Ragtag Giggagon

La Sirena, Marine Court Centre, The Green, Malahide, Saturday June 21st 10am to 1pm The good peeps at Something Wicked - who are a fantastic bunch of Malahide-based crime-fiction enablers - have announced what will no doubt be another great event. Having attended one of their things - a similar masterclass by Louise Phillips - this one will no doubt be super too. It's being held in a Mexican cuisine restaurant . I love me some of them burritos!   Are you interested in learning the tricks of the trade from Arlene Hunt, the unique, award-winning and eight times published Irish crime writer? Arlene Hunt will deliver a crime-writing master class in the stylish sea-front restaurant of La Sirena, Malahide. This is a half day event from 10am to 1pm and will cost €10. There will be a subsequent Q&A session over lunch from 1pm to 2pm and participants can attend both the workshop and lunch for €18. Something Wicked is a Malahide-based arts organisation that is currently organising a s...

Instances of Irish Wit and Humo(u)r Hmmm. Okay. This stuff has actually happened. * Walking past government buildings in Dublin at about 11 pm, after a few pints on a Friday night, I spat on the pavement, being - at that point - quite the drunken slob. A uniformed cop was coming towards me. Our eyes met. He nodded a hello. "Is it illegal to spit, Guard?" I asked him then as he passed. He turned back and said: "Sorry?" I said: "Is it actually - just out of interest now - " I slurred, "Is it actually illegal to spit?" "Well," he said, in his thick, lilting country accent, as he paused and considered the question. "It depends on what you're spitting at ." * Conversation between two work colleagues, one of them talking about his over-reliance on something. "It's time to sever the unbiblical cord." "The what?" "The unbiblical cord." "Unbiblical? It's the umbilical cord. Umbilical ....

In the latest crisis to hit the BBC, the scandal-prone corporation has been accused of aiding and abetting members of the progressive rockgroup Procol Harum in the kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian schoolchildren and young women. The band - which formed in 1967 and is most famous for its hit Whiter Shade of Pale - contributed to the development of both progressive and symphonic rock music. Jimmy Savile - of Jim'll Fix It and Jimmy Savile Sexual Abuse Scandal fame - is likely to have been at some of the band's recordings for television and radio at the BBC, in the late 1960s. The Harum at the Beeb Thankfully, accusations leveled against the band are due to a simple mix-up with their name and that of the terrorist organisation Boko Haram, which has kidnapped the Nigerian schoolgirls and young women from a centre of education. Meanwhile, the BBC are considering a British re-make of a speech made by America's First Lady about the kidnappings. For more information on such "t...

Original here . From the ThursThreads Challenge: Include "Go get the man" in the story. Go get the man   Truck-trailer travel had exacerbated the voices. The mental health facility – located in a Calais suburb – had been his home for weeks. He had limited English, no French. He hadn’t heard Azerbaijani spoken by another living human being for months, since his arrest and subsequent isolation, before his move to the asylum. Seeking asylum. The pun would likely have amused him if his English was as good as his wife Goga’s. The ghost of Elvis Presley whispered from the air conditioner: “Stay strong.” Hitler’s ghost, under his bed, made darker suggestions: “Kill the big male nurse.” Elvis spoke English, Hitler – the many-tongued devil – Austrian-tinged Azerbaijani. Twice daily, Hamid took strange medications at the behest of a big male nurse. The nurse went from ward to ward with his cart of serotonin inhibitors, dopamine blockers, and sleeping pills. Hamid had not seen his wi...

Something Wicked is a Malahide-based arts organisation that is currently organising a series of cultural events focused on crime fiction. A crime-writing masterclass provided by Louise Phillips in March was greatly entertaining and hugely informative. Here is an announcement of their latest event, for tweens. Something Wicked presents Alan Nolan Malahide Library, Saturday May 17 th, 2:15pm to 3:30pm Are your children 11/12 years old?  Do they love to read and to draw? Something Wicked’s next event sees bestselling author and kids' graphic novelist Alan Nolan share his tips on writing a great story and teach kids how to create their own comic strip.  Kids will also be treated to a reading from his new novel, Fintan’s Fifteen , which tells the story of the trials and tribulations of Ireland’s worst hurling team, the Ballybreen Terriers U14s, and their unlikely captain Fintan Heffernan.  Alan is the creator of The Big Break Detectives Casebook, a graphic novel for younger ...

If you were brought here by this guy , I have to say that calling me a "sci-fi virtuoso" is [CHUCKLES] a bit much. It is, however, a neat marketing trick coz my current work in progress IS a sci-fi novel, set primarily in late twenty-first century Dublin. Not done yet! Yusuf Brandon Toropov's finely-honed, beautiful novel is up for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award , one of a small fraction of the original entrants. His style of writing isn't of the minimalist kind en vogue at the moment. But I've had the immense privilege to critique some of his work. I've seen his process and by golly, it works a treat. His assiduous dedication would put John Banville to shame. (Banville claims to work a paragraph a day. He is also, apparently, a notorious curmudgeon of a soul. Little wonder. Yusuf ISN'T. He does, however, have high expectations of fellow writers.) So:               a) What am I working on? A slightly dystopic time-travel novel, set primarily in ...

Looking like a Mr. Grumpy Pants, the novelist Alan Shatter has lost his role as Minister for Justice and Equality. Here are his best bits in loose chronological order: 10. He told former 80s Neighbours star Mick Wallace that he had heard that he had been caught on the phone while behind the wheel. Mick Wallace 09. He further explained that the Garda Commissioner had told him that Wallace had been let off with a flare gun at one of the regular meetings with An Gourda Commissiúnereachtúnachtachtacht. [WINK!]  ---The triumvirate of Mick "Surf" Wallace, Ming "Turf" Dealer and fiercely loyal Clare "ARE YOU STILL HANGIN' ROUND WITH THAT GANG OF EEJITS?" Daly decided to run a successful campaign to eradicate the culture of penalty points suspensions. (It was not successful.)             Further details on their phone use et al can be found here. 08. In his world of sposedas, Shatter then blamed Garda Commissioner of An Gourda Commis...