MARY BLAKE

Mary Blake holds a BA Hons in Performing Arts and an MA in Creative Practice. With a diverse skill set, Mary excels as a writer, performer, and filmmaker. Her passion lies in breaking boundaries and challenging conventions, particularly when it comes to underrepresented voices and subverting stereotypes.

Throughout her career, Mary has dedicated herself to empowering young individuals through her work in Youth Theatre facilitation. Her repertoire boasts several original plays that she both wrote and directed, showcasing her ability to craft compelling narratives that resonate with audiences of all ages.

Her directorial and writing talents were prominently displayed in the short film "Bridey," which earned recognition by being selected for the esteemed Galway Film Fleadh.

Mary has recently embraced a new role as the Assistant Arts Officer in Co Leitrim. This position allows her to contribute her expertise and passion to further promote and nurture the artistic community in her home county of Leitrim.

The day will come when I shall walk, when I shall breathe air and my heart will beat like yours. I shall be new. I shall be whole. I shall slither amongst you. And you will never know.

I shall be flesh.

There's something wrong with the school. Something rotten has sunk its teeth into the underbelly. Something that will spread throughout these halls. It will corrode this school.

It's going to start soon. I can already smell it. It's inside the walls. We have to escape. Otherwise it will end us all.

In the hallway, I am all alone. Everyone else has retreated to the lunch room. The slithering comes into earshot. I pause, glancing back down the long way I've walked. It’s inside the walls. It’s all around me. I move towards the cinderblock, cocking my head to one side to listen.

There … I can hear it, moving through the wall, Like a slug through mud. Wet and slippery, sliding around inside. I will be flesh. I will grow inside you all. I will live and inhabit. You will all feel me. Let me corrode you. Let me dry you out. Shrivel you. You can't dig me out. I have no origin. I am without root. I am amongst you.

It slithers away out of earshot.

Eoin Leydon O’Connor is a native of Sligo and a graduate of the M.A. in Creative Practice programme at ATU Sligo. His main vein of work is short story writing, although he dabbles in poetry, screenplay & playwriting occasionally. He has also taken to self-publishing his work on Amazon as of 2023.

Eoin’s main interest in writing is delving into the paranormal and macabre, but also showing the lighter, more beautiful side to his characters and the world he creates. As an avid fan of horror, he delves into stories involving body horror, existential trauma, as well as writing about friendship, love, death, grief, happiness and hope amidst the darker moments throughout each piece. His debut collection of short stories Rural Tales is set to be published later this year.