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My Bloody Valentine Nolan

@vallescurarule.bsky.social

2.7K followers 1.2K following 1.2K posts

Co-author of Spec Fic for Newbies 1 & 2; author of Neil Jordan: Works for the Page; Sturgeon/BSFA/BFA finalist; Locus Rec List; articles in Irish Uni Review, symplokē, Science Fiction Studies, Irish Studies Review, JGNC; fiction in many venues... He/Him

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · Oct 23

My three book projects together 😀 Neil Jordan: Works for the Page from Cork University Press, and Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror vols. 1 & 2, co-authored with @tiffaniangus.bsky.social, available from @lunapress.bsky.social!

Three books standing upright on a table in front of bookshelves. Books are, from L-to-R: Neil Jordan: Works for the Page by Val Nolan (Cork University Press), and Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror by Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan Vol 1. (red cover) and Vol 2. (blue cover), bot of the latter from Luna Press.

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 9h

Still waiting for the media to ask the presidential candidates the *really* hard questions. Like, which is better: Bull Wario or Jet Wario?

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 1d

A while back, I found the perfect t-shirt at the center of a very specific type of nerd Venn diagram 😂

Close up of a grey t-shirt with text reading "APRIL - 2372. Dukat is master of the Alpha Quadrant. Only the Federation Starfleet stands before him. Star systems are not battlefields"

My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 1d

Now with live footage 😂 🐾

The face of a black cat looking at the camera. Cat is lying against a laptop on a timber desk. Laptop displays a screen from bluesky showing a photo of two volumes of the writing guide series *Spec Fic for Newbies* which the SAME black cat is peaking out from behind. It is black cats all the way down 😂

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 1d

Two volumes of the writing guide series *Spec Fic for Newbies* standing on a desk in a library. Books are red/black and blue/black. Behind them a black cat is watching. Cat's head is outlined in a green line to draw attention.

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 1d

Have to agree with @gaghyogi49.bsky.social here. Tilly-hating is, at this point, my *number one red flag* in Trek fandom. Like, I'm sorry you despise this brilliant performance and this awesome character, but...

Jörg Hillebrand @gaghyogi49.bsky.social · 1d

I should do posts about Lt. Sylvia Tilly more often, it always brings out the worst kind of "nuTrek"-angry people (at Twitter/X, so far). Their always crude and insulting comments make it super easy for me to block so I don't have to bother with them when #StarTrekStarfleetAcademy comes out. 😅

Reposted by My Bloody Valentine Nolan

Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann @poetryireland.bsky.social · 1d

Join us as our new Poet in Residence 2025-2027 🖌

We are looking for our third Poet in Residence at Poetry Ireland as we move back home to No. 11 Parnell Square.

For more details on the role and how to apply visit www.poetryireland.ie/education/ne...

Supported by @brinkerhoffpoetry.bsky.social

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Dr Dave Clements @davecl.bsky.social · 2d

I really enjoyed Etremophile by @ianthegreen.bsky.social. If you want some hard edged climate punk give it a read!

Ian Green @ianthegreen.bsky.social · 2d

I've decided that whilst critical success is lovely, I'd like to sell some books.

If you liked EXTREMOPHILE, recommend it to a pal! (If your pal is fucking COOL and not a narc)

Eco-terrorism biohacking body horror, smart shit with dumb characters. Your new favourite book

Ian Green @ianthegreen.bsky.social · Oct 30

'A visceral, doesn't-give-a-damn biopunk thriller that treats the "punk" part of that subgenre not as mere window-dressing but as an antifascist shriek... vital and urgent SF that reaches places realist writing never could' ― @interzone.press

If you like cool shit get this 🕶️

geni.us/extremophile

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 2d

This story fascinates me to this day...

the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 3d

In 2004, Parisian police were conducting a training exercise in the french catacombs and found, after moving past a desk and a tape playing audio of snarling dogs, a fully functional movie theater and bar. When they returned 3 days later, the equipment was gone, with a note: “Do not try to find us.”

Members of the force's sports squad, responsible
- among other tasks - for policing the 170 miles of tunnels, caves, galleries and catacombs that underlie large parts of Paris, stumbled on the complex while on a training exercise beneath the Palais de Chaillot, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.
After entering the network through a drain next to the Trocadero, the officers came across a tarpaulin marked: Building site, No access.
Behind that, a tunnel held a desk and a closed-circuit TV camera set to automatically record images of anyone passing. The mechanism also triggered a tape of dogs barking, "clearly designed to frighten people off," the spokesman said.
Further along, the tunnel opened into a vast 400 sq metre cave some 18m underground, "like an underground amphitheatre, with terraces cut into the rock and chairs".

There the police found a full-sized cinema screen, projection equipment, and tapes of a wide variety of films, including 1950s film noir classics and more recent thrillers. None of the films were banned or even offensive, the spokesman said.
A smaller cave next door had been turned into an informal restaurant and bar. "There were bottles of whisky and other spirits behind a bar, tables and chairs, a pressure-cooker for making couscous," the spokesman said.
"The whole thing ran off a professionally installed electricity system and there were at least three phone lines down there."
Three days later, when the police returned accompanied by experts from the French electricity board to see where the power was coming from, the phone and electricity lines had been cut and a note was lying in the middle of the floor: "Do not," it said, "try to find us."

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Octocon @octocon.bsky.social · 3d

We are delighted to announce that #Octocon2026 will be taking place in Cork City with special guests @cemurphy.bsky.social and @aptshadow.bsky.social.

Find out more at
https://2025.octocon.com/announcing-octocon-2026/

#Octocon #Fantasy #SciFi #Fandom #ReadingCommunity #SciFiConvention #CorkCity

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 4d

I am *genuinely* excited that there's going to be a (part) Jem'Hadar character in this show! I've been waiting for the far future corner of the franchise to tell us what happened to them (and to The Dominion more generally).

TrekCore.com 🖖 @trekcore.com · 4d

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY premieres January 15 on Paramount+.

#StarTrek

My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 4d

This one I'm really looking forward to 😀

TrekCore.com 🖖 @trekcore.com · 4d

A look at the upcoming USS PROTOSTAR starship model from #StarTrekProdigy, coming in the next few months from Fanhome

#StarTrek #NYCC

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Lance Parkin @lanceparkin.bsky.social · 4d

The data centres being built now will be derelict by 2030.

Aaron Bady @zunguzungu.bsky.social · 4d

“I had previously assumed a 10-year depreciation curve, which I now recognize as quite unrealistic...Based on my conversations over the past month, the physical data centers last for three to ten years, at most.” futurism.com/future-socie...

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Tade Thompson @tadethompson.bsky.social · Aug 13

We are not trivialising LLMs.

Copyright theft is not trivial.

Environmental damage is not trivial.

Unreliability is not trivial.

Risk to human cognition is not trivial.

Ignoring consent when shoving it into every fucking thing while making us pay our hard-earned money for it is not trivial.

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Martin Doyle @martindoyle.bsky.social · 4d

Colm Tóibín on The Poems of Seamus Heaney: For those familiar with Heaney’s work, the new poems will keep them going well beyond Christmas. But soon, the core of the book will matter more – the 12 volumes Heaney published in his lifetime placed in sequence.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Colm Tóibín on The Poems of Seamus Heaney: ‘A process of finding echoes and associations’

This book contains Heaney’s unpublished poems plus all those from his single books of poetry published

www.irishtimes.com

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 6d

Space Opera *is* the best! 👽

My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 6d

I'm finalizing the list of texts to discuss at the moment: one Space Opera story, novel, comic, film, TV show, game, song, album, or *whatever* per year from each year since the notional/debatable/defendable origin of the subgenre in 1928. Lots of difficult choices to be made 😂 But enjoyable so far!

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 6d

*Yes*! 😀 I'm giving serious consideration to writing a short section about it in my Space Opera book! 🚀

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 6d

"Niner niner zero, this is Star Comm. We got a problem on your vector. Request status check. Over."

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James Bennett @jamesbennett.bsky.social · 6d

True. And not just writing. I tell my students this all the time.

Joanne Harris @joannechocolat.bsky.social · 6d

Unsolicited writing advice, no. 259:
Failure is nothing to be ashamed of. It means you tried something. No-one succeeds without failures: it’s a necessary part of the process.

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 6d

Gonna tell the next generation that this was Tron: Ares.

Image of actor Robert Redford in the film The Electric Cowboy. He is, essentially, a cowboy dressed in Christmas lights riding a horse.

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 6d

Just want to live long enough to hear Bonnie Tyler's 'Holding Out For A Hero' used as an unironic needledrop in a Fast and Furious movie.

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Dorian Dawes @doriandawes.bsky.social · 8d

I cannot comprehend the sheer level of horror that would be millions of weird people sending me ai slop of my dead loved ones.

Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 9d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

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The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 9d

Budget 2026: State’s basic income scheme for artists made permanent

Negotiations down to the wire, with five big-spending departments yet to agree their budget allocations

www.irishtimes.com

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The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 9d

Numerous countries express interest in Government’s basic income for artists pilot scheme

Minister for Culture committed to making the scheme permanent if funding is secured in budget

www.irishtimes.com

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My Bloody Valentine Nolan @vallescurarule.bsky.social · 12d

It's been six or seven weeks since I first read that Financial Times article about Sam Altman's kitchen and I'm *still* making "What's this? *Another* bottle of Drizzle?!" jokes 😂