Octocon 2020 Programme Book

Went Virtual: 9th,10th & 11th October 2020

Programme Guide 2020

A Message from the Octocon Chairperson Welcome to the very first

Virtual Octocon a.k.a. Octocon 2020.

What a year it has been (and it’s not over!).

The journey to this con has been a rocky one and like the current state of the world, it was full of uncertainty. But here we are. It’s October and it’s time for another Octocon. In a time when we are all isolated from each other, I think that having this type of gathering wherever we can is extremely important. We have to remind ourselves that we’re not really alone. We can still celebrate our love for fandom together even though we are apart.

Of course, another big reason to have this convention is that this year, Octocon is turning 30. Whenever I hear stories about Octocon from long ago, I’m always reminded of how many years the con has been running. There’s not that many conventions that can proudly declare that they’ve made it to their 30th year.

So of course we have to celebrate this achievement, with or without a pandemic.

At first glance, running a virtual con seemed so easy (I certainly thought so!) but we quickly learned just how much work was needed and how much we would have to learn in order to put this con together. So to my ever supportive Committee, thank you for going along with my crazy idea and helping make a virtual Octocon a reality. Thank you to our Guest of Honour, Michael Carroll, and our Fan Guests of Honour, Helen and Philippa Ryder, for being so understanding. To all our guests, panelists, and staff volunteers who gave up their time to help with the convention, we literally wouldn’t be able to do this without you. Thank you!

So without further ado, let’s go celebrate Irish Fandom the virtual way!

Oh and one last thing... Happy 30th birthday Octocon!

Guest of Honour

Michael Carroll In his own words....

Tragically bus-wrecked at a tender age and stranded alone in the southern wilds of Dublin, Michael Carroll was adopted by feral leprekittens who taught him how to survive by hunting for small prey. He was rescued by a passing explorer who, by chance, was the owner and proprietor of a large fleet of science fiction trucks that cruised the land with their merry jingles attracting earnest young readers keen to exchange their hard-stolen pennies for the latest Bradbury or Asimov or Silverberg novel. Thus, raised on a steady diet of classic SF, and the occasional injured vole, Michael was well-placed for a career as a Science Fiction writer, which he hopes will begin any day now.

Michael still lives in Ireland’s capital city of Dublin, which he shares with his adorable wife Leonia, two cats, and a couple of million strangers. He has written a number of books, but then that is a very dodgy statement because you could also say that he has eaten a number of helicopters (in such a case, of course, that number would be zero). Among the books he has actually written are the New Heroes series of Young Adult superhero novels and the #1 Amazon best-selling cult graphic novel Judge Dredd: Every Empire Falls. He currently writes comic strips for 2000AD and Judge Dredd Megazine. Other works include Jennifer Blood for Dynamite Entertainment, Razorjack for Titan Books (co-written with artist John Higgins), the Rico Dredd trilogy for Abaddon Books, for whom he has also created the acclaimed Judges series which explores the genesis of the world of Judge Dredd.

Find him at: Twitter: @mikeowencarroll Web: http://www.michaelowencarroll.com

Fan Guest of Honour

Helen Ryder In her own words….

As a child I was an avid reader, and the first SF books that I recall reading included the ‘Kemlo’ books in the school library, and Star Surgeon by Alan E. Nourse. Then a school friend introduced me to Asimov as an author and I was lost. When I was 18 I went to my first Star Trek convention in my home town – and met Philippa.

Over the next ten years we attended ST and SF conventions around the UK (Conspiracy ’87 in Brighton was my first Worldcon, and my Darkover costume won the Eastercon masquerade in 1991) and after our marriage in 1986 we were involved in the Irish Science Fiction Association meetings. In 1990 a group of us launched Octocon in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire with Terry Pratchett as our guest of honour and somehow I ended up as the chair. We repeated the experience in 1991 and as chair I was delighted to meet our GOH Geoff Ryman. Octocon 3 with Orson Scott Card was to be my last on the committee but not our last convention – the Star Trek con Timewarp 1 and 2 in Malahide was at one time the largest Star Trek convention in Europe. In 1997 Dublin hosted Eurocon in Dublin Castle and my co-chair was the muchmissed Dave Stewart.

Work and family life took its toll and I stepped back from active fandom but not from SF. I have been very proud of my involvement in early Irish SF fandom. It is thrilling to know that Octocon has been such a solid part of the Irish SF year and was the base for the brilliant Dublin Worldcon in 2019.

The First Octocon badge

Fan Guest of Honour

Philippa Ryder In her own words....

I first became involved in fandom when, sick in bed with a cold, my mother bought me The Early Asimov vol. 1. Asimov quickly became a hero of mine, and I loved the snippets of life in New York in the 1930s and 40s he told of, talking of Worldcons, fanzines and famous fans.

As soon as I heard of the inaugural meeting of the Irish Science Fiction Association I went, making firm friends and shortly joining the committee, editing the newsletter, becoming secretary then chair as the association expanded from a few dozen members to over 200. We held ISFACon 1 and 2 in the early 1980s, around the time I met my wife Helen at a Star Trek convention in Leeds and I left the committee to pursue other interests for a few years (well, we got married!), but in 1987 I became involved again, chairing its rise to a truly national organisation with a printed magazine and other publications and eventually leading to the establishment of Octocon in 1990.

I was on the committee of Octocon 1 and 2, co-chair of Octocon 3. At that time I also helped establish Ireland’s long-running small press magazine Albedo One with John Kenny, David Murphy and Bob Neilson, which is still running today. I was also part of the first ever Eurocon to be held in Ireland, in 1997, and also of Timewarp 1 and 2, two hugely successful Star Trek conventions in 1993 and 1995. I also produced a couple of fanzines at this time, which dealt with the Irish SF scene.

Above: Helen & Philippa Ryder

left: Ryder and Chair Helen tchett Pra GOH Terry in 1990

Taking a step back from fandom for personal reasons in 2000 – I transitioned from male to female – I started to become involved again recently, with appearances on various panels at Worldcon in Dublin. But fandom has always been very close to my heart and we named our house FIAWOL – search for us from anywhere in the world on Google Maps and hey, drop in for a coffee and a chat sometime.

A Convention Year Like No Other James Brophy writes about the weirdness of 2020 I’ve been going to and intermittently helping to organise Octocons for 21 years now and let me tell you in that time I have never seen something like this year.

This flyer was just released when we first started discussing what to do about the impending Covid 19 pandemic. Lockdowns were not yet a reality and we on the committee were doing back of an envelope math about how many people our location could support safely; theorising about tents and open air panels in a spectacularly wet country, in October.

Soon after this it became apparent that not only could we not safely hold an event but we would be legally prevented from doing so. What happened next amazed me. I’ve seen conventions in trouble before. I’ve seen conventions lose their location and the frantic flurry that creates, I have never before seen a convention lose the concept of a location in total and yet continue.

Our Chair made the pitch that we should run Octocon anyway, but we would take it online. It would become a live event broadcast to Twitch over a 3 day period with a social space on a gaming communication platform called Discord.

We had no experience to justify doing that, at all. Frankly not many events in fandom did. We developed a screen language for the convention, created an opening sequence with theme music, wrote guides on how to produce live tv from zoom chats and at several points we were out-pacing professional TV productions in terms of quality.

As the year wore on, we all individually had our wobbles in confidence and we found the secret was that as long as only one person at a time lacked confidence that it could be done, the rest of us could reassure them to keep going and keep going we all did.

At the best of times bringing a convention together is like building a plane mid air in the hope that it will land well. This year we saw our landing strip washed away and then our committee converted that metaphorical passenger flight into a sea plane and proceeded to not just land it, but land it gracefully. It was a hell of a thing.

That brings me to the unusual nature of this programme book. This book has been produced after the convention so we can share much of the event with you. It’s not everything. Nothing of our discord remains, and we only have panels where all the participants consented to being recorded and shown again online.

As you read through the list of panels look out for the YouTube links which will take you to the recorded video so you can enjoy what fans can achieve when they don’t know how to stop making cool things happen.

Octocon Committee 2020

Chairperson: Sakura Perez Treasurer: Joanna Schaffalitzky Memberships: MaryBr igid Turner Programme Manager: Catherine Sharp Virtual Operations, Volunteers and Venue: Ryan O’Toole Promotions: Janet O’Sullivan Publications: James Brophy Guest Liaison: James Bacon

Dealer Liaison: Katherine O’Meara Reynolds Sponsorships: Finbar Nicholl Other Committee members: Marguerite Smith Programme Team: Daniella Bella, James Bacon, James Brophy, Kat Dodd, Fona, Ann Gry, Elaine McIonyn, Paddy Lennon, Declan Meenagh, Ian Moore, Sakura Perez, Marguerite Smith, MaryBrigid Turner

Special Thanks:

James Shields for website and registration infrastructure, Faranae for technical setup and support, and all our hard-working volunteers and programme participants.

Cover and convention mascot “Octo” illustrations created by James Brophy

Octocon Presents Panels To entice everyone to join Octocon (and to test our tech), we ran some taster panels in the run-up to the convention.

Cataloguing the Disposable

Much of what fandom cherishes was inconsequential and ephemeral for its creators. Pulp and children’s entertainment were seen as disposable, with no one expecting any lasting impact. From banned books to deleted episodes of favourite TV, fans have done the important work of archiving our culture. In this panel, the raiders of the dustbin of history share the secrets of preserving the treasures of yesterday for future fans.

Panelists: Robert JE Simpson (moderator), Michael Carroll, Rebecca O’Neill, Jack Fennell https://youtu.be/KN3KoskDZgM

People Who Suck: A Brief History of Vampires

From their origins in folk beliefs around the world, vampires have colonised our imagination through books, films, television and games. Along the way, they have changed and mutated, from the foul monsters of folklore and early fiction to the dangerous but sexy figures of paranormal romance. This panel will trace the vampire’s history and examine its enduring appeal.

Panelists: MaryBrigid Turner (moderator), Kim Newman, Gareth Hanrahan, Kat Dodd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KowUg7nBVuM

Don’t forget to click the links to see the panels!

www.redbubble.com/people/Octocon/shop

Our Dealers:

Various folks who were going to show up at Octocon when it was in person stayed with us as we transitioned online. These advert cards are links to their shops (Click them and See!) and were made to run on Twitch before each panel over the weekend.

Programme Items Panels

Panels were only recorded and made available on YouTube if all panellists gave consent.

4th Wave Feminism in Sci-fi and Fantasy

No one is just one thing, and intersectionality teaches us that the overlapping pressures from society affect us all in different ways. Fourth wave feminism seeks to address these pressures on women without excluding other aspects of identity. The demand for more diverse creators and content, and the centering of women and minorities as superheroes, Jedi and the Doctor has led to the underrepresented finally seeing themselves on screen. Join us as we explore this wave and its accompanying undertow.

Panelists: Ali Baker (moderator), James Brophy, Helen Corcoran, Valerie Estelle Frankel, GOH Helen Ryder https://youtu.be/pHTuu8eK-pA

Guest of Honour Interview: Michael Carroll: “I’ve Forgotten the Question, But, Still, that was a Darned Good Answer”

Michael Carroll ‘has written a number of books, but then […] you could also say that he has eaten a number of helicopters (in such a case, of course, that number would be zero).’ In 1990 he read the first Judge Dredd Megazine and also attended the first Octocon. Over the following 30 years, as he worked tirelessly towards his twin goals of writing for 2000AD and maintaining a perfect attendance record for Octocon, he created multiple well-loved novels and comics across various genres, including the New Heroes series of YA superhero novels. His stellar career has reached its zenith this year with the Judges series of novellas and his role as our Guest of Honour. Join us as he opens a can of worms and spills the beans.

Panelists: Michael Carroll, Maura McHugh https://youtu.be/hF98u04TiSw

Guest of Honour Interview: Helen and Philippa Ryder

Not only did lovers of classic science fiction Helen and Philippa meet at a Star Trek convention, they were instrumental in founding Octocon in 1990 and between them, chaired the first three. They brought international guests to Octocon, increased the visibility of science fiction in Ireland, and created a 30 year legacy that brought forth an Irish Worldcon. Our fan Guests of Honour talk about what brought them into fandom and why they’re here with us now, and share the wonderful experiences they’ve had along the way.

Panelists: Helen Ryder, Philippa Ryder, Margaret Moran https://youtu.be/EJ59n3fBbZc

A Decade Under Tharg

Guest of Honour Michael Carroll celebrates 10 years of writing for 2000AD’s Judge Dredd, becoming in that time one of Dredd’s most important writers. Mike is joined by his fellow creators and servants of 2000AD’s editor, Tharg the Mighty, to discuss the last ten years of Mega-City creations, the diversification of parent company Rebellion and the growth into other media, and how these support the future of great comics.

Panelists: Janet O’Sullivan (moderator), GOH Michael Carroll, Maura McHugh, PJ Holden https://youtu.be/gYEhR5uQG7o

Better With Age - Older Characters in SFF

There’s a lot to be said for - and by - characters with life experience, so why are fantasy and science fiction so often focused on those who have none? What is lost by pigeon-holing or even ignoring the wisdom of age, and what can be gained when we include the full spectrum of age and experience in our fiction?

Panelists: Cheryl Morgan (moderator), Ian McDonald, Gillian Polack, Marguerite Smith https://youtu.be/I4wDa65Lm_c

Programme Items (contd.)

Bootcamp for New Recruits: a Brief Introduction to Military SF

Join us in the depths of the unknown where the culture that binds us is made up of the rules we bring with us and the camaraderie of a life bound to military service.

Who are we when we are tested and when should we break the rules that bind us for a greater good? And aren’t spaceships and ray guns cool? You wouldn’t use a planet killing weapon personally but aren’t they interesting to read about? Would You Like To Know More?

Panelists: Kate Sheehy (mod), Edmond Barrett, Kat Dodd, Damien Larkin https://youtu.be/mIfBL1_4j9s

Don’t Get Me Started

Three writers, nine topics… No escape! Come and laugh at our panel of “experts” as they try to educate and enlighten you on things they know next to nothing about, in an attempt to win the coveted title of Octocon’s Super Best Greatest Expert of 2020.

Panelists: Oisin McGann (host), Ruth Frances Long, Russell A Smith, Jo Zebedee

Finding Ourselves in Fandom

Do you remember the first time you realised everyone else in the room got your references? Fandom spaces have long been where we can explore our interests and identities within a community open to discussions and ideas that couldn’t be had in the wider world. Our panel of experienced nerds talk about where fandom got it right on representing more of our community, and discuss how the balance between fandom and the mainstream has shifted as what was once different is now commonly accepted.

Panelists: Daniella Bella (moderator), GOH Philippa Ryder, GOH Michael Carroll, Anne-Louise Fortune, Paul Carroll

Gene Roddenberry - Visionary Futurist or Guy with a Good Idea?

Carnality, Consent and Castles: Gender and Sexuality in Gothic Literature (18+)

The mysterious blend of sex, death and fear is what keeps classic Gothic fiction attractive for modern readers. The pure escapist joy of a romance we cannot entirely say no to, an invitation that has an allure we know that we should not risk, and perhaps a love that dare not speak its name even as it breaks our skin. Come with us to explore these complex layered tales that seem to invite reinterpretation and reevaluation no matter the era.

Panelists: Catherine Sharp (moderator), Kim Newman, Ruth Frances Long, Jack Fennell, Ann Gry https://youtu.be/QCC1xZSPJMI (video is rated 18+)

Dare to Speak Their Name: Including the Queer in Worldbuilding Speculative fiction can give us many opportunities to step outside familiar constructs of gender and sexuality.

Whether the world is one without obvious prejudice where all genders are treated as equally as possible and queerness is unremarkable, or one in which gender isn’t assigned at birth or just doesn’t matter at all, how does SFF queer its worlds? What can these secondary worlds show readers and viewers who had previously only been exposed to straight culture?

Panelists: David Ferguson (moderator), GOH Philippa Ryder, Helen Corcoran, Quinn Clancy, Robert JE Simpson https://youtu.be/lzzzh--sAeQ

The latest generation of Star Trek shows has brought forth a new debate about the myth of its creator and his view of the future. When did Star Trek go from a TV version of Forbidden Planet to a utopian future where humanity had solved all its problems? What were the behind the scenes struggles that shaped Gene Roddenberry on this path built of P.T. Barnum-esque lies? Join us as we try to separate the man from the myth, enjoy the best of lies about him, and figure out if his greatest legacy was really the work he inspired in others.

Panelists: James Brophy (moderator), GOH Helen Ryder, Russell A Smith, Valerie Bronson (aka Livia Ellis) https://youtu.be/7gg9z5WfomY

Judges: The Genesis of the World of Judge Dredd

In a time of widespread poverty, inequality and political unrest, protests and violence meet the first Judges as they hit the street to enforce the Law. The cure, it’s clear, is far worse than the disease. The ‘Judges’ novellas allow for an unprecedented opportunity to delve into the history of this future fictional police state. Our Guest of Honour Michael Carroll is joined by fellow authors Maura McHugh and Joseph Elliott-Coleman to discuss what goes into their work in making gripping entertainment out of a world falling apart.

Panelists: James Bacon (moderator), GOH Michael Carroll, Maura McHugh, Joseph Elliott-Coleman https://youtu.be/7zJ56MNs7Mk

Justice Must Wear a Mask - the Underground of Political Comics

A full year before America declared war on the Nazis, Joe Simon and Jack (The King) Kirby had Captain America punch Hitler in the face. Wonder Woman was created as “psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who [...] should rule the world”. In a similar way, underground comics have been used to promote political causes and discourse, from the early 20th-century antireligious pornographic Tijuana bibles of South America through to the modern LGBTQ+ cartoons of Tumblr that reflect their creators’ lives and interests with no regard for publishing gatekeepers or censorship. Join us as we discuss comics for a cause.

Panelists: Daniella Bella, James Brophy (moderator), Anthea West, Niall Kitson

Lost in Translation: Dubs vs Subs

Nani?! The craft of voice acting, matching the existing animation, and a natural flow to dialogue are all factors that make the already difficult work of choosing the right word for a dubbed animation more complex. The freedom of subtitling comes with a greater responsibility for cultural and informational accuracy but how do you express an entire culture in between dialogue? Join our expert fan translators as we find out how writing subs is a very different experience to writing dubs.

Panelists: Amy Z, Sakura Perez (moderator), Faranae, Ann Gry https://youtu.be/krbHtIaWSF0

Octocon at 30

From its beginnings in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, from Dublin to Maynooth and back, and now online for the very first time, Octocon has been a cornerstone of Irish SFF fandom for 30 years. Our panel of past chairs tell the stranger-than-fiction stories of their own events, and share what Octocon means to them.

Panelists: Gareth Kavanagh (moderator), GOH Michael Carroll, GOH Philippa Ryder, GOH Helen Ryder, James Shields https://youtu.be/CLXgVBVF_54

The Gothic: A Living Tradition?

For 250 years the hulking edifice of the Gothic has stood.

Some see it as immutable, yet for much of its history it has grown and changed as creators have extended it into new forms and media unimaginable to the first Gothic authors. But in the 21st century, is the Gothic now simply a mouldering relic with nothing more to offer us?

Panelists: Ian Moore (moderator), Kim Newman, Maura McHugh, Russell A Smith, Sakuya

Watching the Watchmen in 2020 Vision

Myth-building

Myths shape this world and its cultures, so it’s no surprise they pervade invented worlds too. SFF authors are myth-magpies, either remixing our world’s myths into something new – or leaving this world far behind and creating their own. How do authors go about inventing or adapting myths when building their new worlds, and how do they handle their source material? Our panel of sages and tricksters discuss it all – from creation myth to armageddon.

Panelists: Deirdre Thornton (moderator), Jean Bürlesk, Peadar Ó Guilín, Oisín McGann, Juliet E McKenna https://youtu.be/ziTz087PBjg

The seminal graphic novel Watchmen brought a sense of grounded reality to comics that they had never had before, dealing with issues that didn’t fit a traditional superhero narrative. The new TV show has against all odds created a worthy successor while reflecting the policing and racial justice issues of today’s America. Join our discussion of Watchman’s alternate but still eerily resonant world and the difficulties in keeping it so going forward as nothing ends, Adrian, nothing ever ends.

Panelists: James Bacon (moderator), Errick Nunnally, Helena Nash, Christopher J Garcia https://youtu.be/8ZP5nL2d3ig

What Makes Something Gothic?

A spooky castle, a sinister villain, a swooning heroine…

Are these alone enough to mark a work as Gothic or do the melodrama, mood and atmosphere play an even more important part? Join us, gentle reader, as we explore the dark forests and secret corridors of the genre to find out where the romance of the real world gives way to the romance of what’s passed beyond.

Panelists: Marguerite Smith (moderator), Ian Moore, Rab Fulton, Robert JE Simpson, Deirdre Sullivan

Events Opening Ceremony https://youtu.be/NmYxHaVSa1I Closing Ceremony https://youtu.be/29ya9ywy9AM

Brave New Words The Brave New Words award is presented annually by Starburst Magazine, and goes to an individual rather than a specific work, with the magazine’s team actively seeking out examples published in 2019 that most defined a creator’s output, including blog posts, comic books, short stories, screenplays, poetry, anthologies and novels.

Craft and Chat: Show and Tell Whether you've crocheted the TARDIS, designed and 3D-printed your own light-up cosplay prop, sketched a unicorn, sewn, glued, knitted, painted, sculpted, soldered, or just fondly remember last year's fairy wings and LEGO workshops, come and show off your latest creations! All works are welcome, whether you've taken only the first few stitches or have completed your masterpiece.

Fan Chat: Brave New Words Award The winners of Starburst Magazine's Brave New Words Award and the Starburst Hero Award for Literature were announced on Friday night at Octocon. Join a discussion about the winners and finalists.

Fan Chat: Comedic SFF Literature and the Influence of Terry Pratchett The Discworld novels of Sir Terry Pratchett - Octocon's first Guest of Honour - are now considered classics of comedy and satire and have influenced countless writers over the past 30-odd years. Join us to discuss his legacy, his successors, and the ongoing appeal of comedic sci-fi and fantasy.

This year, the Brave New Words award – and the inaugural Starburst Hero award – was presented as part of Octocon on Friday 9th October 2020. https://2020.octocon.com/programme/brave-new-wordsaward/ Surprise! Untitled Goose Game Our chair Raissa plays one of 2020's most popular games. https://youtu.be/eTBtQa2RCOo

Fan Chats

Octocon Book Club: In a Glass Darkly By day Sheridan Le Fanu was a respectable Irish clergyman, but by night he was a writer of macabre tales.

In this 1872 anthology of loosely connected stories he presents readers with vampires, vengeful ghosts, a demonic monkey, and premature burial. We particularly recommend "Carmilla", a classic of the Gothic genre and a key influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Octocon Book Club: To Be Taught, If Fortunate As well as describing fascinating worlds (and the conditions which created them), in this 2020 Hugo finalist for Best Novella, Becky Chambers investigates what it means to be human when your body can be changed to fit its environment and when you carry the hope of your home on your shoulders.

Fan Chat: Doctor Who - Regenerations There has been a flood of (some reasonable and some bizarre) negativity since the return of Doctor Who, but with the fan rewatches of favourite episodes over the summer we have seen a resurgence in creativity and positivity in Doctor Who fandom. Come with us as we celebrate the return of that positivity and discuss where we think the show is going next.

Fan Chat: Looking Back on Your Favourite Childhood Authors Who did you read under the bedclothes after lights out?

Do you look back at those stories with fondness or in horror that you read them at such a young age, and would you want your child to read some of those books? Join us for a trip down memory lane…

Fan Chat: Remembering Blake's Seven More than 40 years ago Blake’s 7 exploded onto the TV screens, pitting a motley crew of criminals and freedom fighters against the sinister Federation. Join fellow fans to look back on the classic series and commemorate Paul Darrow and Jacqueline Pearce.

Fan Chat: The Star Wars Universe The Freemaker Adventures, the Ewoks' Caravan of Courage, the Droids cartoon and of course the Holiday Special; who can forget all these great moments and the many more that Star Wars has brought us? Come and share all the parts of Star Wars that you dearly love. ... And yes of course we will talk about everyone's favourite character, the Baby Huttlet.

Fan Chat: Toy Stories From cherished childhood buddies to the latest in collector trends, from tie-ins for our favourite movies to forgotten gems. Let’s discuss everything toy related! Don't forget to bring your treasures for Show and Tell.

Fan Chat: Who Wants to Live Forever?

From The Old Guard to Highlander, Iain M Banks' Culture and the myriad of living gods and long-lived elves, vampires and aliens, representations of longevity and immortality are common on our screens and in our books and comics. But what would it really be like to live that long?

Talks

40 Years of Gundam It's arguably one of the biggest franchises to come out of Japan. Almost as old as Star Wars and with more iterations than Star Trek, it has sold more merchandise than almost any other out there while telling intriguing military science fiction tinged stories of war, loss, trauma and politics. So why hasn't it caught on in the west despite its many adherents? Join this discussion on the history of Gundam as an introduction for those who've never heard about it and a reminder for those who have.

Paddy Lennon

Crones, Inventors, and Inuit Goddesses: Superheroines of the Golden Age Many comic book fans don’t realize the awesome power of 1940s superheroines. As the genre was just being defined, and women were encouraged to take jobs and support the war, superheroines could be mixed race, elderly, and far more powerful than the heroines of the decades that followed. Wonder Woman, of course, had enough powers to rival Superman, and skill at inventing as well.

“Jill Trent, Science Sleuth” also constructed gadgets. Nelvana of Northern Lights from Canada was half-Inuit and battled Nazis. Tiger Girl from India and Senorita Rio celebrated diversity from the earliest stories. Further, before all comic book heroines were alluring teens in bathing suits, a few writers had crimefighters who were vicious, murderous crones. Spider Widow, Mother Hubbard and others fought with ancient strength. Clearly, writers today think they’ve invented multiculturalism, but a look back at the forties show how much farther we could go.

Valerie Estelle Frankel How to Land a Publishing Deal on Twitter What are Twitter pitch events and how can they help writers on their quests to find a publishing deal? Damien Larkin landed a deal for his debut novel Big Red through Twitter, and now he talks you through the advantages and the pitfalls of Twitter pitches, and how to make yourself stand out from the crowd.

Damien Larkin Quantum Cryptography Cryptography, encryption, passwords are all words we are well-acquainted with. Encryption keeps our data safe; passwords prevent unwanted guests from getting into our emails and devices. But what is quantum cryptography? How does quantum physics come into play in keeping our devices safe from intrusion? In this talk, Sakuya will present some concepts of quantum cryptography and discuss how they apply to our daily lives.

Sakuya Someone on the Internet is Wrong A presentation with Q&A after on how to edit Wikipedia, how to recognise whether Wiki-acceptable source material will work, how to defend your editorial input if necessary, and how to correct other editors' errors. This presentation will also cover what to do if you're aware of errors in your own, or someone else's page.

Rebecca O'Neill, Kate Sheehy

Turkey Buffet What’s the Turkey Buffet you ask? It's a smorgasbord of the weird and wonderful from the wider fringes of SF & Fantasy books comics & music. Find out what happens when Tintin gets abused by book pirates, and when Titanic memorabilia goes bad. See what Bob Monkhouse (yes, that Bob Monkhouse) slipped past his comic editors and what sci-fi related musical number could be possibly worse than anything done by William Shatner.

Eugene Doherty Understanding Cultural Bias in Our Fiction Every single writer carries cultural bias into the stories they create. Gillian has been examining this in recent years for both her own writing and for speculative fiction.

She will introduce her research and examine what that research means to us as readers and to writers. She will talk about how we build story and how the choices we make can both create audience appeal and can hurt people.

This talk does not focus on 'othering' - it will explain how we write culture into fiction as individuals and as part of cultural groups.

Gillian Polack

Workshop

Spooktober NaNo Prep: Writing Horror and Preparing for NaNoWrimo Literature has to build the atmosphere for horror in a different way than can be done in film. Writing 50,000 words in thirty days is a horror story for some people.

Join us as we break things down into bite-size pieces to prevent people from being overwhelmed by it all. We'll go over the basics and talk about different ways to layer in a horror atmosphere from the very beginning. Registration required.

Paul Carroll, Kat Dodd

Author Readings

Jean Bürlesk, Jack Fennell, Ian McDonald, Juliet E McKenna, Peadar Ó Guilín, Gillian Polack, Jessica Thorne (Ruth Frances Long), Jo Zebedee, Cupán Fae

Do you recognise the book Octo is reading? It’s by one of our authors.

Free illustraton to the first person who can name it.

Octocon was made by volunteers like you.

Help make the next one by volunteering.

Find out more about next year at.. www.octocon.com

1990 - Octocon 1 Main program room, at the Royal Marine Hotel.

Octocon is 30 years old this year!

It was first held in October 1990 at the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire – its chair was Helen Ryder and its Guest of Honour was Terry Pratchett.

Since then it’s become one of the cornerstones of Irish SFF fandom, featuring guests over the years such as Robert Holdstock, Storm Constantine, Harry Harrison, Kim Newman, Anne McCaffrey, J G Jones, Liz Williams, George RR Martin, Gail Simone, Pat Cadigan and too many more to list. This year we’re delighted to have 30-year attendee, former chair, and premier 2000AD writer Michael Carroll as our Guest of Honour, along with the first chairs Helen and Philippa Ryder as our Fan Guests of Honour.

1992 – Octocon progress report covers (courtesy of Michael Carroll) art by Diane Duane for Octocon 3

1990 - Helen Ryder and Peter Morwood Advertising Octocon 1.

(Picture By Philipa Ryder)

1992 – Octocon 3 T-shirt print, art by Diane Duane

2001 – Harry Harrison, Ian McDonald and GOH Anne McCaffrey (picture by Lorcan McGrane)

2001 – Poster by James Brophy

2001 – Ian Watson, Ian McDonald, Michael Carroll and John Vaughan (picture by Lorcan McGrane)

2001 – The Dead Dog; Post con drinks on the Monday after Octocon.

Hoasted as always by Dave Lally. (left) (picture by Lorcan McGrane)

2010 - An Exerpt of Cat Mcgrath’s 2010 Chairprsons address for the programme.

From the archives of Gareth Kavanagh.

2008 - Redshirt Olympics.

The concept is simple: a Star Trek redshirt holds a room hostage untill they can come up with some creature in the universe more likely to be eaten by the nameless horror outside the door then a Red Shirt on Star Trek.

Requires 2 phasers, A streight man and a Tribble for the winner.

- From James Brophy’s haunted hard drive.

2010, 2011 & 2013 - Programme Books.

Art by by Pat (10 & 11) and Daniella Bella (13).

From the archives of Gareth Kavanagh.

2010 – Sign for the alternate programme room, if for some reason you were tired of GOH George RR Martin you could go see mostly comedy panels run by the one committee member who had not yet read G.O.T. Ripped from the wall and kept in the collection of cursed con relics of James Brophy.

2010 – GOH George RR Martin (picture by Nathalie Boisard-Beudin) 2012 – GOH Liz Williams and Peadar Ó Guilín (picture by Nathalie Boisard-Beudin)

2017 – GOHs Dan Abnett (with his Golden Blaster for Creative Achievement) and Nik Vincent-Abnett (picture by Marcin ‘Alqua’ Klak)

2009 - 2019 – The Golden Blasters Short Film competition brought together the finest genre films and scripts. When the judges deem it, the award for Creative Achievement is also given out at octocon.

2017 – Closing ceremony (picture by Catherine Sharp)

2018 – A rare hand made poster mock up.

(From James Brophy’s messy desk.)

2019 – Chairs Raissa and Janet at Dublin 2019 (picture by Catherine Sharp)

Thanks for coming!

Octocon will return in 2021

Octocon was made by volunteers like you.

Help make the next one by volunteering.

Find out more about next year at.. www.octocon.com