[pdfernhout]

"a friendly and kind guy mostly contented with his life" reminds me somewhat of another Irish author, James P. Hogan (who I was lucky enough to meet in person once through Princeton University's Infinity Limited science fiction society and corresponded a bit with many years later).

https://web.archive.org/web/20160221054919/http://www.jamesp...

https://tangentonline.com/interviews-columnsmenu-166/intervi...

http://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/articles/ho... "Hogan's humane outlook and faith in intelligent problem-solving permeate his books."