Ragtag Giggagon

English author Serina Hartwell 's novel Hidden launches a multi-book fantasy saga featuring a family that appears to straddle two worlds - one a suburban or rural Earth community, the other a fantasy realm. What inspired your novel? One day I had an urge to have a go at writing something. I just wondered if I could do it, the compulsion really strong. I sat down at an old computer that a friend had given me – a big bulky tower set up in an awkward place – and wrote a couple of pages. I started striking the keys, instantly finding a storyline. The weirdest thing, but it felt natural and comfortable. It got interrupted and I never went back to it. Soon after, the computer died and that was that. The urge remained, it grew in strength; on a handful of occasions in my life, I’ve had dreams that have been so profound, they have not only stayed with me, but marked a significant point in my life. I now dreamt about writing in this way. Waiting for the right moment was emotional. The bur...

Polling man George Brisk here with the numbers AS THEY HAPPEN: 9.45 a.m. Here is the brisk Breakfast Exit poll or the BREXIT* poll for Ireland's General Election 2016. 9 a.m. There's a quick swing to the left and a brisk shift to the right and a bit-dibby-doo and a skip-to-the-loo. An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?  No. Just keep fecken counting those fecken things! 8.27 a.m. Is there a possibility that a vast coalition of lefties could be formed, like a sort of massive Power Rangers machine with common-sensical social policies and an insistence that the bundhulders are finally burned? Not really, no. 8 a.m. It is starkly clear that those blueshirt bastards might just have to form a government with the soldiers of destiny, emerging from the mists of the Ackalancktic, and the Vicar of Christ him very self standing alongside the lot of them, the self same Papaya Franchesco who studied the Ang-al-azee here in the 70s, as a sea shanty town wails in bewildered pain at th...

Now three jokes for Crap Jokes Saturday!   What do you call a bean grown in the hydroponics garden off a molecular gastronomist's kitchen, that's been genetically enhanced to taste like cheese? An Elemental Emmental Lentil. * A dog walks into a bar. The barman says: Heya fella. Where's your owner? Huh? Where's your owner? Show me that collar there! That's a good fella. C'mere to me! The dog was ultimately reunited with his owner, because he'd been responsibly micro-chipped. That's no joke! That's serious! * "Is it illegal to spit, officer?" a drunk man asked an Irish policeman. "Well," the policeman said, contemplating the question. "It depends on what you're spitting at ." ~This joke is based on a true story

You'll never guess who I ran into at an event this morning held by the Irish Tennis Association. That's right - none other than World Champion tennis star Stefan Edberg! Here's a photo if you don't remember him! Swedish Stefan was World Number One in the early 1990s. He attended an event in Dublin to talk about his career highs, when he played against the likes of Boris Becker and John McEnroe at Wimbledon!   We're lucky in Dublin because it's a small city, but because it's the Irish capital, we frequently attract big names that larger European cities might not get! I didn't have a chance to take a photo with Stefan, but he was still in great shape, with nice muscle tone, and he was a funny and charming speaker. He came out, wearing one of his colorful shirts, to enthusiastic applause. He was trim and lean, and I really liked the shirt he was wearing.  So today, I'll show you how I intend to cook this Swedish gentleman, who was both kind - and fool...

Juliana Scodeler Photography As he says himself in this Irish Times piece , Frankie Gaffney has an unusual background for a writer of literary fiction, growing up on a council estate before moving to live in the inner city in his teens. His seven-chapter debut novel, Dublin Seven – inspired and influenced by Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man and Joyce’s ‘Linati schema’ for Ulysses, and stream-of-consciousness techniques– is the story of a college drop-out who spends his grant money on cocaine rather than education. He answered ten questions in a phone interview below. 1. What inspired you to start writing? Have you always had a creative urge? I suppose reading. Me Ma instilled a love of literature in me and read to me when I was really small. I think as a lover of literature that compelled me to write. I knew I’d write a book. When I gave up drawing – I used to draw when I was a kid – and when I gave up drawing I knew I'd write a book. I've just had the creative urge all the ti...