Octocon

Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention, first held in 1989, is held (almost) annually in October. It has mostly been staged in Dublin, but for four years was in the university town of Maynooth. It was not held in 2003, and in 2014, when Ireland hosted that year's Eurocon, Shamrokon, in Dublin.

History



 * 1989/1990: The convention was initiated by members of the Irish Science Fiction Association, and named by artist Peter McCanney, who created the convention's first logo.
 * 1990: Terry Pratchett was the first Guest of Honour of the convention.
 * 1995: Advertised Guest of Honour Mary Gentle had to cancel her appearance at the last minute, leading to the appointment of Kim Newman in her place.
 * 1997: This was also the year's official Eurocon, and consequently the largest Octocon to date.
 * 1998: The only one-day Octocon to date.
 * 2003: The convention took a break for a year.
 * 2004: For the first time, Octocon was held outside Ireland's capital of Dublin, in Maynooth, County Kildare, where it was held for 3 further years.
 * 2008: The convention returned to Dublin.
 * 2009: The first Golden Blaster was awarded.
 * 2014: There was no October convention this year. Instead a lot of the regular organizers helped run the official Eurocon, Shamrokon, in August.

Golden Blasters
The Golden Blasters are the National Irish Science Fiction Awards for short science fiction, fantasy or horror films. Submissions can and have come from anywhere in the world, and the winners are selected by audience vote and a panel of judges.

The awards now include the Golden Blaster, The Silver Blaster and the award for the best script.

In 2018 it was decided to have a "Best of best" award given in place of the usual structure. The overall winner was the 2017 Einstein Rosen short film.

Events

 * Shamrokon, a Eurocon, was run 22 to 24 August, at the Doubletree by Hilton, Dublin, with guest authors Michael Carroll, Seanan McGuire, Andrzej Sapkowski, translator Ylva Spångberg and artist Jim Fitzpatrick. Unlike 1997, this was not an Octocon.