Guests of Phoenix Convention 8

Colin Smythe was born in Berkshire in 1942, and was educated at Bradfield College near Reading and subsequently at Trinity College Dublin from which he graduated in 1963. By then he had started collecting books by W.B.Yeats and in 1966 he sold his collection to the Dublin City Library and started his publishing company, Colin Smythe Ltd, on the proceeds. He moved to Gerrards Cross (about 20 miles N.W. of London) in 1967.

David Murphy has lived north of Dublin for the past thirty years. His latest novella, Bird of Prey, is due for publication in the USA in 2011. A previous novella Arkon Chronicles appeared in paperback from Silver Lake Publishing (a small press) in 2003. The novel Longevity City was published in hardback by Five Star, and well received, in 2005. Award-winning short fiction has been published and translated worldwide, including two chapbooks and a short story collection brought out in 2004.

George Green was born in Ireland in 1956. He grew up in Tipperary, where he lived in a house built on an ancient burial ground. He now lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Lancaster.

George has two novels and a non-fiction book to his credit, namely: “Hound” (2003); “Hawk” (2005); and “Writing a Novel and Getting Published for dummies” (2007).

Ivan first published (and sold!) a magazine at the age of eight, and has rarely stopped publishing since. After a college career in theoretical physics and astrophysics, he gave into the inevitable and joined The O’Brien Press, the family firm, fulltime in 1997. Within the company he has worked in IT, production and sales as well as more general company matters and commissioning new books – the true heart of the industry!

" For some reason Marvel wouldn't pick up john's idea for a comic!"

Those who have seen him (or rather experienced him) at previous conventions will know that John Vaughan is a one-man entertainment engine. He's fast, funny and often furious.

John started off as your more-or-less typical manic movie enthusiast, spending a lot of time telling everyone how he would once day make his own movies.

Born in the USA Maura was transplanted early to the West of Ireland where she bloomed into a reader of sf, fantasy, and horror literature after a visiting cousin left behind a copy of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. On occasion her parents voiced concerns about Maura's weird reading material, but she turned out all right in the end.

Peadar currently lives in his native Ireland, though he has lived abroad for some years. He has a penchant for the languages of the warmer European countries and is fluent in a number of them.

The paperback edition of Peadar's novel, The Inferior (tagged with the phrase, "THERE IS BUT ONE LAW: EAT OR BE EATEN"), was launched in August, 2008, at MECON in Belfast. Peadar has been kept busy since with publicity tours, writing and doing the day job.

We are eagerly awaiting the publication of his next novel.

Bob Neilson lives in Dublin, where he runs a successful retail business in partnership with his wife, Stacey. His first professional publication was in 1989 and since then he has been published extensively in Ireland, the UK and the US, including a graphic novel (Spell Maffia) and four comics (over a ten year period).