About

Fústar (the creator/author of this blog) lives in the teeming metropolis of Limerick. He shares his magical home with Jess (wife/pal/technical consultant), Willow (daughter/all-powerful wonder-girl), and two cats – Buster (insane) and Frankie (gentle & harassed).

His boring old (adopted) earth name is John Byrne and he has written for the likes of SFX, The Irish Times, The Irish Book Review, REDEYE and EnterText.

As for the blog's title…the Hiberno-English Archive has this to say:

fústar: // n. v. busy, agitated behaviour, Seán Ó Coileáin/Cork; to bustle about fussily < Ir. fústaire, bustling person < E dial. fooster < Ir. fústar, fussy behaviour, bustle, activity. 'Stop foostering about, will you!' foosterer n. a fussy person; a messer < Ir. fúastaire + E -er (see messer). 'Stop your fústaring and get on with your homework'...

So in Irish it is rendered 'fústar', while the anglicised spelling is usually given as 'fooster', 'foosther' etc.

Why was it chosen? No particular reason apart from the fact that…

a) I like the the way it sounds.

b) I have a soft-spot for words that suggest agitation.

and…

c) My father is a man who has turned "fústaring" into an art form.

I can also be found here.

Oh and I won an award. For this.

You can contact me at: kingofkongisland@eircom.net