October – New book released, and Octocon notes

The great news is that I’ve finished and published my latest book, A Cat For Company.
Katya O’Callaghan, from a Polish-Irish family, needs to grow up quickly when the Covid-19 Pandemic strikes Dublin. She’s caring for her younger twin brothers, her puppy and kitten, and she’s the sole visitor allowed for her grandparents. That’s a lot of responsibility for a thirteen year old.
When circumstances oblige Katya to move in with her grandparents, she brings her kitten, which gets named Milo. Between attending school online and educating the seniors about e-mails from foreign princes, she’s kept busy. As the lockdown restrictions are extended, the girl learns vital lessons. She’s going to need all her skills when dog thieves strike her family.
This informative, positive thinking story for young people mixes fact with fiction, nature lore, photos and a recipe.
Illustrated with photos by the author.

A Cat For Company is third in the Irish Lockdown series, following A Pony For Quarantine and A Dog For Lockdown, and can be read as a standalone.

Links to A Cat For Company
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CNL6V19D

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNL6V19D


Octocon was great fun as always, and my panel went well. I’ll tell you about that next time.
Now, back to the notes I made during the previous year’s Octocon. I was a volunteer again so I noted down the content of talks while sitting in a panel room waiting to hold up the 10 minute cards or pass around the roving mic. The 2022 Con was held in Croke Park meeting rooms, and with health restrictions still somewhat in place, windows were open to the cold autumnal air throughout, making it the coldest Con I have attended. I feel the cold and my main issue was that the coffee for sale was only ever lukewarm. The food stopped being served at around 4pm without notice, and was very limited in nature. People selling in the dealer room could not move around to get warm. A dance and fancy dress event was held one evening, but I was so cold I had to go home. While this was a good chance to gain experience working in a signature stadium, I was not surprised that the Con moved to a hotel for 2023.

Here’s the notes for a panel I found most interesting.
Saturday – Holding on to our rights as we expand to the stars. Edmond Barrett, R B Kelly, Declan Meenagh, Harun Sijak.




Mod, Mary Brigid Turner. Generation ships - in one story, after a few generations, people no longer know how to read and write.
EB – Pirate ships were relatively democratic as everyone had to agree on a leader.
DM – is it ethical to have a generation ship? Signing up future generations who have no choice and a restricted life.
Mod - losing the rights to learn.
RB – from Northern Ireland – self determination is not recognised in a society which needs engineers and not SF writers.
EB – reproductive rights. Can need genetic diversity but have restricted resources.
RBK – just doing what we like has led to a lack of resources.
EB – In Wool Omnibus. an enclosed society, an expectation of rebellion every few generations and how to put it down.
HS – Things could be traded e.g. what you are able to make trades into how many children.
DM – take car ownership – is that a right, how to wean people off cars and car parking spaces. People want to build a house in the countryside where they have to have a car.
EB – homosexual marriage was considered wacky and illegal in the 1970s. A generation shift has seen it legalised. Other social changes could happen on a generation ship.
Mod – how to avoid revolution on a gen ship, and should we try?
RBK – optimistic and pessimistic. Last 100 years have been getting better for human rights. Would like to think this would continue improving. Dystopian SF says no.
HS – population would have to be very educated.
EB – voting would require tech education.
DM – nearly every piece of worker rights came via strikes and unions. Oxygen supply – work to rule. As a species we are messy, conflicts arise. Must be resolved for a ship.
HS – revolution or just mutiny to take over the ship? Revolution is more broad.
EB – would have to have children or a bunch of pensioners would come off the ship and need someone to look after them. Cultural shift between home planet and ship or planetary colonists.
RB Kelly – make a decision to stay on the moon, as after a certain period you physically can’t leave. Kids find moon home in New Moon but compare the cold to Antarctica etc. however they have never been to Earth and can’t go.
HS – in a Mars colony it would be counterproductive to keep old ways just for the sake of it. Are laws insufficient?
RBK – in Luna every law is contract law so nothing is illegal, it’s negotiable. 5 corporations pushed development of the moon and made the laws. You can’t steal but should negotiate for what you need.
EB – Artemis – limited options in a lunar habitat. If you kill someone you are sent to the country they came from – if 2 people killed, we can send you to jail in Norway or Russia, depending on how much you tell us.
DM – social security net of a universal income, in low gravity for so long you would become disabled.
EB – in mediaeval times a family could not keep a child that was disabled as everyone needed to work to bring in enough food. Harsh reflection on society.
HS –Red Mars, start from a clean slate, no inertia of systems or just a continuation of Earth ways.
Q: jobs are becoming hereditary on Battlestar Galactica. Workers were doing a basic job and wanted better conditions.
DM – unions now don’t want to go on strike as they don’t get paid.
HS – lack of labour brings increased replaceability, robots and AI. Not that hopeful of power of life support staff.
EB – career progression to move to other jobs every ten years.
DM – swap shifts, work less, hold protests.
Q: Economic system – closed system, not growth, plenty of spare time,
EB – could work 5 hours and do something cultural the rest. But resources are limited.
RBK – post scarcity society in Star Trek, Culture clash among other cultures. We will need to adopt and release pressures slowly.
DM – UN rights e.g. right to housing. Space could be run by billionaire bros. Would prefer luxury space communism.

You can follow me on Linked In to see some of my photography. Catch up with my news, events and Young Adult Page on my website. You can also sign up for my seasonal newsletter. I have a page devoted to helping writers publish independently. www.clareobeara.ie