Catherine Gough
@catgough.bsky.social
Editor of books
Formerly HarperCollins Ireland | Gill Books
catherinegough.ie (she/her)
Formerly HarperCollins Ireland | Gill Books
catherinegough.ie (she/her)
Alien: Earth is just so good! It’s one big thought experiment about what it means to be human, and it has that same gritty look of the original Alien film. It’s excellent sci-fi
writing. Highly recommend.
writing. Highly recommend.
September 11, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Alien: Earth is just so good! It’s one big thought experiment about what it means to be human, and it has that same gritty look of the original Alien film. It’s excellent sci-fi
writing. Highly recommend.
writing. Highly recommend.
‘That’s right children, the infamous global trade war of 2025 began with an oversized, bespoke printed chart.’
April 3, 2025 at 6:28 AM
‘That’s right children, the infamous global trade war of 2025 began with an oversized, bespoke printed chart.’
At this stage I’m just waiting for him to say he’s made an alliance with the Breen.
March 17, 2025 at 8:11 AM
At this stage I’m just waiting for him to say he’s made an alliance with the Breen.
Things I’ve learned as a freelancer 1,567: Bank holidays are not bank holidays, they’re days you work because your employed partner is off and can look after the childcare.
March 17, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Things I’ve learned as a freelancer 1,567: Bank holidays are not bank holidays, they’re days you work because your employed partner is off and can look after the childcare.
🙌🏻
Bloomsbury is launching a new science fiction and fantasy imprint, Bloomsbury Archer, which it says will cross "the constellation of speculative fiction", helmed by publishing director Vicky Leech Mateos👇 #BookSky
New SFF imprint Bloomsbury Archer 'out to make some real publishing magic'
www.thebookseller.com
March 11, 2025 at 9:50 AM
🙌🏻
Your gaff’s BER rating is the new Leaving Cert results. All the people on Room to Improve feeling smug with their A1s and Dermot Bannon the gloating teacher. #speirgorm
January 15, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Your gaff’s BER rating is the new Leaving Cert results. All the people on Room to Improve feeling smug with their A1s and Dermot Bannon the gloating teacher. #speirgorm
There has never been a better character name than this. Except maybe Bob Loblaw from Arrested Development.
Four years since my son wrote the best opening to a mystery novel ever written.
January 12, 2025 at 12:33 PM
There has never been a better character name than this. Except maybe Bob Loblaw from Arrested Development.
‘Snow was in some parts of Ireland, with mainly the southeast affected.’ — James Joyce, ‘The Dead’
January 6, 2025 at 10:09 AM
‘Snow was in some parts of Ireland, with mainly the southeast affected.’ — James Joyce, ‘The Dead’
I guarantee you that, at this very moment, someone in the publishing universe is asking: ‘Will this following convert to book sales?’
Just watching the fallout whereby a musical Youtuber with a huuuge following just did her first tour of the UK, selling 1200 tickets total over a 14 day tour and losing thousands of pounds in the process.
Is the end of the fame game nigh when everyone can be micro-famous now?
‘As viewers are funnelled towards content they will like, fame has been atomised. It is possible to have a hundred million online fans and still be unrecognisable to people in your home town.’
on.ft.com/4fFFCOr
‘As viewers are funnelled towards content they will like, fame has been atomised. It is possible to have a hundred million online fans and still be unrecognisable to people in your home town.’
on.ft.com/4fFFCOr
January 2, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I guarantee you that, at this very moment, someone in the publishing universe is asking: ‘Will this following convert to book sales?’
Is Nosferatu worth seeing? Finding time to go to the cinema these days involves high-level logistics and the last film I saw was shite so I’d like it to be worth the effort.
January 2, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Is Nosferatu worth seeing? Finding time to go to the cinema these days involves high-level logistics and the last film I saw was shite so I’d like it to be worth the effort.
Happy 2025! As the posts from people saying they read 100s of books in 2024 saturate your feed, I want you to know that I only managed to read a handful and they all took me ages. I’m also about to give up on a book 50 pages in because it’s not for me.
January 1, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Happy 2025! As the posts from people saying they read 100s of books in 2024 saturate your feed, I want you to know that I only managed to read a handful and they all took me ages. I’m also about to give up on a book 50 pages in because it’s not for me.
I’ve booked myself onto a short bookbinding course in February and I can’t wait! I’m levelling up with the ‘I make books for a living’ shtick.
January 1, 2025 at 9:34 AM
I’ve booked myself onto a short bookbinding course in February and I can’t wait! I’m levelling up with the ‘I make books for a living’ shtick.
2024 really had range. I…
- wrote a bestseller, The Great Irish Bucket List
- published a lost Bram Stoker story, Gibbet Hill
- did my first ghostwriting job 👀
- worked on TWO Irish Book Award winners, The Irish Words You Should Know and Nature Boy
- edited a stunning memoir by THE John Creedon
- wrote a bestseller, The Great Irish Bucket List
- published a lost Bram Stoker story, Gibbet Hill
- did my first ghostwriting job 👀
- worked on TWO Irish Book Award winners, The Irish Words You Should Know and Nature Boy
- edited a stunning memoir by THE John Creedon
December 31, 2024 at 12:12 PM
2024 really had range. I…
- wrote a bestseller, The Great Irish Bucket List
- published a lost Bram Stoker story, Gibbet Hill
- did my first ghostwriting job 👀
- worked on TWO Irish Book Award winners, The Irish Words You Should Know and Nature Boy
- edited a stunning memoir by THE John Creedon
- wrote a bestseller, The Great Irish Bucket List
- published a lost Bram Stoker story, Gibbet Hill
- did my first ghostwriting job 👀
- worked on TWO Irish Book Award winners, The Irish Words You Should Know and Nature Boy
- edited a stunning memoir by THE John Creedon
What did you all get for Christmas? Because I got norovirus. Yay!
December 26, 2024 at 11:45 AM
What did you all get for Christmas? Because I got norovirus. Yay!
I feel like I’ve been on page 10 of this manuscript for two weeks. It’s an editorial Groundhog Day.
December 20, 2024 at 2:24 PM
I feel like I’ve been on page 10 of this manuscript for two weeks. It’s an editorial Groundhog Day.
The last weekend before Christmas is upon us and loads of people are finishing up work, so I thought these Irish words for drunkenness might be apt. This is the Dual Carriageway of Intoxication according to Hector Ó hEochagáin in his book ‘The Irish Words You Should Know’. Drink responsibly.
December 20, 2024 at 10:04 AM
The last weekend before Christmas is upon us and loads of people are finishing up work, so I thought these Irish words for drunkenness might be apt. This is the Dual Carriageway of Intoxication according to Hector Ó hEochagáin in his book ‘The Irish Words You Should Know’. Drink responsibly.
If at first you don’t succeed, let it go and have a cup of tea …
Brilliant article by @patrickfreyne.bsky.social that really resonated with me. Workism is our new religion.
Brilliant article by @patrickfreyne.bsky.social that really resonated with me. Workism is our new religion.
Patrick Freyne: I am becoming a demotivational speaker – let’s all have an averagely productive December
I keep meeting people who are extremely burned out. I meet them so often that I’m beginning to think burnout is something that exists by design
www.irishtimes.com
December 14, 2024 at 9:07 AM
If at first you don’t succeed, let it go and have a cup of tea …
Brilliant article by @patrickfreyne.bsky.social that really resonated with me. Workism is our new religion.
Brilliant article by @patrickfreyne.bsky.social that really resonated with me. Workism is our new religion.
I’m hoping the children’s literature folks on here can recommend a great picture book for my 2.5 year old. We’ve exhausted the Chris Haughton books and he LOVES them, so something along those lines would be great. Not too much text, fun storyline, and a pleasure to read aloud.
December 12, 2024 at 10:20 AM
I’m hoping the children’s literature folks on here can recommend a great picture book for my 2.5 year old. We’ve exhausted the Chris Haughton books and he LOVES them, so something along those lines would be great. Not too much text, fun storyline, and a pleasure to read aloud.
And not a PowerPoint presentation in sight.
At its heart, Star Trek is a utopian fantasy about a society so advanced that they are capable of holding productive meetings that last no longer than three minutes
December 4, 2024 at 10:22 AM
And not a PowerPoint presentation in sight.
Reposted by Catherine Gough
Prose Rules That Are Not Rules
• Don't begin a sentence with "And" or "But."*
• Don't conclude a sentence with a preposition.**
• Don't split infinitives.***
*Is it always the best thing to do? No. But...
**Churchill never said that thing.
***It's not even a real rule. Ignore it.
#copyediting
• Don't begin a sentence with "And" or "But."*
• Don't conclude a sentence with a preposition.**
• Don't split infinitives.***
*Is it always the best thing to do? No. But...
**Churchill never said that thing.
***It's not even a real rule. Ignore it.
#copyediting
November 29, 2024 at 5:51 PM
Prose Rules That Are Not Rules
• Don't begin a sentence with "And" or "But."*
• Don't conclude a sentence with a preposition.**
• Don't split infinitives.***
*Is it always the best thing to do? No. But...
**Churchill never said that thing.
***It's not even a real rule. Ignore it.
#copyediting
• Don't begin a sentence with "And" or "But."*
• Don't conclude a sentence with a preposition.**
• Don't split infinitives.***
*Is it always the best thing to do? No. But...
**Churchill never said that thing.
***It's not even a real rule. Ignore it.
#copyediting
‘Girls Who Slay Monsters’ and ‘Gods Don’t Cry’ by Ellen Ryan (ills by Shona Shirley Macdonald and Conor Merriman respectively).
Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson books, based on Greek legends, has confirmed he plans to write about Irish myths next, after studying them at University College Cork.
Name an Irish author who’s already doing this. I’ll start with @thecallya.bsky.social’s twisted and chilling ‘The Call’.
Name an Irish author who’s already doing this. I’ll start with @thecallya.bsky.social’s twisted and chilling ‘The Call’.
Living in constant, gnawing fear of the Walt Disney Company discovering Irish mythology
November 27, 2024 at 12:21 PM
‘Girls Who Slay Monsters’ and ‘Gods Don’t Cry’ by Ellen Ryan (ills by Shona Shirley Macdonald and Conor Merriman respectively).
These folks keep me in good coffee all year round. What a brilliant response to Black Friday.
This year, like last year and the year before…, we won’t be doing Black Friday. Instead we’ll increase the usual 1% of all revenue we donate to @womensaidireland.bsky.social to 10% from midnight Thursday until Dec 1st. Please support local/independent if you can. Bezos won’t even notice.
November 26, 2024 at 9:40 AM
These folks keep me in good coffee all year round. What a brilliant response to Black Friday.
I worry that using AI to edit books will lead to a sort of editorial soup. Editors have a flexibility that AI doesn’t; knowing when to break the rules is as important as knowing when to apply them. Too much rigidity can muck with the narrative voice.
I’m horrified by Spines but I very much enjoyed the way Matilda has written this piece about their so-called disruption of the publishing industry with a tech-washed pay-to-publish model, especially the lack of sales data 👀
www.thebookseller.com/news/new-pub...
www.thebookseller.com/news/new-pub...
New publisher Spines aims to 'disrupt' industry by using AI to publish 8,000 books in 2025 alone
A new publisher has claimed it aims to “disrupt” the books industry by publishing 8,000 books in 2025 alone using artificial intelligence.
www.thebookseller.com
November 25, 2024 at 12:43 PM
I worry that using AI to edit books will lead to a sort of editorial soup. Editors have a flexibility that AI doesn’t; knowing when to break the rules is as important as knowing when to apply them. Too much rigidity can muck with the narrative voice.
I think you should all read ‘The Other Valley’ by Scott Alexander Howard. The prose is stunning and the plot involves the type of philosophical and moral conundrum you’d find in a well-written episode of Star Trek TNG — and I mean that as a compliment.
November 21, 2024 at 2:24 PM
I think you should all read ‘The Other Valley’ by Scott Alexander Howard. The prose is stunning and the plot involves the type of philosophical and moral conundrum you’d find in a well-written episode of Star Trek TNG — and I mean that as a compliment.
It’s so nice of Matt Damon to take time out from filming to win gold for Ireland in rowing. #Olympics2024
August 2, 2024 at 7:20 PM
It’s so nice of Matt Damon to take time out from filming to win gold for Ireland in rowing. #Olympics2024