What Maiko remembers most is how plain the girl was, yet how much effort she had put in to surmount all that. She hadn’t much to go on. Her head seemed too big for her body, her shoulders too rounded, as if she shied of her own being and was forever pulling inward on herself; … Continue reading Excerpt from Maiko Moans by Colin O’Sullivan
Catherine Dunne’s latest conversation with Shauna Gilligan about A Good Enough Mother
Who is Catherine's favourite character in her newest novel? Which character started it all? Why is the number of chapters significant? What are her favourite books this year? Find out below: https://shaunagilliganwriter.com/2024/12/05/writers-chat-76-catherine-dunne-on-a-good-enough-mother-betimes-books-dublin-2024/?page_id=4932
book launch of Catherine Dunne’s new novel: A Good Enough Mother
EILEEN, 1960
EXCERPT FROM A GOOD ENOUGH MOTHER When the train pulls into Euston Station, I wake with a jerk. I wake in the same way now, all these decades later, after one of my bad dreams. They always start at the same place: seeing myself as I step out onto that platform, into the freezing, clattery … Continue reading EILEEN, 1960
MAEVE 1979
EXCERPT FROM A GOOD ENOUGH MOTHER Monaghan Joanie was barely fourteen. They had taken her baby from her while she slept. Sometime during the night, a couple of weeks earlier, they’d slipped into the nursery and taken him. One of the other girls, Grace, had awoken to the sound of their habits, shushing across the … Continue reading MAEVE 1979
“A Poet of Darkness”
We are happy and proud – overjoyed, really! – to share with you a few lines from a letter that the great American post-modernist writer Richard Kalich wrote to us and the Irish writer Colin O’Sullivan after having read his work for the first time (Colin’s novel, The Starved Lover Sings). Such an endorsement, coming … Continue reading “A Poet of Darkness”
A beautifully creepy new short story from Colin O’Sullivan
Dear Readers, This is a dark and creepy season. To cheer you up, Colin O'Sullivan offers you this new story, "The Shadow Babes" It might be scary, but it ends well. Click on the image and enjoy!
REMINDER: The Dark Manual promotion on Amazon UK
We don't want you to miss it! Until the end of October, Colin O'Sullivan's chilling and thought-provoking novel THE DARK MANUAL, due to become a TV series, is promoted on Amazon UK, and you can read the e-book for £0.99 only!
October treat: Amazon UK promotion for Colin O’Sullivan’s novel “The Dark Manual”
During the whole month of October, readers in the UK & Ireland can buy The Dark Manual here for £0.99! This is, of course, a Kindle edition. Print edition is also available on Amazon, the Book Depository (free delivery worldwide), etc. Or maybe you prefer to watch it on TV? It's coming, but it will … Continue reading October treat: Amazon UK promotion for Colin O’Sullivan’s novel “The Dark Manual”
“Novels are all about commitment” – Colin O’Sullivan’s profile in Books Ireland Magazine
Meet a writer who "has an understanding of the power of words, their placing, their specific meaning" and "reflects the current malaise and modern preoccupations", "sends language out on a gleeful spree, exuberant, defiant", and who is "one of the finest storytellers out there, a lyrical master of the written word".
More praise for “The Dark Manual”
Review published on Book Nudge / Book Noir, August 31, 2018. The Dark Manual defies easy categorisation; it’s a literary novel, a very desperate tale of love and loss, a noir thriller, of real and imaginary threats and a sci-fi speculation (which could be read as prescient future gazing). O’Sullivan has carved himself a distinct … Continue reading More praise for “The Dark Manual”
“Exciting Poetic Thriller” – exactly!
We just have to share this reader's review! It's wonderful when somebody REALLY gets the book! Thanks to @fatorange23, whoever he/she is, for sharing this with other readers: 5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting Poetic Thriller 4 August 2018 - Published on Amazon.com Format: Paperback In order to be a great writer one’s style must … Continue reading “Exciting Poetic Thriller” – exactly!
A glorious review of Colin O’Sullivan’s new novel “The Dark Manual”
Isaac Asimov had Three Laws of Robotics: 1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own … Continue reading A glorious review of Colin O’Sullivan’s new novel “The Dark Manual”
Interview with Colin O’Sullivan in Your Secret Library
A few days before the release of Colin's third novel, THE DARK MANUAL, a Trinity College Dublin graduate Polly Young interviews her fellow Trinity College alumnus for Your Secret Library Magazine: Colin O’Sullivan is a poet and a novelist, author of Killarney Blues (2013), The Starved Lover Sings (2017), and The Dark Manual (May 2018), … Continue reading Interview with Colin O’Sullivan in Your Secret Library
Excerpt from “The Dark Manual” by Colin O’Sullivan
From Chapter 3: Susie suddenly lashes out, sending the cereal bowl flying from the counter out into kitchen space. It smashes to pieces against a side cupboard and lays silent on the floor in thick white shards. “Turn it off,” she shouts. “Yes, Miss Susie.” The grey woman on the grey beach vanishes and there … Continue reading Excerpt from “The Dark Manual” by Colin O’Sullivan
“Colin O’Sullivan writes gloriously”
In Tom Russell's song about Lightnin' Hopkins, 'Scars on His Ankles,” he writes of Lightnin's scars on his ankles where the chain from the chain gang cut his skin. In Colin O'Sullivan's jewel of a first novel, Killarney Blues, winner of the “Prix Mystere de la critique,” in France, the main characters also have scars, … Continue reading “Colin O’Sullivan writes gloriously”
Colin O’Sullivan’s “KILLARNEY BLUES” is on RTL!
Colin O'Sullivan's novel KILLARNEY BLUES (French translation, Éditions Rivages, Sept. 2017) is on the RTL radio (C'est à lire - To be read)! "This first Noir novel from Colin O'Sullivan is magnificent, very finely written, and profoundly sad. To be savoured while drinking a Guinness and listening to some old blues, by Muddy Waters or … Continue reading Colin O’Sullivan’s “KILLARNEY BLUES” is on RTL!
Christmas nostalgia : Our authors about the best book gift they have ever received (Part 1)
Jackie Mallon, author of Silk for the Feed Dogs It was a copy of The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy. A certain someone knew I'd appreciate the paperback's many idiosyncrasies: the title, so goofy and slapstick-sounding, in direct contrast to the elegant Hitchcockian blond stretched out nude on the cover in an image by Erwin Blumenfeld, a fashion photographer … Continue reading Christmas nostalgia : Our authors about the best book gift they have ever received (Part 1)
The Success of the French Edition of “Killarney Blues”
"Carried by a genuine writing talent, Killarney Blues is a Noir novel full of melancholy and unfulfilled dreams with a surprising glimmer of hope at the end. Without the slightest naivety. A revelation." —Le Soir “A cathartic novel that ultimately creates positive emotions, like the blues can do. Poignant.” —booknode.com “A luminous novel that … Continue reading The Success of the French Edition of “Killarney Blues”
Killarney Blues – Colin O’Sullivan
A wonderful review of the French edition of Colin O'Sullivan's KILLARNEY BLUES!
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