Máire O’Reilly

Bewildering Stories biography

to Bewildering Stories bibliography

Máire O’Reilly is a Dubliner by birth but a European by inclination, so she lives in Belgium. Her professional activities required a lot of writing, and she published extensively in English and French in the fields of foreign languages and corporate training. She also founded and ran a company specialised in analysing European press policies.

All that was long ago, however; now, she only writes fiction. Her novel continues to be half-finished, and she dabbles in so many short-story genres that it sometimes makes her head spin.

To her astonishment, her first fantasy story won an award. Set in the West of Ireland, it tells how Claire, a modern woman afraid to take a decision that will change her future, dreams of Domhnait, her childhood companion from the nearby island said to be inhabited by the Ancients. Domhnait courageously agrees to rid The Great Lord Dagda of his ambitious shape-shifting consort, does what is necessary to carry out the dangerous task, and is rewarded by promotion to the ranks of the Celtic gods. When Claire wakes, her decision is easily made. “Tasks at Bealtaine” impressed the judges at the CONduit XIII International Competition sufficiently for them to place it third in the Amateur Fantasy Section.

Other stories have been published or are forthcoming online in such places as Electric Acorn, Quantum Muse, Rock Salt Plum and Gator Springs Gazette.