Publications

BOOKS

  • Spec-Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, co-written with Tiffani Angus (Luna Press; 2023). A lively introduction for novice writers seeking to embracing the possibilities of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Based on actual classroom experience, Spec-Fic for Newbies is designed as a concise introduction to the subgenres comprising these hugely popular areas, and is suitable for individuals, writing groups, and for creative writing students at both school and university levels.
  • Neil Jordan: Works for the Page (Cork University Press, 2022). This comprehensive study examines Neil Jordan’s award-winning prose fiction from Night in Tunisia (1976) to Carnivalesque (2017), with a particular emphasis on how Jordan fictionalises profound moments of crisis in the Irish Twentieth Century. Neil Jordan: Works for the Page examines its subject as an author first, and a filmmaker second. His writing is contextualised against the broad developments of Irish literature over the last half-century, and a detailed analysis of his fiction is offered to the reader as a valuable contribution to the fields of Irish Studies and Twentieth/Twenty-First Century Literature.

ARTICLES IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS 

ACADEMIC BOOK CHAPTERS

  • ‘Every Choice We Make Has a Consequence: Serialized Storytelling in Star Trek’s Episodic Universe’, in To Boldly Stay: Essays on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, eds. Sherry Ginn and Michael Cornelius, (McFarland 2022), pp. 21-37.
  • ‘The Whole World is Their Lab: The Scientist as Villain, The Scientist as Hero’ in The Multiple Worlds of Fringe: Essays on the J.J. Abrams Science Fiction Series, eds. Tanya R. Cochran, Sherry Ginn, and Paul Zinder (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, August 2014), pp.13-30.
  • ‘Religious Discourse in Lost and Battlestar Galactica‘, in Godly Heretics: Essays on Alternative Christianity in Literature and Popular Culture, ed. Marc DiPaolo (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, April 2013), pp.162-179.

REFERENCE TEXT ENTRIES

  • ‘Neil Jordan’, in Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twenty-First Century Irish Fiction Writers, ed. Michael Molino (2020).
  • ‘Alastair Reynolds’, in Aliens in Popular Culture, eds. Michael Levy and Farah Mendlesohn (Greenwood, 2019), pp. 214-216.
  • ‘Starship Stories’, in Sci-Fi: A Companion, ed. Jack Fennell (Peter Lang, 2019), pp. 25-31.

 FICTION PUBLICATIONS

  • ‘Gortcullinane Man’, Opulent Syntax: Irish Speculative Fiction (Neon Hemlock, December 2022), pp. 97-112; story about a geneticist cloning bog bodies in a post-climate-collapse rural Kerry; described as a “standout” of the anthology by Publishers Weekly.
  • ‘Subira’s Lattice’, Interzone, #292/293 (Summer 2022), pp. 104-121; story about an enslaved girl seeking to escape from a far-future Venus colony on the verge of collapse.
  • ‘Cofiwch Aberystwyth’, Best of British Science Fiction 2020, ed. Donna Scott (Newcon Press, 2021); near-future post-apocalyptic novelette about three young urban explorers visiting Aberystwyth years after a nuclear disaster on the west coast of Wales.
    • Originally published published in Interzone #286 (March-April 2020).
  • ‘What We Leave Behind’, Sci Phi Journal (June 2020); short story about plastic pollution.
  • ‘Cyberstar’, Best of British Science Fiction 2019, ed. Donna Scott (Newcon Press, 2020); story about a cult of space monks dismembering one of their own and sending him to the Sun in search of eternal life.
    • Originally published published in Interzone, #280 (February-March 2019)
  • ‘Make America Great Again’, Interzone #287 (May-June 2020); anti-fascist novelette about an ambitious Detroit reporter travelling to rural Michigan to investigate an alien abduction claim against a backdrop of contemporary far-right violence.
  • ‘Green Skies’, BFS Horizons (forthcoming summer 2019); alternate history about an 1980s Irish space program based in the Caribbean.
  • ‘Cyberstar’, Interzone, #280 (forthcoming 2019); story about a cult of space monks dismembering one of their own and sending him to the Sun in search of eternal life.
  • ‘Reach Out and Touch Someone’, Nature, Vol. 566, No. 7743 (Fiction Editor: Colin Sullivan); short story about the exponential growth of humanity in the far future, published on the science journal’s ‘Futures’ page. p.290.
  • ‘Corkxit’, The Incubator, Featured Story for November 2018; satirical story about County Cork voting to secede from the Irish Republic.
  • ‘Old School: An Oral history of Captain Dick Chase’, Unidentified Funny Objects #7 (October 2018), pp. 51-66; comedy story about a “Golden Age” science fiction protagonist revived from hibernation by an inclusive cast of contemporary space opera characters.
  • ‘Freedom of Navigation’, Interzone, #268 (January-February 2017); story about an interplanetary fighter pilot and her cybernetic drones.
  • ‘#Rising’, The Stinging Fly, 33:2 (Spring 2016), pp. 92-105; a Twitter narrative set on the day of the 1916 Rising centenary commemorations, published as part of a special issue ‘In the Wake of the Rising’ guest edited by Sean O’Reilly
  • ‘All the Wrong Places’, You’re Not Alone: Thirty Science Fiction Stories from Cosmos Magazine (2014, Ramble House; Editor Damien Broderick), pp.147-159; comic story about the search for the Higgs Boson particle.
    • Originally published in Cosmos, #31 (Sydney, Australia; February/March 2010), pp. 88-93 (Fiction Editor: Damien Broderick).
  • ‘Diving into the Wreck’, Interzone, #252, (May-June 2014), pp. 36-43; a near-future story about an archaeologist coming to terms with his past while searching for the remains of Armstrong and Aldrin’s “Eagle” module on the moon.
  • ‘The Irish Astronaut’, The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Edition (2014, St. Martin’s Press; Editor Gardner Dozois), pp. 429-445; short story about an American pilot visiting the The Burren in the west of Ireland.
    • This story was also selected for The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eight (2014, Solaris Books; Editor Jonathan Strahan), pp. 591-614.
    • This story has further been recorded for the audiobook anthology The Year’s Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction #6 (2014, AudioText; Editor Allen Kaster).
    • Originally published in Electric Velocipede, (May 2013; Issue #26; Editor John Klima) and subsequently anthologized in The Best of Electric Velocipede (Ed. John Klima, 2014, Fairwood Press; pp. 298-316).
  • ‘A Descriptive List of the Papers of A. Annllov’, in Watching My Hands at Work: A Festschrift for Adrian Frazier, Eds. Eva Bourke, Megan Buckley, and Louis de Paor (Clare, Ireland: Salmon, May 2013), pp.54-61; short story about WB Yeats, JM Synge, and supernatural goings-on in earth 20th century Ireland.
  • ‘Chairs’, The Irish Times, (Dublin, January 25th 2012), p.12; short story published in the broadsheet’s flash fiction section.
  • ‘Hanging Valleys’, RTÉ Guide, Vol. 35, Week No. 36 (Dublin, 30th August 2011), pp. 38-39; winner of the Penguin Ireland/RTÉ Guide Short Story Competition 2011.
  • ‘The Bear’s Necessities’, Daily Telegraph, 2nd July 2011, Review, pp. R26-R27; story about the black bears of Yosemite National Park (winner of the OxTravels/Telegraph writing competition).
  • ‘Ouija’, Crannóg Magazine, #25 (Galway; October 2010), pp. 18-22; fictionalised account of the meeting between the supernaturally-minded poets Ted Hughes and Thomas Kinsella in 1962.
  • ‘Brief Lullaby’, Nature, Volume 463, Number 7277 (London: 7 January 2010), p.128 (Fiction Editor: Henry Gee); short story about a radio signal from another world, published on the science journal’s ‘Futures’ page.

SELECTED JOURNALISM

  • ‘Science Fiction and the Pathways out of the COVID Crisis’, The Polyphony, 7 May 2021; essay considering how science fiction has shaped the cultural imagination of pandemics, and what science fiction teaches us about our expectations, experiences and reactions to dealing with COVID-19. Shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Association Awards 2022.
  • ‘Reading The Bray House and Last Ones Left Alive’, Blog of the Anglia Ruskin Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy, 12 August 2019; essay comparing explorations of post-apocalyptic Irelands as seen through the eyes of two complex female protagonists.
  • ‘Teaching Irish literature in a time of Brexit’, Irish Times, 21st March 2019; Article discussing the creation of a new module about Contemporary Irish Fiction in Aberystwyth University.
  • ‘Mike McCormack’s Notes from a Coma: “the first great 21st-century Irish novel”‘, Irish Times, 6th December 2016; article looking back on McCormack’s 2006 novel.
  • ‘No escape from reality in atmospheric fictions’, Irish Examiner, 23rd November, 2013, pp.16-17; interview with the award winning short story writer Billy O’Callaghan.
  • ‘A Teacher’s Private World’, The John McGahern Yearbook, Volume 2 (July 2009), pp 110-113; response to the Pat Collins documentary John McGahern: A Private World.
  • ‘The Shoulders for a Raggy Coat…’ Poetry Ireland News, July/August 2009, p.2; article marking the 10th anniversary of Michael Hartnett’s death.
  • ‘Papering over the cracks’, Magill Magazine, issue 3 2008 (June), p. 54; article on the need for a new National Archives building in Dublin.
  • ‘Let’s go make some noise!’, The Stinging Fly, Volume 2, Issue 8 (Winter 2007/08), pp. 11-13; Feature on Paul Muldoon’s band Rackett, specifically their concert at the Róisín Dubh, Galway.

REVIEW PUBLICATIONS:

Reviews in Peer-Reviewed Journals:

  •  The World’s End. Review of Edgar Wright’s 2013 sci-fi comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Science Fiction Film and Television, 7:2 (June 2014), pp.294-298.

Selected Newspaper and Magazine Reviews:

  • ‘Line by Niall Bourke’, Interzone, #290-291 (Summer 2021).
  • ‘Bone Silence by Alastair Reynolds’, Interzone, #286 (March-April 2020).
  • ‘An American Story by Christopher Priest’, Interzone, #278 (November-December 2018).
  • ‘An Inside-out Ghost Story that Is Frighteningly Effective’, Irish Examiner, 12 December 2015; Weekend, p. 36; review of David Mitchell’s Slade House.
  • ‘The importance of human bonds in a world short on people’, Irish Examiner, 25 April 2015, Weekend, p.34; review of Emily St. John Mandel’s novel Station Eleven.
  • ‘Mercurial Jackaroo aiming to save humanity from itself’, Irish Examiner, 28 March 2015, Weekend, p.36; review of Paul McAuley’s novel Something Coming Through.
  • ‘A character test for authors’, Irish Examiner, 10 January 2015, Weekend, pp.34-35; review of the new edition of Margaret Atwood’s essay collection On Writers and Writing.
  • ‘Candid dispatches, defined by unease, from a changing Europe’, Irish Examiner, 6 December 2014, Weekend, p.44; review of Aiden O’Reilly’s short story collection Greeting, Hero (reprinted as ‘Honest fresh prickly fiction that rewards and demands attention’, Irish Examiner, 28 March 2015, Weekend, p.34).
  • ‘A finely judged legal dilemma’, Irish Examiner, 11 October 2014, Weekend, p.34; review of The Children’s Act by Ian McEwan.
  • ‘From despair to regeneration’, Irish Examiner, 4 October 2014, Weekend, pp.34-35; review of Colm Tóibín’s novel Nora Webster.
  • ‘Like a hand on the shoulder’, Irish Examiner, 5 July 2014, Weekend, pp. 24-25; review of the new edition of John McGahern’s Collected Stories.
  • ‘In the shadow of Hemmingway’, Irish Examiner, 21 June 2014, Weekend, p.34; review of Never Any End to Paris by Enrique Vila-Matas.
  • ‘What good are the artists? Or, for that matter, the critics?’, Irish Examiner, 5 April 2014, Weekend, pp.34-35; review of John Carey’s memoir The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books.
  • ‘Space Age Robinson Crusoe has mettle tested on Mars’, Irish Examiner, 15 March 2014, Weekend p.36; review of Andy Weir’s novel The Martian.
  • ‘A Spaceman’s stellar advice’, Irish Examiner, 22 February 2014, Weekend p.33; review of Chris Hadfield’s An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth.
  • ‘The Power of Three’, Irish Examiner, 2 November 2013, p.18; review of Alastair Reynolds’s novel On the Steel Breeze.
  • ‘Love letter to New York that explores a sense of personal violation at 9/11’, Irish Examiner, 9 November 2013, p.18; review of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Bleeding Edge.
  • ‘Highly readable text lays foundation for critical study of celebrated author’, Irish Examiner, October 19 2013, p.18; review of Eibhear Walshe’s monograph A Different Story: The Writings of Colm Toibin.
  • ‘Robinson paints a vivid portrait of Ice Age art and life’, Irish Examiner, 28 September 2013, p. 18; review of Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Shaman.
  • ‘Beautifully Structured Work Tells a Moving and Deeply Affecting Tale’, Irish Examiner, 13th April 2013, p.16; review of Thomas O’Malley’s novel This Magnificent Desolation.
  • ‘Subversive critique of the established order’, Irish Examiner, 2nd March 2013, pp.16-17; review of Hugh Howey’s novel Wool.
  • ‘Tóibín turns his critical eye on the forces and families that shape writers’, Irish Examiner, 26th January 2013, p.16; review of Colm Tóibín’s collection of essays New Ways to Kill Your Mother.
  • ‘Plugging into the future’, Irish Examiner, 1st December 2012, p.16; review of Mike McCormack’s short story collection Forensic Songs.
  • ‘Culture club: What it knows about the Gzilt’s holy book’, Irish Examiner, 12th November 2012, p.16; review of The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks.
  • ‘Engrossing unreliability’, Irish Examiner, 27th October 2012, p.16; review of Joe Murphy’s novel Dead Dogs.
  • ‘Study of the Irish novel falls between two stools’, Irish Examiner, 29th September 2012, pp.16-17; review of The Irish Novel 1960-2010 by George O’Brien.
  • ‘Ultimate buffet for fans of crime fiction’, Irish Examiner, 15th September 2012, pp. 16-17; review of Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on the World’s Greatest Mystery Novels, eds. John Connolly and Declan Burke.
  • ‘Moulding a fine novel from the Wedgwood Dynasty’, Irish Examiner, 22nd September 2012, p. 17; review of AN Wilson’s novel The Potter’s Hand.
  • ‘In a vision of the future, a critique of our present ills’, Irish Examiner, 4th August 2012, p.17; review of Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel 2312.
  • ‘Long time no see, indeed: Healy’s first novel in a decade is mesmerising’, Irish Examiner, 19th May 2012, p.20; review of Dermot Healy’s Long Time, No See.
  • ‘Titanic aspirations’, Irish Examiner, 12th May 2012, p.16; review of Charlotte Rogan’s novel The Lifeboat.
  • ‘Intricate web of guilt’, Irish Examiner, 28th April 2012, p. 16; review of David Prete’s novel August and Then Some.
  • ‘Bridging the gaps in McGahern’s journey to becoming a great writer’, Irish Examiner, 21st April 2012, p.16; review of Denis Sampson’s Young John McGahern: Becoming a Novelist.
  • ‘Joy of sex in prurient and decadent Celtic Tiger era’, Irish Examiner, 14th April 2012, p.17; review of Anne Enright’s novel The Forgotten Waltz.
  • ‘Too brief a history of a great man of our times’, Irish Examiner, 17th March 2012, pp. 16-17; review of Kitty Ferguson’s Stephen Hawking: His Life and Works.
  • ‘Novel of the future says much about the present’, Irish Examiner, 11th February 2012, p.17; review of Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds.
  • ‘Missing parents and lost landscapes in ‘70s Canada’, Irish Examiner, 4th February 2012, p.17; review of Shelter by Frances Greenslade.
  • ‘Magical Millhauser’, Irish Examiner, 21st January 2012, p.16; review of Stephen Millhauser’s collection We Others: New and Selected Stories.
  • ‘Forester’s lost novel proves to be a real find’, Irish Examiner, 31st December 2011, p.19; review of CS Forester’s novel The Pursued.
  • ‘Bestseller Stephenson’s new hi-tech gaming thriller is a world apart’, Irish Examiner, 19th November 2011, p.16; review of Neal Stephenson’s novel REAMDE.
  • ‘Oscar was not the brightest star in the Wilde dynasty – his father was’, The Irish Examiner, 24th September 2011, p.16; review of More Live Than One: The Remarkable Wilde Family through the Generations by Gerard Hanberry.
  • ‘Heroically celebrating the very best that the human spirit has to offer’, The Irish Examiner, 3rd September 2011, p.16; review of Supergods by Grant Morrison.
  • ‘Boyne’s shattered world of love, war, and honour,’ The Irish Examiner, 9th July 2011, p.17; review of John Boyne’s novel The Absolutist.
  • ‘Hamming it up for the old, imagined country’, The Irish Examiner, 2nd July 2011, pp. 16-17; review of Hollywood Irish: John Ford, Abbey Actors and the Irish Revival in Hollywood by Adrian Frazier.
  • ‘Rural Mexico becomes more than simple description’, The Irish Examiner, 4th June 2011, p. 12; review of the novel Irma Voth by Miriam Toews.
  • ‘Doyle’s troubled characters have become ghosts in their own lives’, The Irish Examiner, 30th April 2011, p.18; review of Bullfighting by Roddy Doyle.
  • ‘Thoroughly Modern Moscow’, The Irish Examiner, 22nd January 2011, Weekend, pp. 28-29; review of AD Miller’s novel Snowdrops.
  • ‘The uncrowned Tsar of Russia’, The Irish Examiner, 11th December 2011, Weekend, pp. 28-29; review of Tolstoy: A Russian Life by Rosamund Bartlett.
  • ‘In the shadow of the giants’, The Irish Examiner, 25th September 2010, Weekend, pp.26-27; review of Colm Tóibín story collection The Empty Family.
  • ‘A plotless performance’, The Irish Examiner, 14th August 2010, Weekend, p.26; review of Craig Raine’s novel Heartbreak.
  • ‘Cultural crash course’, The Irish Examiner, 3rd July 2010, Weekend, p.28; review of Tishani Doshi’s debut novel The Pleasure Seekers.
  • ‘Midwest masterstroke’, The Irish Examiner, 12th June 2010, Weekend, p. 28; review of Lorrie Moore’s novel A Gate at the Stairs.
  • ‘Making sense of contemporary Ireland’, Sunday Business Post, 7th March 2010, Agenda, p. 28; review of Gerald Dawe’s essay collection The World as Province.
  • ‘Short Circuit: A Guide to the Art of the Short Story, Ed. Vanessa Gebbie’, The Stinging Fly, Volume 2, Issue 15 (Spring 2010), pp. 113-115; review of essay collection on the writing of short fiction.
  • ‘Captured by The Invisible Prison’s curious delights’, Sunday Business Post, 24th January, 2010, Agenda, p.25; review of poet Pat Boran’s memoir The Invisible Prison.
  • ‘How Paulo Coelho turned lead into gold’, Sunday Business Post, 10th January, 2010, Agenda, p.33; review of A Warrior’s Life: A Biography of Paulo Coelho by Fernando Morais.
  • ‘Brave new women in a world of fossilised thought’, Sunday Business Post, 27th September, 2009, Agenda, pp. 26-27; review of Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier.
  • ‘Banville shines with profound rendering of a parallel universe’, Sunday Business Post, 6th September, 2009, Agenda, p. 27; review of John Banville’s novel The Infinities
  • ‘Stories reveal close encounters of the illuminating kind,’ Sunday Business Post, 5th July, 2009, Agenda, p. 26; review of Michael J. Farrell’s story collection Life in the Universe.
  • ‘Small town debut is a revelation,’ Sunday Business Post, 15th February, 2009, Agenda, p. 26; review of John the Revelator by Peter Murphy.
  • ‘Crimean War stories haunt first embedded journalists,’ Sunday Business Post, 1st February, 2009, Agenda, p. 26; review of The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin.
  • ‘Optimism pops up in the most unlikely places’, Sunday Business Post, 25th January, 2009, Agenda, p. 28; review of The Optimist by Laurence Shorter.
  • ‘Auster in the dark with a rambling tale’, Sunday Business Post, 31st August, 2008, Agenda, p. 26; review of Man in the Dark by Paul Auster.
  • ‘Lengthy whinge lacks any merit’, Sunday Business Post, 24th August, 2008, Agenda, p. 27; review of Julie Burchill’s diatribe Not in My Name.
  • ‘Light-hearted novel shows Scotland in a less dour light’, Sunday Business Post, 25th May, 2008, Agenda, p. 26; review of Being Emily by Anne Donovan.
  • ‘Unsettling glimpse into the mindset of post-9/11 America’, Sunday Business Post, 27th April, 2008, Agenda, p. 25; review of Rick Moody’s collection of novellas The Omega Force.
  • ‘Odd assurances from arch-fearmonger’, Sunday Business Post, 30th March, 2008, Agenda, p. 26; review of Julian Barnes’s memoir Nothing to be Frightened of.
  • ‘Thinking adroitly outside the fox’, Sunday Business Post, 24th February, 2008, Agenda p. 23; review of Victor Pelevin’s novel The Sacred Book of the Werewolf.
  • ‘Exploring that which makes us human’, Sunday Business Post, 6th January, 2008, Agenda pp. 24-25; review of Memory, ed. Harriet Harvey Wood and A.S. Byatt.
  • ‘Letters of pain and pleasure’, Sunday Business Post, 2nd December, 2007, Agenda p. 24; review of Letters of Ted Hughes, ed. Christopher Reid.
  • ‘Fascinating tour through Shakespeare’s domestic life’, Sunday Business Post, 11th November, 2007, Agenda p. 26; review of The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl.
  • ‘A thrilling tale of intrigue and nerve’, Sunday Business Post, 7th October, 2007, Agenda p. 27; review of Ronan Bennett’s novel Zugzwang.
  • ‘Darkly comic tale of family in Argentina’, Sunday Business Post, 26th August 2007, p. a6; review of Nathan Englander’s novel The Ministry of Special Cases.
  • ‘Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan’, The Stinging Fly, Volume 2, Issue 7 (Summer 2007), pp. 97-100; review of Keegan’s 2007 story collection.

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