Dublin, Ep. 8
Saturday, October 25, 2014 at 3:16AM October 25, 2014 — After way too many moons away, our return to the Emerald Isle for the Bram Stoker Festival was a gem in every direction as the stonking line-up stole hearts and minds, and in a wild One Star Wonder finish that won Dave Rudden the LDM Dublin, Ep. 8 crown.
But before the finale was even a thought, the wild night kicked off with Erin Fornoff — writer, poet, artistic Director for @lingofestival, Ireland's 1st ever spoken word festival — who wowed with poems about August in New Orleans, including a seedy hipster poet man chatting her up, along with a restaurant overrun with rats. Next up was Lynn Shepherd, author of A Treacherous Likeness/A Fatal Likeness (BBC History magazine historical novel of the year) who read from her upcoming book The Pierced Heart, an excerpt of a man alone in his room who is seduced by a mysterious vampiric force.
The mic was then handed to the trio of all-star judges: Tom Morris, editor of Stinging Fly, author of We Don't Know What We're Doing; Tara Flynn, actress, comedienne, Armagaydon co-writer/performer, author of You’re Grand: The Irish Woman’s Secret Guide to Life; and Rick O'Shea, RTE2 broadcaster, Insider Magazine columnist, book blogger & reading advocate. The brilliant trio heaped praise and oddball commentary — with Morris expressing that there should be more poems about seedy men — before huddling up and then announcing the night's first impossible decision, declaring Fornoff as the night's first finalist.
Then came Round 2, kicked off by the majestic Dave Rudden, author of The Borrowed Dark, who read a piece written for LDM: The Growing Fang, about how Dracula made a mistake choosing London over Dublin. Finally it was the perfectly suited Ian Flitcroft, author of Journey by Starlight and The Reluctant Cannibals, eye surgeon and coder, who told the tale of a man donates his body to science, and the executor of his will invites people to a gourmet dinner to taste him.
The mic was again handed to the judges, who were endlessly impressed with both writers, applauding their general brilliance, before making the night's second impossible choice and deciding it would be Rudden who would advance as the night's second finalist.
Then up stepped LDM executive producer Suzanne Azzopardi, who announced the night's finale: One Star Wonders — a game in which Azzopardi read off 1-star Amazon book reviews written about classic books. The two finalists (Fornoff and Rudden), were teamed with volunteers and they traded points, but with everything to play for, it was Team Rudden who slapped the bell first, nailing the final answer, winning him the LDM Dublin, Ep. 8 crown, and literary immortality to go with it.
Follow us on Twitter: @litdeathmatch
Reader Comments (1)
Hi I've started my blog and I'm getting good traffic to a single post only in that site, I've to improve myseleves