Tag: interview

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Preview: Darren Shan: Ringmaster of the Macabre

Joining us at Octocon for the first time is author of creepy and utterly horrific stories, Darren Shan, for a child-friendly reading and an interview led by Janet O’Sullivan.

Sunday 3rd October at 2pm Irish time (UTC+1) – watch on our Twitch channel!

If you have questions for Darren, you can ask them during the interview via Twitch, or tweet them in advance @Octocon.

Darren Shan: Ringmaster of the Macabre

Global bestselling children’s author Darren Shan has terrified us with zombies, ghosts, vampires and exotic spiders as well as the outright horror of being a teenager. Come and listen as he spins us a tale and answers questions about his books, what really scares him, and what drew him to a career in horror.

About Darren Shan

Darren Shan was born in London but has spent most of his life in Limerick in Ireland, where he lives with his wife and children. He has published 57 books for both children and adults, and has sold over 30 million books worldwide, making bestseller charts in the USA, the UK, Ireland, Hungary, Dubai, Japan, Taiwan and elsewhere. He is currently writing the Archibald Lox fantasy series, of which six books have already been published, with the final three due to see print in 2022.

Website: darrenshan.com/ | Twitter: @darrenshan | Facebook: darrenshanverified

Darren Shan
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Octocon Presents: We Can Change Faster Than the Climate Can, with Oisín McGann

As part of our Octocon Presents series of events in the run-up to our virtual event in October, we’re proud to present We Can Change Faster Than the Climate Can, on June 8th at 7:30pm (UTC+1). The event will feature a reading by Oisín McGann from his new non-fiction book ‘A Short, Hopeful Guide to Climate Change’, followed by an interview conducted by Daniella Bella.

Watch live on our Twitch channel OctoconIRL.

What is Climate Change? How can it be stopped? And what can you do to help the fight? Oisín McGann explains Climate Change science and encourages readers to be a part of positive change by getting involved in the global movement to fight humanity’s biggest challenge.

About Oisín McGann

Oisín McGann is one of Ireland’s most prolific and best-known writer-illustrators, producing books for all ages of reader. He is the author of the Mad Grandad books, Headbomz: Wreckin’ Your Head, and novels such as Race the Atlantic Wind, The Gods and Their Machines and The Wildenstern Saga.

He is a winner of the European Science Fiction Society Award, CBI’s Children’s Choice Award and has been shortlisted for numerous other awards, including the Waterstones Childrens’ Book Prize in the UK, le Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in France and Locus Magazine’s Best First Novel Award in the US.

You can find out more about Oisín McGann via the social media links below, and don’t forget to join us on Twitch at 7:30pm (UTC+1) on Tuesday 8th June for our Octocon Presents event.

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Octocon Presents: An Evening with Jessica Thorne

Octocon is delighted to run a series of events in the run-up to our virtual convention in October. The first of these is An Evening with Jessica Thorne (Ruth Frances Long) taking place on Friday 23rd April at 8pm IST, featuring a reading from her most recent book, The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall, followed by an interview and Q&A session.

Watch live on our Twitch channel OctoconIRL.

The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall blends time travel, folklore and Arthurian legend, along with romances both in World War Two and the modern day, in a spine-chilling magical mystery.

This is the cover of the book The Lost Girls of Foxfield Hall by Jessica Thorne

Jessica Thorne writes fantasy, space opera and other fantastic tales, including The Queen’s Wing, Mageborn and Nightborn. The Stone’s Heart was nominated for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Fantasy novel of the year in 2020.

As Ruth Frances Long, she writes young adult fantasy, often about scary fairies. In 2015 she won the European Science Fiction Society Spirit of Dedication Award for Best Author of Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy for A Crack in Everything.

When she’s not writing, she works in a specialized library of rare & occasionally crazy books.

Image of the author Jessica Thorne (Ruth Frances Long)

You can find out more about Jessica Thorne and Ruth Frances Long via the social media links below, and don’t forget to join us on Twitch at 8pm on Friday 23rd April for our first Octocon Presents event.