaves turning brown early, so I explained that it is a micro-moth and might look like a small fly. And we each showed the others a beautiful moth photo taken on our respective phones. They had a hummingbird hawkmoth, I had a garden carpet moth.
This just proves that no matter where you go, you can find a beautiful spot for nature, and like-minded people.

Recently I read a fascinating historical mystery Because I Could Not Stop for Death. This features poet Emily Dickinson and a vibrant period of the developing American nation. Also, Furmidable Foes which contrasts modern crime in Virginia with the crimes of slave ownership days in that location.




October means Octocon, so next time I will blog about the SF convention held during 2021. The 2022 Con is the first in-person one held since 2019, and it’s a hybrid on-line and in-person event, which I’m staffing at the venue.

This month to celebrate Octocon, I am making Dining Out with the Ice Giants free. Grab it 20 – 22 October.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MW8IQXG
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MW8IQXG

And by popular demand I am making Murder At Kildare Mensa free at the same time. Enjoy!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E79D9K8
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E79D9K8

Follow my published articles on Medium or my JournoPortfolio page.
https://clareobeara.journoportfolio.com/

Watch my book trailers for my science fiction series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadPp...
Visit my website:
www.clareobeara.ie
for news, puzzles, books, reviews and events. We have created a page for Young Adult readers. This contains plenty of horses and dogs! You can find my podcasts on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.

August - A Royal Change and the future of STEM education

As I write I’m coming to terms with the death of the Queen. While she reigned over a different country, news of her was part of my childhood and I admired the dignity and duty she embodied. I also, of course, saw her as a fellow horse lover and dog lover.


Several fiction books I’ve read have featured Her Majesty as a major or minor character.




Prince Charles, now King Charles, is a lover of the natural environment, and while in Cornwall and Wales I have seen the traditional farming methods practised there, which he encouraged, such as cut and laid hedges. This has led to a plethora of wildlife in the area, both native and reintroduced. I think a country without a monarchy may find it harder to have reason to hold on to traditions.

Here are some excerpts from an evening of talks about the future of STEM education in Ireland.
RDS ESB Science Blast evening talks

Geraldine Ruane CEO RDS.
ESB Science Blast evening talk 21st June 2022.
Childhood influences later decisions and love of STEM learning. Develops problem solving and critical thinking skills. Facing some challenges. Can be hard to engage young students if they form poor opinions of science. Also need to engage primary teachers.
Roadshow took to primary schools around Ireland. The next ten years – shift in how we deliver STEM education.

Keynote speaker Alastair Blair, Country Manager Director, Accenture.
He has no Master’s degree or PhD. Did engineering – hard subjects. He got just enough points for college. Graduated in 1980s – not enough jobs. Lucky enough to grow up with decisions such as free education. Fundamental gift – never lose sight of that. World is changing more rapidly than before.

“I would argue that I am obsolete in three months from now if I don’t keep up. Marry this with soft skills – critical thinking and collaboration. Social challenges. Ethical development of AI which is something our clients are talking to us about constantly. Changed strapline to let there be change. We need profound change in education.”

Panel discussion
Dr. Mairead Hurley, TCD, research into education.
Meadbh Costello, IBEC.
Dr. Niamh Shaw.
MC – One in five computer science grads are women. Communication – critical thinking – collaboration – creativity.

See the full evening’s notes in an article with photos, on Medium.
https://clareobeara.medium.com/future...

Books I have been enjoying include Pony, Show Me The Bunny, The Queen’s Huntsman. A Pretty Deceit and Femina.





This month I am making Murder at Dublin Mensa free. Grab it 16 – 19 September.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E78QKP0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E78QKP0

Follow my published articles on Medium or my JournoPortfolio page.
https://clareobeara.journoportfolio.com/

Watch my book trailers for my science fiction series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadPp...
Visit my website:
www.clareobeara.ie
for news, puzzles, books, reviews and events.

We have created a page for Young Adult readers. This contains plenty of horses and dogs! You can find my podcasts on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.

July: RDS talks and the Galway Girl

With a busy start to the month, I was in the Royal Dublin Society twice. I attended the retirement of the Librarian Gerard Whelan, who joined the RDS in 1975. We enjoyed a coffee morning and chat. I was delighted to meet J.B. McGowan Joe McGowan, author, former amateur jockey, eventer and trainer, and chat with Joe and his wife again. I won a High Jump in his indoor arena, two years running.

I also attended a talk for the ESB Science Blast which was addressed by Alastair Blair, Country Manager Director of Accenture Ireland. Then Dr. Mairéad Hurley, School of Education, TCD, and Meadhbh Costello, IBEC, took part in a panel discussion on the kind of STEM education Ireland needs to provide for the future.

My husband and I took a few days to visit Galway, a lovely medieval city on the West coast. We stayed in student accommodation and enjoyed such meals as seafood chowder.
Places we visited included Eyre Square, and the Eyre Square Shopping Centre which incorporates the old city walls; the Museum of Galway, the Claddagh Ring museum, and Galway harbour. The city is so compact that it’s easy to get around, and the weather was gorgeous. So, briefly I was a Galway Girl. I have visited on a few occasions but not for more than a day.

Recently I read books The Last Wild Horses, Project Hail Mary, The Ponies at the Edge of the World, Ghost Horse, A Good Measure, The Storm Leopards, Bold, among others. I’m currently reading Steel Girls On The Home Front.





I took a LinkedIn Learning course on how to edit e-books. This is not about the text or subject matter, but demonstrates how to turn a web page into an ebook, and edit contents table, chapter headings, index and so on. For anyone working with epubs this may seem daunting at first, but it’s easy enough if you understand basic HTML, and it’s really useful to learn how these books work and see their potential.

MIT is providing free, graduate level courses online. To gain a qualification, and if you wish to progress to use these as degree modules, you would have to make a payment, but this would be tailored to your income.
Plenty to choose from, including chemistry, biology, data analysis, business, calculus, renewable energy.

https://openlearning.mit.edu/courses-...

This is the page which explains about the MicroMasters Program Credential in Development Policy. The introductory module is The Challenges of Global Poverty. This module is taught by two Nobel Prize winners.

https://mitx-micromasters.zendesk.com...-

This month I am making A Dozen Dogs Or So free. Grab it August 18 – 21.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08CJNG7N5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CJNG7N5

Follow my published articles on Medium or my JournoPortfolio page.
https://clareobeara.journoportfolio.com/

Watch my book trailers for my science fiction series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadPp...

Visit my website:
www.clareobeara.ie
for news, puzzles, books, reviews and events. We have created a page for Young Adult readers. This contains plenty of horses and dogs! You can find my podcasts on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.

June - College results and environmental wins

My final results from the Data Visualisation course arrived. I gained a B+ which is a combination of both modules.
This excellent postgraduate certification in data science and journalism will stand me in good stead.
When I look at an online article with interactive graphs, or a dashboard, I know how they were made. I can make them myself in the future if I wish. My thanks go to IADT for this interesting and useful course.

As I won an award for work carried out while I was at DBS, that college has published a piece to inform students, staff, alumni and the public. Awards reflect happily on the college and its standards. Independent authors are happy with any publicity, so here is a link to this pleasant short item. The award was the SMedias for Journalism Relating To Health.
https://www.dbs.ie/about-dbs/news-and...

I was invited to attend a UN Environment Programme discussion on the topic of marine plastic waste. I told LinkedIn:

“Busy morning at the UN Environment Programme, as we discussed the ongoing plastic waste issue. Among the takeaways: many governments and groups want a baseline to be measured to see how much plastic waste exists and where it is coming from. But industry and action groups are engaged in moving on to the recover and recycle stage as fast as they can.
12% of Indonesian households said they had no waste collection; down from 25% during 2020. Many multinationals are making sustainability pledges, to include recycled materials in products.

Singapore trialled reverse vending with great success and is about to oblige deposit and return. Local plastic waste collectors are unionising and becoming involved in talks.”

One of the environmental actions I take, besides voting Green at every election in my life, is answering surveys.
I tell companies what I want.
I told coffee machine makers that I wanted recyclable pods, not K-cups. They have had to start making these, either aluminium or compostable.

I told the electricity suppliers and government that I wanted to be paid for putting electricity back into the grid, as this would offset the price I would need to pay to install a solar panel on my roof. That’s about to be realised.
I told makers of goods in plastic that I wanted them to use recycled plastic. That’s happening.
I told those asking that I wanted a deposit and refund on soft drink bottles and cans, reverse vending, and that is now law and will be operating here by September.

The environmental movement has room for people in all niches. But consider where you can make the most impact. We need people to pick up litter, and choose carefully what they buy; and we need people to pester the manufacturers and marketers and vendors of that litter, and the governments who have to pay to clean the litter and manage the waste.

I enjoyed some fantastic books this month, including Sunrise on Half Moon Bay, The Test Pilot’s Wife, Rummage, Murder On The Road and Stone Cold.







This month I am making Murder At Scottish Mensa free 15 – 18 July.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E78J0W0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E78J0W0

Follow my published articles on Medium or my JournoPortfolio page.
https://clareobeara.journoportfolio.com/

Watch my book trailers for my science fiction series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadPp...
Visit my website:
www.clareobeara.ie
for news, puzzles, books, reviews and events.

We have created a new page for Young Adult readers. This contains plenty of horses and dogs! You can find my podcasts on the News and Events page. I provide a Writers’ Page giving tips about how to be an independent publisher. I am also adding book covers to Pinterest boards after I review the books, so feel free to find me on Pinterest.