‘(From) A to B (and back)’ is an article published in Printed Project (issue 13, July 2010). The issue theme was ‘Virtual Fictional’ and O’Riley’s contribution is a reflection on narrative, reading, uncertainty and de-familiarization, and how these ideas have been explored in some of his art works. This article focuses on the notion of a 'distributed' work, a work that can be made up from a number of elements where the viewer is free to draw associations or connections. It explores writings by Sterne, Shklovsky, Flusser and Todorov and considers syntactical terms such as hypotaxis and parataxis as ways of generating, thinking about or looking at artworks. Hypotaxis is often used to establish a narrative sequence or the progression of an argument. Its forms can lead to determined meanings. In paratactical forms, on the contrary, connections are left open. These terms were seen as useful ways to reflect on the lateral, open-endedness of forms of art practice. The article features text and images of O’Riley’s work as well as images from Sterne’s novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1762), and from the NASA/Hubble Ultra Deep Field astronomical observation (2004). The latter shows a long-exposure view of the cosmos teeming with galaxies in what was previously considered a vacant or empty portion of space. The article’s significance can be seen in the way it brings together seemingly disparate images and ideas to reflect on the sense in which narrative and the construction of interpretation are active elements within one’s response to a work, and to lay bare some of the thinking behind a work’s making.

These ideas were also explored in an artist's book published the following year. Conceived as a kind of calendar, the book - A Farmer’s Almanac - is structured around ancient/antique names for the full moon, often derived from Native American appellations. Each page has associated names for each month’s moon. The names have appeared in various North American farmers’ almanacs although there is some correspondence with British usage. The bookwork also features a constructed image of the full moon generated by Dr Tony Cook of Aberystwyth University from the database sent back from the moon by the Clementine spacecraft in 1994. (http://www.ponsonbypress.net; London: Ponsonby Press, October 2011; pp32; ISBN 9780956228697)