Octocon 2023

What a fab day at Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention!

I was only free to attend on the Saturday (😢), but it was so nice to meet some friendly faces and talk science fiction/fantasy.

The guest of honour was Sarah Rees Brennan – she wrote one of my favourite reads: In Other Lands, and it was such a treat to get to meet her in person! I am very, very excited for her next novel Long Live Evil, which will be published by Orbit in July 2024. Listening to Sarah’s talk was definitely the highlight of the con for me, but there were so many!

We enjoyed some really great panels and workshops. I tried my hand at lockpicking, and despite the excellent teaching of TOG, Dublin’s Hackerspace, I failed to unlock even the most basic plastic padlock, shattering any illusions I had about ever being a super sneaky rogue.

I then tried my hand at a crochet workshop facilitated by the fabulous Kat Dodd, which went a little better for me.

I topped the day off with a Glasgow in 2024 gin tasting, which was basically lovely people plus free booze, so an absolute win. Their science fiction & fantasy inspired gin can be purchased from Pixel Spirits for UK delivery only. Aside from being delicious it comes in a really, really pretty bottle.

I’m sad the convention is over, but looking forward to next year! My next outing will be Waterford Writers Weekend, where I’m hoping to meet some fellow local authors.

Blog post to follow 😊