Janet has been been a member of various fandoms also for that long and enjoys communicating about them and sharing the joy. She has recently been advancing her PR and Communication skills with her involvement in voluntary organizations and rights activism as Cauldron Communications, while enrolling in a Communication Studies Degree in DCU. Talking about her passions is what she loves to do and Octocon is one of them.
Dealer Liaison – Brian J. Showers
Brian J. Showers is originally from Madison, Wisconsin. He has written short stories, articles, interviews and reviews for magazines such as Rue Morgue, All Hallows, Ghosts & Scholars: The M.R. James Newsletter, Le Fanu Studies, Supernatural Tales and Wormwood. He also runs The Swan River Press.
His short story collection, The Bleeding Horse (Mercier Press), won the Children of the Night Award in 2008. He is also the author of Literary Walking Tours of Gothic Dublin (Nonsuch, 2006) and Old Albert — An Epilogue (Ex Occidente, 2011); with Gary W. Crawford and Jim Rockhill he co-edited the Bram Stoker Award-nominated Reflections in a Glass Darkly: Essays on J. Sheridan Le Fanu (Hippocampus Press, 2011).
Guest Liaison – James Shields
James has been running conventions in Ireland and abroad for over 20 years, and has attended every Octocon except the first one, being part of the committee many times, and chairing in 2000. He has also helped run several Eastercons and Worldcons, and co-chaired Shamrokon the Dublin Eurocon. He also co-ran Sproutlore, the Robert Rankin fan club for many years, and has run several other science fiction websites. For Octocon this year, he is acting as guest liaison, so if our guests aren’t happy, it’s probably his fault.
When not con-running, James works as a software developer and is a big fan of LEGO. He likes talking about himself in the third person.
