In addition, the successful presentation of the 2019 World Con in Dublin is a further indicator of the lively state of sf writing and reading, creating and thinking, by authors, fans, and scholars in the Irish context (ably organized by program leaders Ian Stockdale and Terry Fong, and academic program head Mike Cosgrave).Īnd if there was ever any doubt about the viability and volume of Irish sf, the creative output of recent years has been dynamic. Of course, Fennell’s work is only part of a growing body of scholarship on Irish sf, as seen in the work of Ralph Pordzik, Eoin Flannery, Anne Mulhall, Bernice Murphy, and others. More to the point of this review, Fennell’s scholarly analyses of this archive makes clear that the long overdue absence of critical studies has been eradicated. This research forms the basis of his monograph but is also reflected in his very helpful A Short Guide to Irish Science Fiction (2019 available Dublin World Con online) and his edited volume of primary works, A Brilliant Void: A Selection of Classic Irish Science Fiction (2016). His extensive archival research, in both Irish and English language publications, makes very clear that sf has been written and published in Ireland for over 200 years. One of the great contributions of Fennell’s volume-and of his recent monograph on horror fiction, The Monstrous in Irish Fiction, 1800 to 2000 (2019)-is to change substantively this simplified understanding.

He also notes the historical lack of scholarly attention to sf and indeed to genre fiction in general within the Irish intellectual sphere.

In his groundbreaking study, Irish Science Fiction ( 2014), Jack Fennell refers to the received impression that very little sf has been written on the island, much less in the Republic. Space for Peace: Fragments of the Irish Troubles in the Science Fiction of Bob Shaw and James White. REVIEW-ESSAY Tom Moylan Good Days for Irish SF Studies

Inish Carraig by Jo Zebedee