I have always had a morbid attraction to psychologically unstable characters- a penchant which I guess says more about me than the author/character in question, however, I can’t help wondering what it is that keeps us interested in the insane. It’s probably the mystery or the idea that there must be a kind of cipher […]
Co. Limerick has a fairly distinct advantage over the Republic of Ireland’s capital, Dublin, in terms of its scenic setting. Limerick city itself curves around the full rush of the river Shannon- the largest river in Ireland and is the main touchstone location of the mid-west or Shannon region. Now, despite what you may have […]
“When she woke, she was Red. Not flushed, not sunburned, but the solid, declarative red of a stop sign. She saw her hands first. She held them in front of her eyes, squinting up at them. For a few seconds, shadowed by her eyelashes and backlit by the hard white light emanating from the ceiling, […]
Dublin is always a great place to visit; it doesn’t matter what time of the year – particularly as, weather-wise at least, it makes precious little difference whether it’s Spring, Summer, Autumn or Winter. It’s always going to be a little bit sunny, a little bit rainy, a bit chilly, and certainly very rarely roasting. […]
I remember the first time I saw Nosferatu. I was 15 and in the full throws of gothic angst – complete with importance, poetry and pianos. The dramatic German Expressionist stylings of Murnau’s Carpathian landscape, therefore, offered the ideal genre –especially when it came to an extremely teen-friendly subject…..vampires. Made in 1921 in the extremely […]
‘I think I’m mostly inspired by emotional and existential topics, either my own or people around me’, muses Ane Brun, the Norwegian songstress as she reflects on everything from poetry in politics to racism and fantasy collaborations. Having recorded nine albums since her debut album Spending Time with Morgan in 2002, it’s fair to say that […]
Mervyn Peake’s much-loved cult series was brought to an abrupt and tragic end with the onset of Parkinson’s and Encephalitis. The mantle, however, was to be taken up in Titus Awakes by none other than his wife Maeve Gilmore – quite a surprise given that no one knew of her manuscript until its discovery by […]
As participants in the mortal experience, it is inevitable that the said experience will come to an end and that end is death. It is the one experience that we all share and it demands a constant presence in how we live our lives. It occupies the full spectrum of human interest from the philosophical heights […]
Imagine a 12 year old genius living on a ranch in Montana. He is a scientist and makes maps of everything from entymology to how to shake hands with God. As you might expect, he is, therefore, predictably weird and socially dysfunctional. Keeping his maps in rigorously colour-coded notebooks, Tecumseh Sparrow (yes this kid is […]
When I first saw the candy crusted bunny leering at me from a shelf in a bookshop, I thought ‘ah…another post- modern whatever self-absorbed ramble from a worthy author’s jadedness’. I have a particular weakness for being both attracted to and repelled by such narcissism which is why my eye wandered up to ‘The Death […]
