Self-Beauty in Glendalough

This year, I managed to sneak a quick visit to one of my favourite sites back in Ireland, the beautiful valley of Gleann Dá Loch (Valley of Two lakes), anglicized as Glendalough. The valley’s always been inhabited although, given the spiel at the local visitor centres and tourist offices, you’d be forgiven for thinking life… Read more »

The Tailor and Ansty- A Review

I first came across a copy of The Tailor and Ansty about 25 years ago when I was dossing in the basement of a large house in Bath (England). I’d been visiting my girlfriend for the weekend and the whole event had taken on a surreal nature as we’d broken up during a burlesque circus… Read more »

Irish Fantasy Friday: 20 Oct 2017

A weekly update of Irish fantasy-related news – from an Irish perspective! Dominated by GoT and Star Wars today!! Liam-Cunningham says Game of Thrones stars are not making millions [Aaah, c’mon Liam!] (Irish Independent) Impressive independent GoT Short Film (The White Wolf) by two Belfast men: (Irish News) Go mbeidh an fórsa leat! — May… Read more »

Irish Fantasy Friday: 13 Oct 2017

A weekly update of Irish fantasy-related news – from an Irish perspective! David Freyne’s The Cured wins ‘Best Horror Feature’ at the Fantastic Fest, America’s largest genre film festival (IFTN) Liam Cunningham insists he doesn’t when the last Game of Thrones episode goes to air (ah, c’mon Liam!!) (UPI) A Fantasy Map of Ireland stirs… Read more »

Irish Fantasy Friday

With the 2017 Octocon kicking off this weekend, we decided it’d be timely for an update on Irish fantasy-related stories. An interesting insight to the ‘extras’ casting call process for Vikings: Season 6, much of which is shot in Ireland (Project Casting ) The trailer for Vikings: Season 6 – just a little bit of mayhem!… Read more »

Irish Mythology, Newly Discovered Werewolves and Other People’s Spin

Much of what people see as Irish folklore and Irish mythology today, is actually a confused muddle of snippets of fact, cultural misinterpretation, Chinese whispers, intentional and unintentional misinformation. Generally speaking, the latter tends to be disseminated by bloggers who aren’t Irish (but have an interest in what they call ‘Celtic’ mythology) however most people… Read more »

Strange Days in Barcelona

People are weird. Three days ago, a bunch of mindless individuals, mostly kids between the age of 17 and 22, attacked the city of Barcelona. Zealous and driven, it’s obvious their chains were being yanked by some manipulative figure in the shadows, nevertheless, one of them mounted a van onto the pedestrian walkway at La… Read more »