Val Nolan
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vallescurarule.bsky.social
Val Nolan
@vallescurarule.bsky.social
2.7K followers 1.2K following 1.2K posts
Co-author of Spec Fic for Newbies 1 & 2; author of Neil Jordan: Works for the Page; Sturgeon/BSFA/BFA finalist; Locus Rec List; articles in Irish Uni Review, symplokē, Science Fiction Studies, Irish Studies Review, JGNC; fiction in many venues... He/Him
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vallescurarule.bsky.social
Had a lovely visit to the *spectacular* Wild Lights in Dublin Zoo over the weekend 😀 A very cold evening for it, but a really magical experience ✨️
An illuminated yellow bird on an illuminated white branch at night time during the Wild Lights event at Dublin Zoo. Other festive lights are visible in the background. An illuminated red bull at night time during the Wild Lights event at Dublin Zoo. Other festive lights are visible in the background. An illuminated panda family in a colorful illuminated landscape at night time during the Wild Lights event at Dublin Zoo. Illuminated blue marine life in an illuminated seabed landscape at night time during the Wild Lights event at Dublin Zoo.
November 25, 2025 at 10:41 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
BSFA Awards longlist nominations are now open! I’d be grateful if BSFA members would consider my @speculativeinsight.bsky.social essay 'The Dublin Portal… Or The Dublin Intrusion?' in the Best Non-Fiction (Short) category. Find it here: www.speculativeinsight.com/essays/dubli...
Text reads: For Your BSFA Awards Consideration Val Nolan BEST NON-FICTION (SHORT): ‘The Dublin Portal… Or The Dublin Intrusion?’ Speculative Insight (June 7, 2025). “The Portal ruptures the epistemological mesh in which the day-to-day lives of Dubliners are embedded via an intrusion-style sense of ‘two world-layers interacting’ (with the ripples of this percolating like interference waves across the country)…” There is also a QR code at the bottom leading to the full essay.
November 19, 2025 at 1:41 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Absolutely *intolerable* working conditions here... 🐾
My black cat curled up between my keyboard and I as I try to write over/around him. We're both looking at the camera from the perspective of just behind the laptop screen. Behind us are shelves of books. A calender on the wall at the back of the photo shows a picture of an alpaca.
November 12, 2025 at 4:48 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
What if the only object that survives our civilization, the only thing by which aliens explorers can assess us in a million years, turns out to be... the Playmates action figure of the one-off SeaQuest DSV character The Regulator?
Pure nightmare fuel... A close up of a mid-90s action figure of the character of the Regulator from an episode of SeaQuest DSV. Character is, basically, dressed as a cowboy, with the addition of steampunk goggles which give him eerie large white eyes. He wears a black hat and a brown duster-style coat. The action figure looks kind of melted or slightly decayed, though that could just be the light. It is being held in a person's hand.
November 12, 2025 at 11:05 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Lovely meal in the city this evening followed by a stroll along the Shannon boardwalk 😀
Strings of lights and streetlights in the along the edge of the river Shannon as viewedfrom the opposite bank. Their yellow glow is reflected in the dark water where a green buoy floats. Some light clouds are visible overhead.
November 4, 2025 at 9:46 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Look at this amazing visitor we had in the garden this morning! A female kestrel just hanging out on the ground!
A female kestrel (darker than the male; primarily brown, light brown, and white feathers) sits on a rock on the edge of a flower bed (one large pink flower is visible among the grass in the background). Kestrel is looking intently towards the camera. Its eyes and beak are bright yellow.
October 31, 2025 at 12:10 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Happy Halloween, humans!
The ears and big eyes of a black cat peak out from underneath the corner of a timber chair pulled up underneath a timber table. Please do not judge me (or the cat!) for the *terrible* cable management in evidence on the floor under the table!
October 31, 2025 at 10:37 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
It's like the Horse Drawing Meme come to life! 😂
Composite of a photograph and a *terrible* Microsoft Paint sketch. Photo (on right) shows the remains of a classical statue of a horse (head, neck, shoulders and front legs). The the left, however, is a crude sketch of the rest of the horse. This gentle mocks the well-known horse drawing meme.
October 24, 2025 at 10:22 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Autumn has truly set in along the Greenway 🍂
An autumn scene of a leave-covered greenway extending into the distance. Leaves on the ground are rust-red. Leaves in the trees overhead are still turning from green. A green place-name sign stands along the side of the path. A fence runs along the left hand side of the greenway.
October 22, 2025 at 10:58 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Has anyone ever repainted one of these Citicars as a Starfleet Workbee?! 😀
Illustration of a fictional spacecraft occasionally glimpsed in the background of the Star Trek franchise, a "Workbee", so called because of its small size and distinctive yellow colour. The craft is quite angular, with large tinted windows.
October 21, 2025 at 8:47 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
A while back, I found the perfect t-shirt at the center of a very specific type of nerd Venn diagram 😂
Close up of a grey t-shirt with text reading "APRIL - 2372. Dukat is master of the Alpha Quadrant. Only the Federation Starfleet stands before him. Star systems are not battlefields"
October 14, 2025 at 1:57 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Now with live footage 😂 🐾
The face of a black cat looking at the camera. Cat is lying against a laptop on a timber desk. Laptop displays a screen from bluesky showing a photo of two volumes of the writing guide series *Spec Fic for Newbies* which the SAME black cat is peaking out from behind. It is black cats all the way down 😂
October 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Two volumes of the writing guide series *Spec Fic for Newbies* standing on a desk in a library. Books are red/black and blue/black. Behind them a black cat is watching. Cat's head is outlined in a green line to draw attention.
October 14, 2025 at 1:38 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Gonna tell the next generation that this was Tron: Ares.
Image of actor Robert Redford in the film The Electric Cowboy. He is, essentially, a cowboy dressed in Christmas lights riding a horse.
October 9, 2025 at 12:39 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
𝆕 Ocean in an ice shell... Saturn power! 𝆕
The logo of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (red and green) on a white background but reworded to read "Prospects of life on Enceladus".
October 2, 2025 at 11:51 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
"The Nexus (Cat's Version)"
A length of packing paper lying on a red tile floor. Paper has been pulled and dragged by a cat into a shape *vaguely* like that of The Nexus, the energy ribbon plot device from the film Star Trek: Generations.
September 29, 2025 at 9:15 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Was passing through Tralee yesterday and stopped to visit their monument to the Moon landing 😀
A street sign announcing "Neil Armstrong Way" in the town of Tralee (features the town crest and a name in Irish). Monument to Neil Armstrong in Tralee, Co. Kerry. Monument is an abstract limestone sculpture featuring several swirls and the text APOLLO XI arranged as if a clock face, one pieced by an abstract rocket. Further text reads "MMXIX First Man" and "Neil Armstrong". A side-on view of the Neil Armstrong monument in Tralee, Co. Kerry. Shows how the abstract rocket pierces the monument. Stone plaque on Neil Armstrong Way in Tralee, Co. Kerry. Shows a carving of the face of the moon. Text reads "Per Luna Ad Orbis"
September 28, 2025 at 10:28 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Kestrel spotted in the neighborhood this afternoon 😀
A kestrel, its wings aloft, in the air (blue sky with some clouds) over farmland and bushes. A kestrel, its wings open wide, in the air (blue sky with some clouds) over farmland and bushes.
September 25, 2025 at 2:21 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Neil Jordan criticism starter pack...
Stack of books on a shelf, all of which are critical/academic works about the writer and filmmaker Neil Jordan. Top to bottom, these are: 'Neil Jordan' by Maria Pramaggiore (University of Illinois Press); 'Feminine Nation: Performance, Gender, and Resistance in the Works of John McGahern and Neil Jordan' by Lori Rogers (University Press of America); 'Neil Jordan: Exploring Boundaries' by Emer Rockett and Kevin Rockett (Liffey Press); 'The Crying Game' by Jane Giles (BFI Publishing); and 'Neil Jordan: Works for the Page' by Val Nolan (Cork University Press).
September 22, 2025 at 10:55 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Writing a Science Fiction story? 😀 Check out the SF subgenres and tropes covered in *Spec Fic for Newbies 2*, the second stand-alone volume of the multi-award-nominated writing guide series published by @lunapress.bsky.social!

Find a range of purchasing options here: linktr.ee/specficforne...
Background is a dark blue view of space with a light blue spiral nebula design. Text reads: Spec Fic for Newbies brings SF subgenres & tropes down to earth! Volume 2 covers: Space Opera, Astronauts, First Contact, Climate Fiction, Pandemic Fiction, Uplifted Animals, Submarine Stories, Mysterious Islands, Biopunk, The Multiverse On the left is a book cover. The cover is medium blue on the top and bottom third with the center third black. In the top blue block are the authors’ names in yellow: Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan. In the middle black block is the main title in white: Spec Fic for Newbies Vol. 2. In the bottom blue block is the subtitle in yellow: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing More Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. Below the cover is the text: Shortlisted for multiple awards! At the bottom is a QR code and the Luna Press logo.
September 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
This is an *exceptional* animal! 🐾
Close up photo of the face of a black cat. The animal is clearly sitting on a desk with a water bottle, a window blind, and a tree behind him. Various papers and notebooks are scattered around.
September 12, 2025 at 1:27 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Over the weekend we went to Doom Slice on Dame Lane in Dublin and... I don't want to oversell it, but ******* this might be the *best* pizza I've ever had! Detroit-style pizza hidden in Dublin City center. Run, don’t walk; it is genuinely *phenomenal*!
Illuminated sign for the restaurant Doom Slice. Sign shows a blue cartoon happy face against a pale yellow background. Also displays the establishment name. Sign emerges from a brick wall festooned with pipes and vents. Three Detroit-style pizza slices in paper trays on a wooden table. Also a tub of garlic sauce and a can of Coca-Cola. Background is a graffitied wall. Close-up of a Detroit-style pizza slice in a paper tray on a timber table. Prominent in the toppings are jalapeño chili peppers. Menu board from the restaurant Doom Slice. Board is against a brick wall with a hatch to the kitchen just about visible on the right hand side. Left hand side of menu details the pizzas, right hand side is drinks and dips, etc. We had the Holy Peperoni (peperoni, Ricotta, Jalapeño, hot honey) and The Gloat (caramelized Shallot and goat cheese). We look forward to trying more in the future!
September 9, 2025 at 9:04 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
We have had another update...
Photo of a black cat sitting on a wooden shelf alongside a selection of model space stations from the Star Trek franchise. L to R: Cat, Deep Space Station K-7 (TOS), Earth Spacedock (various TOS movies), Regula One (ST: TWOK), Subspace Relay Station 47 (TNG), and Jupiter Station (VOY).
September 9, 2025 at 8:47 AM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
More and more thinking we should get Ian McEwan a copy of Spec Fic for Newbies 😂

Find out how to get your copy here: linktr.ee/specficforne...
Background is a space view of bright meteors shooting towards a planet in colors of gold and brown. Text reads: Spec Fic for Newbies brings SF subgenres & tropes down to earth! Spaceships, Aliens, Big Dumb Objects, Military SF, Utopia, Dystopia, Apocalyptic Fiction, Cyberpunk, Solarpunk & Robots, Androids, and Artificial Intelligence On the left is a book cover. The cover is split into thirds with the top and bottom third red and the center third black. Text on the top third reads: Tiffani Angus and Val Nolan in yellow font. The middle third reads: Spec Fic for Newbies in bold white font. And the bottom third reads: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror in yellow font. Below the cover is the text: Shortlisted for multiple awards! At the bottom is a QR code and the Luna Press logo.
September 7, 2025 at 2:30 PM
vallescurarule.bsky.social
Been a while since I updated my rotating model display, so here we go... The theme this time is Federation starbases and space stations (as always: not to scale)! 🖖
Selection of model space stations from the Star Trek franchise on a timber shelf. L to R: Starbase 1 (Discovery), Deep Space Station K-7 (TOS), Earth Spacedock (various TOS movies), Regula One (ST: TWOK), Subspace Relay Station 47 (TNG), and Jupiter Station (VOY).
September 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM