Up the Chimney

By Cat Rambo.

Read by Cian MacMahon.

I should have known better. There we were dozing by the fireside, old Tom and me, and there’s a stranger telling some story of funerals and cats. Old Tom, he leaps up, whiskers abristle. Shouting “Then I’m the King of Cats” and disappearing up the chimney!

Rated G. Contains cats and fairy land.

“Ken McGuire (25), Andy McMillan (24 I think), Robin Blandford (25), Eoghan McCabe (25), Patrick and John Collison (20 and 18) with Tommy (15) snapping at their heels, Cian McMahon (17 I think), Marie Boran (24 I think), Gav Reilly (22), David Maybury (24) and Phil O Kane (23) are all on my inspired-by-professionally and to-be-admired list, never mind Jon Favreau, Barack Obama's speech writer at 27. It's not their "youth" I admire as much as the hard graft they continually put into what they do and how they do it that I respect most of all.”

Morevi, a landlocked kingdom shrouded by jungles and mystery, falls under the rule of Askana Moldarin, known in her realm as “The Black Widow” following her swift and bloody ascent to the throne. In the dawn of this New Age, hidden traitors in her own regime threaten to destroy everything. Askana, independent of council, seeks help to reveal the conspiracy against her…

Enter Rafe Rafton, captain of the Defiant.

Life in Morevi is hardly a “happily ever after” for privateer captain Rafe Rafton. As he deals with the animosity from the Ladies of the Blood and from his own daughter, Ashtari, his only ally is Morevi’s First Queen, Askana Moldarin. But soon, the peace they find with each other is shattered in a single night. Now, Morevi faces a threat far greater than that of political opponents or frontier rivals. As their realm stands on the brink of a war they cannot win, Askana and Rafe must risk another Riftcrossing while sending their daughter, the future Second Queen of Morevi, into hiding.

However, the Great Game now stretches beyond the borders of Askana’s rule, and plans for the downfall of House Moldarin are set into motion.

Cian MacMahon chatted with me about hand made gifts. Not only does he have a classification system for hand made gifts, he even has a story about hand made gift safety... awesome in its fear-generating reality

I have a chat with the mighty Cian Mac Mahon of Starting WoW and the View from the Quad podcasts. In this chat I find out about Cian’s early podcasting days and uncover the mysteries of Cian’s desk.

Again at Podcamp this year, I met and spoke to Cian MacMahon a fifth year student who podcasts as a hobby and so far has succeeded in finding two sponsors to cover his hosting expenses. Cian is a handsome young man with a crystal clear voice and excellent diction and I predict he will go places in the not to distant future.

I first became aware of him at a talk led by Darragh Doyle, and like Darragh he is not afraid to approach and engage with people. Our paths crossed again later in the day when he attended my conversation about blogging and podcasting for the elderly. He stayed chatting long after the talk ended and kindly asked if I would consent to being interviewed for one of his podcasts. Email addresses were exchanged arrangements made and the recording took place some weeks ago via Skype, with Cian in Dublin and me with my feet up in Co Antrim! I think that episode will be available this weekend and there are plenty more examples of Cian’s work at View from the Quad.