Judging 2000

This Year our Judges are:

Morgan Llywelyn

Morgan Llywelyn

Morgan Llywelyn's father was Irish, born in County Clare. Her mother was Irish and Welsh. When her family emigrated to America she qualified for dual citizenship. As a child she developed an abiding passion for horses. By the time she was sixteen she was showing horses at championship level throughout the United States. She married Charles Winter in Denver, Colorado, and they had one son, Sean. In 1976 she was shortlisted for the United States Olympic Team in Dressage, missing the final cut by .05. To distract her from such a major disappointment, her mother interested her in researching the family history.

Her first novel, THE WIND FROM HASTINGS, resulted from that research. Published by Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, the book sold very well for a first novel and was an Alternate Main Selection for the Doubleday Book Club. Her second novel, LION OF IRELAND: The Legend of Brian Boru, published in 1980, was researched extensively in Ireland. LION has to date sold over fifteen million copies worldwide in hard and soft cover, and been translated into a number of languages. An unexpected telephone call from an admiring fan, Ronald Reagan, led to Llywelyn's being a frequent guest at the White House; Reagan paraphrased LION in his presidential acceptance speech. She was also given the award for Literary and Cultural Achievement by the Washington, D.C. Feis.

LION was followed by THE HORSE GODDESS in 1982, the story of the earliest Celtic culture in Hallstatt in 700 BC. This book was a Featured Selection of the Book of the Month Club, voted Book of the Year for Young Adults by the American Libraries Association, and received the Best Novel of the Year Award from the National League of Penwomen.

BARD; THE ODYSSEY OF THE IRISH was next, in 1984, and told the story of the Milesian invasion of Ireland. BARD won the Poetry in Prose Award from the Galician Society and was a best-seller in Spain as well as the United States. Llywelyn was named Woman of the Year by the Irish Heritage Week Committee, an award presented to her at City Hall, New York, by Mayor Ed Koch.

Next came GRANIA, which centered around the life and times of the Irish pirate, Grace O Malley. GRANIA was completed at hospital bedside while the author's husband Charles was dying of cancer. During 1984-85 five members of her immediate family died, all of whom had been living with her since the success of LION enabled Llywelyn and her husband to buy a large house in New Hampshire and invite their elderly relatives to join them.

After so many deaths, Llywelyn sold the house in America and came home to Ireland. Entitled by birth to Irish citizenship, she was at that time a dual citizen. But in 1994 she formally relinquished her American citizenship to be only Irish. She lives in Ireland year round, and is involved in many aspects of the Irish literary scene. She was a founding member of The Irish Writers' Centre, has served as Chairman of the Irish Writers' Union and a trustee of The Irish Children's Book Trust.

Llywelyn also began doing long-distance walks to raise money for various charities. In 1988 she walked from Clare to Clontarf to raise money for the Irish Wheelchairs Association. Then in 1989 she walked the 427 mile route from Malin Head in the north to Mizen Head in the south, raising funds for Multiple Sclerosis and thus becoming the only woman in modern times to have walked both the length and the breadth of Ireland.

In 1986 she published RED BRANCH, alternatively titled ON RAVEN'S WING in Britain - her critically acclaimed interpretation of the Cúchulainn legend. Rather than being a mainstream historical novel, RED BRANCH examined one of the most powerful and culturally important Irish myths, one which continues to influence the Irish psyche.

In 1989 DRUIDS was published, returning to documented history to detail from the Celtic point of view Caesar's battle for control of Gaul. At this time Llywelyn also began writing books for children. Her BRIAN BORU for young readers won a Bisto Award for Excellence in Children's Literature.

After DRUIDS came O'SULLIVAN'S MARCH, the story of Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare, which was a Featured Selection of both the History Book Club and the Book of the Month Club. Llywelyn had walked the route of the O'Sullivan retreat herself, physically documenting that harrowing incident of Irish history. This was followed by another book for children, STRONGBOW, which won both the Bisto Award and the Readers' Association of Ireland Award.

This was followed by THE ELEMENTALS, a four part ecological fantasy based on the invasions of Ireland, the destruction of Thera, modern-day New Hampshire, and the American south-west in the near future. Each of the four novellas is self-contained, but together they make up a whole picture of man's relationship with the earth and its elements.

Llywelyn's next Irish novel, FINN MAC COOL, published in March of 1994, focused on another mythical hero. According to folklore, Finn founded the Fíanna, or Irish army. As with RED BRANCH, FINN MAC COOL examines the life and psychology of this figure from folklore as if writing of a real human being.

Other Llywelyn writing credits include a non-fiction biography, XERXES OF PERSIA for City College of New York, a non-fiction history entitled VIKINGS IN IRELAND for O'Brien Press in Dublin, a number of articles on history and archaeology for periodicals, and short stories for various hardcover anthologies. In 1995 Llywelyn returned to historical fiction with PRIDE OF LIONS, the long awaited sequel to LION OF IRELAND, which details the turbulent lives of Ireland's royal dynasty in the first half of the eleventh century.

With Michael Scott, she has co-authored two epic fantasy novels, SILVERHAND and SILVERLIGHT, and a ghost novel for young readers entitled 19 RAILWAY STREET, which in 1997 was judged one of Britain's 100 best books for young readers.

Llywelyn's latest novel, entitled 1916, published by Forge in April of 1998, relates the events surrounding the Easter Rising that ultimately won Ireland her freedom from Britain. In addition to making best-seller lists in Ireland and America, 1916 has had a large audio sale and a number of foreign rights have been sold. Llywelyn has received an unprecedented amount of fan mail for this novel, which has also been praised by historians for its exceptional accuracy.

Llywelyn now is at work on the sequel to 1916, which will be published next year by Forge. Entitled 1921, it continues the story of Ireland's fight for freedom. Three more novels (1949,1969, and 1999) have already been contracted, to conclude the chronicle of the 20th century in Ireland.

David Langford

To find out more about Dave Langford check out his Ansible site, an SF resource in its own right.

Michael Scott

The phrase that describes Michael best for me is the one Michael Carroll used when he dedicated one of his books to him. "Michael Scott: The Bard of Ireland." Michael's output since he began writing is nothing short of prodigious. There are at least 80 different titles floating about out there.

These range from a young children's book about Funghi the Dolphin called, amazingly, "Funghi", to what is generally regarded as his masterwork, the "Tales of The Bard" trilogy. I know from my own experience in the second-hand book trade that these particular titles are among the most sought-after and hardest to get. Scattered about between these two extremes, Michael has turned his hand to virtually every genre there is, with the possible exception of the Western! Under various pseudonyms there are even more books, but I'll stick to the ones he published under his own name.

There's one great horror trilogy consisting of the titles "Image", "Reflection", and "Imp". "Imp" in particular is very entertaining, as one of the main characters is a horror writer, and talks at length about the writing trade. All fiction, of course! I'm also partial to "The Hallows" though this may be partially because I make an appearance on page 333.

I'm dead by the next page, mind you. I'm not alone in this, as I'm sure much the same thing happens to a certain James Bacon in "Vampyre"! There are far too many more books to even get near mentioning them, so I'll mention something else instead. Michael has always been very supportive and helpful towards aspiring writers. His involvement with this award is simply another example of his generosity of spirit.

David Pringle

For more about David Pringle check out the Interzone website.

Michael Carroll

Michael Carroll Michael Carroll is my favourite living Irish Writer. This is not because he used to be my postman, even though he was, long before I ever knew him - which goes to show what an odd thing fate is. It's not just because he is always cheerful and good-natured on the too-rare occasions that we meet up, thought this is certainly true, too. Mostly the reason that Michael is my favourite is because what he writes makes me laugh.

A lot of Michael's best writing is to be found in the fan-press, which is something that he shares with James White himself. Anyone lucky enough to own a full set of PFJ (Phunny Fantasy Journal or People's Front of Judea, depending on whom you asked), or a ditto of the excellent Brentford Mercury will know exactly what I mean. A gentle, intelligent humour that left you helpless in it's presence. Many times I grinned all day after reading his latest observations. One of these every morning would make the world a better place.

Slowly but surely, the publishing world is beginning to find out what the rest of us knew all along. Michael's latest book, "If The Shoe Fits" is the first of several to be published by Poolbeg Press, and a wonderful, funny read.

When he has time, Michael dons the cape of Captain Ireland.

Check www.iol.ie/~carrollm/ for the Michael Carroll web-site.