Tag Archives: fun

SFF and Diversity

This post is brought to you after I read this on facebook https://www.facebook.com/joch.mcarthur/posts/10103074134267273

The diversity in SFF (Science Fiction & Fantasy), what ever the medium comics, film, Tv, books and video games is why I am a fan. I have had people wonder how my feminism, parses with my interest in SSF, what I have read, watched, played and loved as frankly fed my feminism.

Helped me dream of the world being a better place and of people dealing with each other with compassion. Helped me figure out what I would do in horrid situations, let me explore possibilities.

SFF has never been prefect, it won’t ever be, it is created by flawed humans, but it has never been the preserve of cis white hetro men not from the very beginning.

Yes as it has become mainstream and those looking to target the biggest section of the market for profit have started to present it as being of and for cis white hetro men, but that is spin.

SSF has always been diverse, women and girls have always created, organised, wrote, drawn, been the back bone of fandoms.
Yes Fandom and conventions are not perfect either, but they are a hell of a lot better then they were 20 years ago in my experience.

Which is why I am proud of the conventions I have been involved with, Shamrokon and Octocon and the work done to try and reflect that diversity and the joy SSF brings.

Hope to see many of you this weekend in the Camden Court Hotel for Octocon.

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I will be in the wonderful geeky bubble which is www.octocon.com all weekend.
Mind yourselves while I am off event running and getting to be on so many panels which are so inter sectional it has made me squee.

Panels on bodily autonomy in young adult fiction, on bisexual representation in fiction, on sex workers in fiction, on genderqueerness in fiction, on mental health & neuro diversity in fiction and fandom community and magic & pagan ism in fiction.

This is my schedule for the weekend, you can have a look at the rest of line up here

http://app.octocon.com/#

 

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Scifi/fantasy fandom has this rep of being all older cis white hetro men. It’s not. Both guests of honor this weekend are amazing and also women. Many of out guest authors joining us are women I admire, and I know I will also be surrounded by lovely feminist men.

I will be tweeting from @Octocon over the weekend if you want to see what I am up to.

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Worlds Beyond Podcast Ep 01 interview with Paul Anthony Shortt

Yes once again I am bitten by the podcasting bug. Worlds Beyond will be an irish podcast about all things Geek, Gamer and Genre Fiction related.

 

The 1st episode is with Paul Anthony Shortt who’s book Red Skies the second in the Lady Raven series was published this week. His is an Author, Gamer, Father and self confessed feminist. We talked about his books, ghost busters, why stories matter and how he will be at Octocon 2015.

 

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Red Skies is available to down load now from amazon as a kindle release.

You can find Paul Anthony Shortt online in the following places

Website: http://paulanthonyshortt.blogspot.ie/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PAShortt

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6476977.Paul_Anthony_Shortt

 

 

 

 

 

Arcadecon 2015

Arcadecon is on this weekend 3rd to the 5th of August in the Crown Plaza Hotel, beside the Blanchardstown shopping center.

 

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It’s one of the few conventions I’ve not yet attended and I am looking forward it for a range of reasons. Most conventions I attend are usually focused on one aspect of fandom or geek pursuits, but this looks like a real all rounder.  I am looking forward to hearing Paul Bolger talk about , hopefully meeting Professor Elemental, attending the Kapow Burlesque, meeting members of the USS Cuchulain.

So much to see and do, I have images of the current time table below so people can have a look at what to expect over the weekend. As ever a time table is only every finalised after an event has finished.

Friday

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Saturday

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Sunday

 

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If anyone wants to talk to me about Octocon please do come find me, I may also have some Dublin2019 flyers with me.

You scream, I scream….

We all scream for Ice cream!

 

I am a big fan of ice cream, it is comfort food of the highest order. So when I heard there was to be a new Magnum which was being advertised as espresso flavored I my interest was peaked. Coffee and Ice cream in one, oh yes.

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The fair trade frog for coca beans is always good to see on what I consume.

 

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Oh oh, it’s not just ice cream and espresso, but also dark Chocolate. Could this be the adult Choc Ice I have been searching for?

 

 

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The espresso flavor is folded all the way through, why yes I am the type to bite off the chocolate, especially when it’s good dark chocolate, but it also let me see inside. The flavor was more then I expected, how ever there was no chance of a caffeine hit which for me would have made it utterly perfect. The balance between the dark chocolate, the buffer of the ice cream and the espresso flavor is perfectly stuck and pleased my palette no end.  I savored every bite, right to the stick.

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I really, really hope HB Ireland keeps this  limited edition around for longer then the summer.

 

Writers are my rock stars (Neil Gaiman is coming to Dublin)

I have written before bout how Writers are my rock stars (also known as go go plan crazy, travelling to Galway to hear Warren Eills speak)  and how they open worlds to me, their words delighting, haunting and staying with me.

There are a few who’s craft is so beguiling I will try and make the effort to see them talk in person. So far I have been lucky that many of them come here to Ireland.

I don’t go crazy for autographs or photos with, but just like to listen to them talk about their work. I have found they are usually inspiring people.

Last summer due to my involvement with Shamrokon I got to meet Carrie Vaugh, Charles Stross, Ruth Long Michael Carroll and do the Guest of Honour interview with Seanan McGuire.

So I was delighted when I saw this

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(photo by @ClaireNolan)

So I will be out in UCD next Wednesday as Neil Gaiman will be receiving the James Joyce Award. I did come to his writing via Good Omens and then Sandman, and have read just about everything else he’s written over the last 25 years. I got so see Terry Pratchett a few years back when he attended the Unseen University Challenge in TCD and it will be nice to finally have seen them both in person.

 

Ladies who lunch? Part 2

So I found myself wondering who is it I would like to hang out with and have a long leisurely lunch.
The type of ladies with whom, I could talk life, the universe, sex and sexuality and not have them bat an eye lid at anything I might say. Laugh their heads of yes, but not be made uncomfortable.

As ever when one starts along such a train of thought, it is wishful thinking, so why not pick anyone.
So I guess Amanda Palmer, Margaret Cho, Joan Jett, Betty Dobson. Laurie Penny.
Each of which are amazing women, who have broken new ground in their professions spending a couple of hours in their collective company would be so invigorating.

But thinking about it I am lucky to have such women in my life who are just as kick ass and I think I am going to have to organize a get together.

Lora O’Brien is a writer, manager of Rathcroghan Heritage center in Roscommon, how she manages to get so much done in a week still baffles me.

Coral Mallow
whom I meet when she was over doing a series of workshop, she had a boundless sense of fun and what makes people tick. She also makes amazing jewelry and will be returning to Ireland to continue her work with 4elements theater company.

Bon who is also know as deannawol and under that name has write some wonderful RPG games, which I have been lucky enough to play at conventions, and her work ethic when it comes to her writing is something I am frankly jealous of.

Ailish Farragher who’s tribal belly dance workshops are a delight to take part in and who runs a Tantra salon in Dublin and is one of the Organizers of the Bliss festivals and circles/

Tara also know as @MsFrugalone who had organised so many wonderful meet ups, is caring compassionate, has such a wry sense of humor and always ready to burst out laughing and even when she’s admonishing me I know it coming from the best of places.

But a handful of wonderful women there are more the ladies I have meet at pro choice events and so I guess it’s not that I don’t fit in with women, it’s finding women I fit in with.

The Universe, history, culture and everything.

Went for a walk with my son, as he’s not been out of the house from when he got home from school on Friday. Like me he prefers to go for a walk at night, when it’s quieter. We enjoy the dark and the cool. It was a perfect evening for star gazing, a clear sky, not to cold, so we could stand for a while and look up.

He’s now old enough that he’s pointing out to me the constellations he knows and the
many names and the tales associated with the names, which makes me proud he remembers and it’s strange to be standing beside him and have him as tall as me.
He is also at the stage were I can talk more about the Irish historical political and cultural meanings behind Ursa Major, esp as he will be doing Seán O’Casey in school.

I hope we never stop having discussions about the universe, history, culture and everything.

Holloween and Community.

I’ve not been blogging much of late, that is due to getting involved more in my local community.
I’ve recently become a member of the Board of Management of my local community center and a member of the events committee. We started small with a end of summer disco when the kids went back to school and
have work our way up to more ambition event.

Today was one of them. It went well I am shattered, we had two fire tenders, one from the civil defense who let the kids climb on board and use the mini hose and one from the on call Dublin fire brigade who, who did a talk on safety at Holloween. We had the order of Malta ambulance and the kids got to be strapped down on the strecher and the Community Garda came with a Van and the kids got to sit in the driving seat and be locked in the back.

This time of year our emergency services can face a lot of flack when they are called out esp Holloween night, hopefully some of the out reach we did today will mean there will be less of that in years to come.

Then we had the disco and face painting, colouring in competition, costume competition. We had over a 150 kids attend it was a great community even I got called the Pumpkin lady by the kids due to my T Shirt. It was very worth while. And I am so going to veg out and watch scarey movies wiht my kids for the rest of the evening and have a drink or two.

New Secular Parents Group

One of the hard things about bring up your children with no religion or leaving them to figure it out for themselves as they got older, is that it can leave them with out a sense of community which other children may experience.

Also due to how our communities are still often arranged around parish lines it can happen that children don’t meet and get to know other children who have no religion. Getting to be be around other kids for whom this is the norm is a good thing. It means they know they are not alone or that weird and there are other families like theirs who don’t go to church, temple, mosque or meeting hall.

My own kids have no religion, they both currently self ID as agnostic. They were the first children ever enrolled in their school with no stated religion. Back then over 10 years ago there were no Educate Together schools close enough to make it an option. There are still too few Educate Together schools but it’s changing, but there are still challenges esp as such children move into secondary school.

It is great to see more parents working for change and supporting each other.
One of these initiatives is the Secular Parents Group. They are aiming to connect families, so parents can share with each other and run events were kids can meet other kids like them.

Their first event is coming up shortly.