Mad Priests and Flying Stones

Posted on March 20, 2020 by - Blog, My Writing

This is an except from the first book I ever published, a kind of Irish De Vinci Code involving an Irish mythological detective (we used to jokingly call it the O’Vinci Code!).

It’s the first in a trilogy (although they’re all standalones) and I have yet to complete the second (not to mind the third) as I’ve been so full-on with the other series I’m writing.

What you need to know:

Following the strange death of his brother, retiree Diarmuid O’Suilleabhain  (O’Sullivan) has adopted his nephew Demne, a strange child who was raised in Irish and who has numerous struggles with authority. After beating the child in school for speaking only in Irish, the brutal teacher An Máistir (The Master) is involved in a serious accident and has to leave the profession. Diarmuid is pleased with An Máistir’s replacement, but it turns out Demne’s issues with the 1960’s Irish schooling system are only just beginning.

The Excerpt: Mad Priests and Flying Stones

Within the fortnight, a woman by the name of Miss Kelly was appointed to replace An Máistir and take over the school’s teaching duties. A strict but fair woman, it was generally felt within the community that she was a significant improvement on her predecessor. Of greater importance to Diarmuid was the fact that she was a gaelgoir from the Corca Dhuibhne Gaeltacht and took an immediate shine to the young boy who spoke the language so fluently.

When the school reopened, Diarmuid was much more relaxed about releasing his nephew back into its care. Demne’s new teacher was kind and supportive and the language barrier was no longer a problem. The full potential of a national education, it appeared, now lay out before him.

Within a week, Diarmuid discovered that his confidence in the national education system had been naively premature. Returning from the fields on a Thursday afternoon, he was astounded to find his nephew sitting stiffly at Carraig Dubh in the company of a red-faced Father Byrne. The old man’s initial reaction was one of heartfelt panic. Father Byrne, he knew, was first cousin to An Máistir and must somehow have discovered Demne’s involvement in his recent hospitalisation.

Before Diarmuid had a chance to leap to his nephew’s defence, however, the parish priest leapt to his feet and released a torrent of accusations that were as perplexing as they were vitriolic. Because Father Byrne was practically frothing at the mouth, it took some time to work out what he was complaining about. Slowly it became clear – to Diarmuid’s immense relief – that the ecclesiastical outrage was not related to the assault on An Máistir but to the less immediate threat of his nephew’s eternal soul.

Completing his visit with a warning of severe consequences should the issue not be addressed to his satisfaction, Father Byrne wrapped himself in a cloak of religious self-righteousness and stormed from the house.

‘Safe home now, Father!’ Diarmuid called in his wake, although he could not resist throwing a two-fingered salute at the back of the departing cleric.

Despite the cold, Diarmuid remained outside and smoked a cigarette as he attempted to work through the ramifications of what he had just been told. He was shivering by the time he returned inside but, realising that there was no time like the present, he drew up a stool next to the boy and looked him directly in the eye.

‘So, let me get this straight,’ he said. ‘You don’t know who God is.’

There was a brief silence.

‘I know the one hanging up on the cross in the church,’ the boy admitted. ‘And Miss Kelly and Father Byrne were telling me about three other ones, but …’ He paused. From his demeanour, Demne seemed unsure as to whether someone was winding him up or not.

‘Did yer Da never bring you to …’

Diarmuid stopped abruptly. He had been about to ask whether Demne’s father had never taken him to church. On reflection, the answer to that particular question was patently obvious.

‘Did yer Da ever tell you about God and Jesus and all that?’ he tried instead.

The boy shook his head.

‘A Dhia na bheart!’ the old farmer exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and started again. ‘You have to listen to what the priest tells you about the religious stuff, a bhuachaill. You have to do what he says and toe the line.’

Demne’s lips tightened and his uncle repressed a twinge of frustration. Evidently the boy had inherited the family’s gene for stubbornness: the determined expression on Demne’s face was identical to the one he remembered on his brother’s face as a child.

‘But Father Byrne says mad things, a Uncail.’

‘Sure he does, but he’s a man with influence in the community. He’s also the Church’s local representative and that’s a crowd you don’t want to mess with. They’ve a lot of power since the Long Fella did a deal with them and they don’t like the faithful getting ideas above their station. If you come to their attention they won’t leave off until they’ve made you submit to their view of the world, one way or the other.’

‘But it’s not true! That’s wrong.’

Diarmuid regarded his nephew with surprise. Clearly, he was going to have his work cut out trying to educate him in the fine tradition of moral hypocrisy.

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about survival. The Church love going around telling people how they should live their lives. If you want to stay out of trouble you’ve got to put up with that. That’s why we go to Mass on Sundays. It’s not that I believe some big God fella’s going to smack me across the arse with a bolt of lightning, it’s because it keeps the clergy off our backs. If going out there, bending your head at the right time and mumbling some oul shite is enough to keep them quiet then we’re all happy.’

The boy did not seem convinced.

‘Demne, people get upset when others don’t agree with them or don’t believe in the same things they do. If you want to be part of a community you have to blend in. If you’re too different or you stick out, you’ll eventually end up turning them against you. Everyone around here goes to Mass or believes in God – or at least they say they do – so you have to follow suit. Stirring the priests up will only make life more difficult.’

‘Do you like priests?’

Diarmuid stared at him with genuine astonishment.

‘Whatever gave you that idea?’

‘You like Father McCarthy.’

‘That’s different. He’s not really a priest. He just thinks he is.’

‘Maybe I should throw a stone at Father Byrne.’

‘No, you can’t throw a feckin’ stone at Father Byrne!’

‘You didn’t mind me throwing a stone at An Máistir.’

‘Only because you’d already gone and done it. You can’t go around lobbing rocks at people in authority. You …’ he hesitated momentarily. ‘Well, actually, you can, but you wouldn’t be long getting caught.’

‘I’d be clever, a Uncail. They wouldn’t get me.’

‘You’d have to be very feckin’ clever not to get caught eventually, Demne. No, if you go up against the big boys you’ve got to be able to pick your battles. More importantly, you have to pick your defeats – the way that you can choose the fights you want to win.’

It took another half-hour of intense argument before he finally convinced his nephew to adhere to the priest’s teachings – or, more accurately, to pretend to go along with them, keep his head down and get on with his work in school.

This reluctant concession appeared to achieve its objective, however. Within a few weeks, Demne’s troubles at school ceased. To his uncle’s surprise and immense satisfaction, Demne revealed himself to be an adept and natural scholar – although it still irked him that this had only been revealed through the use of English.

FIONN: Defence of Ráth Bládhma Sale and Background Notes

Posted on March 16, 2020 by - Blog, My Writing

To celebrate St Patrick’s Week (apparently it’s no longer a day!), FIONN: Defence of Ráth Bládhma – the first book in the Fionn mac Cumhaill Series – is going to be on sale for 99c/99p until next Saturday.
 
I wrote FIONN: Defence of Ráth Bládhma immediately after I’d finished BEARA: Dark Legends (which probably took me over two years to write). After BDL’s complex double-narrative structure, I think my mind was just desperate for the simplicity of a linear story and, if I remember correctly, I wrote the initial three chapters of FDRB in a single month. At the time,I had no real structure in mind (apart from the very basic mythological tale – of which this story only covers a small part).
 
Liath Luachra, Fiacail and Bodhmhall really came out of an empty space at the back of my head and, basically, because they were such strong characters, took over the entire book, driving it towards its fateful, twisted conclusion before I had a chance to overlay it with a pre-planned plot structure.
 
Which, to be honest, worked out fine.

Dressing Liath Luachra

Posted on March 12, 2020 by - Blog, My Writing

DRESSING LIATH LUACHRA

This is a silly little video I threw together during a moment of whimsy while doing my monthly newsletter.

When the updated cover for Fionn 2 (FIONN: Traitor of Dún Baoiscne) was being developed, the artist put together a series of cover versions for the different clothing options he’d come up with for Liath Luachra. I happened to come across the files again last week and, as I was flicking through them, I found it had an amusing ‘film’ effect.

Anyway, judge for yourself but prepare to be underwhelmed. For some reason, the transfer to You Tube seriously diminished the quality of the images and, deep and meaningful, this is not.

 

DARK DAWN/ CAMHAOIR FUILSMEARTHA

Posted on March 5, 2020 by - Blog, Folklore/Mythology, My Writing

A gorgeous image from artist Bryan Mahy for the “Dark Dawn/ Camhaoir Fuilsmeartha Project” I’m currently working on.

This was intended to be released this month but delays outside my control mean it probably won’t be available for a little longer.

Subject-wise, this is a story about a dying warrior defending the isolated settlement of Ráth Bládhma, future home of Fionn mac Cumhaill. It’s a stand-alone, once-off, spin-off from the Fionn mac Cumhaill Series and people will either love it or hate it.

It will have its own page soon but for the moment the best source of information is probably here:

Irish Mythology as Represented Through Facebook Groups – It’s not good!

Posted on March 3, 2020 by - Blog, Folklore/Mythology

Over the last year or two, I started investigating various Facebook Groups on Irish Mythology to get some kind of sense of what people were looking for – or what they even understood – when it comes to Irish Mythology (or any mythology for that matter). During that process, I plonked a few of my own articles in there to see the kind of reaction that garnered but mostly I just sat and watched the information being presented and the various responses to it.

My overall process was very passive but it soon became clear that Facebook Groups had some serious limitations and that, despite their popularity, they sure as hell aren’t a good mechanism to learn anything meaningful or authentic (particularly on Irish Mythology). I’m currently exiting most of the groups I joined but, below, I’ve outlined some of the issues I’ve noticed. This is a very early summary and there’s a whole bunch of material I haven’t yet analysed but I don’t want to bore the crap out of you on a nerdy topic that probably only interests me.

  • The understanding of Irish mythology on Facebook Groups – is very much on the lower end of the scale. In general, most people who have a good understanding of Irish Mythology (i.e. who’ve taken the trouble to do some kind of academic course on the topic or work in that area) generally don’t do the whole Facebook Group thing. Specialist/academic groups linked with universities or professionals in the field tend to communicate on professional platforms. Facebook Groups are really for interested amateurs (meant in the original sense of the word).

 

  • On Facebook, anyone can start a “Mythology Group’ and give themselves an air of authority. In most cases however, these groups tend to be are run by individuals with a passion for the subject (or with an associated business) but no genuine understanding of it. A lot of them have their own discrete agendas (i.e. to gain followers for business, religious, political ends etc.) and tend to regurgitate the same tired old misinformation from discredited sources, over and over again. They also lack the knowledge to ‘vet’ material shared on their group – i.e. they can’t tell when something submitted is genuine or not.

 

  • People join Irish Mythology Facebook Groups for a whole bunch of reasons (and the diversity of those reasons is quite staggering). In general, members are genuinely trying to learn about mythology or find out something about themselves. In some cases, what the latter are looking for may not exist – or at least not in the form they believe it does. This can mean – and I’ve seen examples of this – that they can be easily misdirected or manipulated.

 

  • Facebook Groups on “Irish Mythology” and “Irish Folklore” seem to have an inordinate number of “Comment Crawlers” – individuals  who’ve read the free, online mythology stuff (which is usually based on discredited early 1900s material) and are convinced they understand everything. Given their limitations, most don’t actually generate any original content but they do tend to spread further misinformation though their (cough) ‘informed comments’.

 

  • Facebook Groups by Celtic Recreationists should be particularly avoided. These people are usually well intentioned but see no problem with cherry-picking specific elements of Irish culture that support their own prejudices or ways of thinking (while discarding anything that doesn’t suit or isn’t particularly marketable). Because they’re trying to promote an interpretations of Irish culture that doesn’t align with the reality, they tend to misuse the Irish language for branding (sometimes to unintentional hilarious effect) or misrepresent Irish cultural concepts by introducing them in a way that’s completely out of context. The end result tends to be a kind of plastic, pseudo-Irish, culturally shallow spirituality product.

 

  • Many of the ‘Irish Mythology-themed Facebook Groups post or reshare content from other, more authentic or credible sites. Each group differs but my (very rough) impression was that about 30-40% of the shared content was genuine/credible (some are better than others). The rest is self-produced content (where the various agendas are clearer), regurgitated rubbish from W.B. Yeats and other discredited sources or fantasy material with an ‘Oirish’ spin. Because of the members’ lack of knowledge however, most can’t tell the difference.

 

  • As a general rule, in my limited experience, any Facebook Group with the words “Irish” and “Mythology” in the title are best avoided as they’re generally rife with inaccuracies or misinformation. The only Facebook Groups I’ve come across that offer any credible or ‘vetted’ information on Irish Mythology tend to be the more generic ‘Irish Interest’ Groups – where they’re run by Irish people with no interest in ‘Plastic Paddy’ Mythology. The Irish Way Group , for instance, is an excellent example of how such groups should work.
As I mentioned earlier, the points above were all gleaned from simple observation over 1-2 years but even that irregular  passive observation demonstrated how easily ‘false information’ can be generated across the Facebook platform. If it’s this easy for something as innocuous as Irish Mythology I dread to think what must be happening in those groups where more serious topics are raised.

Escaping The Chains Of Genre

Posted on March 2, 2020 by - Blog, Folklore/Mythology, Mise (Me)

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost four years since I published FIONN 3: THE ADVERSARY – the book that completed the first three-book arc of the Fionn mac Cumhaill Series.

The above image is an alternative cover for that book (developed from a series that the artist went off and created predominantly to satisfy her own creative urgings).  An incredibly talented cover designer, she had the whole fantasy genre down to a tee and, hence, thought I’d love what she sent me. And I did – anything this artist does is amazing!

Unfortunately, by then, I’d also been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with having my work locked into the ‘fantasy’ genre, predominantly due to my growing understanding around the confusion between genuine mythology and ‘fantasy’ (particularly where it relates to anything Irish). The over-sexualised imagery that tends to accompany the fantasy genre was also wrong for the kind of books I produce.

In the end, we used a different variant for the cover (using the original photostock – you can see the final here) but I ended up paying the artist for the additional set of images as well. She’d done some amazing work for me in the past and, frankly, she deserved it. Although I’ll probably never use any them, its nice to pull them out on occasion and appreciate the great skill she put into them

Six Years Ago Today

Posted on February 20, 2020 by - Blog, Folklore/Mythology, My Writing

I received one of those social media reminders today that it’s been six years since I first published FIONN: Defence of Ráth Bládhma, an anniversary that’s triggered some quiet reflection for me.

FIONN 1 was actually the second book I ever published (Beara: Dark Legends being the first). It was my first attempt at producing a genuine (as culturally authentic as I could make it) Irish historical adventure/fantasy novel and, to be honest, I had no idea whether people would like it. I’d never written anything similar before and given my insistence on using Irish cultural concepts and – occasionally – language, I assumed most people would be scared off.

Six years later there are four (by December) books in the series as well as a spin-off series (The Irish Woman Warrior Series) which will have three books by the end of the year. It still amazes me that people buy them, even more so when they leave positive reviews.

When I finish a book, it goes from my head and even a few months I struggle to remember even writing it.  I reread this book about two years ago and it was a slightly bizarre experience in that it was actually just like reading a book someone else had written. The weirdest thing was that I really enjoyed it and, overall, I thought it was great (!!?). I’m not really sure what that says about me. People often say you can be your own worst critic but I clearly run the other way.

I’d like to say ‘thank you’ to all of you who took the time to read this book and a particular thanks to those of you who were kind enough to go so far as to write a review. For any writer that will always be a buzz, no matter how old the book or how many books they’ve written.

I’ve always had a clear idea in my head where this series was going (and the Liath Luachra Series of course) and although I’m keen to move onto other projects it feels good to be edging closer to the completion of the story, the characters, the twists and the plots I wanted to reveal. Given the growing interest in a television version, this could of course end up going on in a way or a direction I’d never even envisaged but, to be honest, there are a thousand other things I need/want to do.

I think some stories never end.

Note: The above image shows the development of the cover since my initial amateurish introduction. The current cover is the image seen below.

Irish Woman Warrior on a Horse

Posted on February 8, 2020 by - Blog, Folklore/Mythology, My Writing

A snippet from Liath Lauchra 3: The Seeking

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Emerging from the cave, the warrior woman found Murchú already mounted and waiting below the yew trees. Swaddled against the cold in his black cloak, he had the lower hem drawn up and held in place beneath his inner thighs. The sight of the Uí Loinge man poised so casually astride the animal took Liath Luachra by surprise. Too dazed to take note when he’d first arrived, she’d assumed Murchú had managed to make it to Luachair on horseback only through a combination of good fortune and determination. The restful pose and the relaxed manner in which the reins dangled loosely from his fingers however, suggested he was a more than competent horseman.

She was even more surprised when he reached down with one hand to help her mount. Looking from the hand to Murchú, then back at the hand again, she firmly shook her head.

‘I’ll run.’

‘All the way to Briga?’ He adjusted the folds of his cloak. ‘That could cost us days. Days we don’t have, Grey One.’

The woman warrior frowned and regarded the horse with a measure of distrust. She didn’t know much about horses and had always viewed them with wary circumspection. They were beautiful creatures to look at and had their obvious uses but they were also skittish and could let you down when you needed them most.

And, of course, they were also rather high.

The Irish Woman Warrior Series

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[Image from the film, “Centurion”]

The Rider

Posted on February 2, 2020 by - Blog, Folklore/Mythology, My Writing

This is another of the images pulled from my regular weekend research of imagery – something about the mood in this image really drew me to Eve Ventrue’s ‘The Rider’ ( the image attached to this post).

I’m currently writing a chapter which involves the use of horses and was reminded of a question I occasionally get asked: Why don’t the characters in the Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Liath Luachra books ride horses?

There are several reasons for this but the most important is authenticity. Back in the 1st and 2nd century, Ireland was a very rugged land, full of dense forest, marshes and terrain that was extremely difficult to traverse. People didn’t tend to travel very far unless they had to and, a lot of the time, the journeys they took were simply too onerous for horses (because of the huge amount of clambering required).

We also have to remember that horses weren’t all that plentiful. For those communities fortunate enough to have a horse, the animals were mostly kept for critical farm work and if they were ridden, they would only have been ridden by the most important members of the tuath (tribe).

Fantasy Fiction, Irish Blood Spatter and the Online Language Colonisation Tool

Posted on January 8, 2020 by - Blog, Folklore/Mythology, My Writing

The title in the image above – Camhaoir Fuilsmeartha – is the Irish title for a free, online, bilingual adventure fiction project released in January 2020. The English title  – Dark Dawn –  is one you may have come across elsewhere (it’s a bilingual Irish/English project).

As with all languages, translation often doesn’t work the way you’d expect and Irish is no exception. As a literal translation, ‘Dark Dawn’ just doesn’t work particularly well in Irish. That’s probably because it doesn’t have the same cultural connotation in English (at least, not in my head). Rather than resorting to béarlachas (the word we use where an Irish language or cultural concept is forced into an English structural form or word pattern), I’ve therefore used a different translation instead.

Literally, ‘Camhaoir Fuilsmeartha’ means ‘Bloodspattered Dawn’.  The meaning is slightly different from the English title but, more importantly, the connotation is correct, from a cultural perspective it’s far more apt and it still captures the theme of the story (a dark, action-adventure tale set in the Fenian Cycle).

Because I work in Irish mythology, a lot of my books tend to end up in the ‘Fantasy’ genre where I see a lot of writers (particularly, the Celtic Fantasy genre authors) use Irish terms to try and give their books a bit of (cough!) ‘cultural integrity’. The main problem I come across is where such authors use Google Translate for various terms in their books and the results are often disastrously hilarious. At it’s best, this tool is really a kind of  ‘béarlachas machine’: with Irish, it translates everything literally and therefore gets at least 80% of it’s translations technically correct but culturally and socially wrong.

At its worst,  you could say that Google Translate is like a global colonisation tool where any foreign concept from a different language/culture is sanitized to a ‘nice’, English-comprehensible equivalent.

Even where the original concept is left behind  and rendered meaningless.

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Note:

‘Camhaoir Fuilsmeartha’/ ‘Dark Dawn’ remains FREE online. You can find it here: IRISH ADVENTURE 

Chasing Pavlov’s Dog

Posted on January 8, 2020 by - Blog, Mise (Me), My Writing

Three years ago I was complaining (albeit, not particularly bitterly) about the workload that tended to occur over the New Zealand Christmas holiday period. That workload was mostly self-imposed of course. Holidays offered the only real opportunity to do intensive writing and strategic thinking for various creative projects I wanted to work on – something that’s just impractical when you’re working full time and have a family you want to engage with.
 
Ironically, over the last few years, my creative workload has actually increased as I push the boundaries with more and more ambitious projects. At the same time however, the fulfillment I get from these projects has also increased dramatically so there’s this bizarre kind of Pavlovian Response thing driving me to more and more intensive projects.
 
I’m convinced, of course, that this is all going to end well.
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Original post:

WORKING ON THE BEACH: UPDATE ON FUTURE ‘PRODUCTIONS’’

God, I love Christmas/New Year in New Zealand!

Through a pure twist of timing and climate, the Christmas celebration here falls at the very start of the summer holiday season. As a result, the holidays in this country can stretch from 24th December all to the way through to the end of January. That’s not to say you don’t work over that period – most people do – but the cities are definitely a lot emptier, people are more laid back and there’s a great holiday vibe that just keeps rolling on (when the weather and earthquakes allow, of course).

This year, given other responsibilities, I’ve had to spend a lot less time at the beach to catch up on writing projects that have lapsed throughout the year. The main pieces of work coming through over the next few months are as follows:
[Full article at: http://irishimbasbooks.com/working-on-the-beach-update-on-…/ ]

Liath Luachra Optioned as a Potential Television Series

Posted on December 3, 2019 by - Blog, My Writing

I’m pleased to announce that Liath Luachra: The Grey One has been optioned for the screen/television with Graisland Entertainment.

An action/adventure story based in first century Ireland (and linked to the famous Fenian Cycle), Liath Luachra: The Grey One was first published by Irish Imbas Books in December 2015.

The Context:

Late last year, I received an email expressing an interest in adapting my book Liath Luachra: The Grey One for the screen. The source of that email was Graisland Entertainment, an entertainment partnership between Michael Grais and Carlos Barbosa who (in association with Zero Gravity Management) focus on producing original features films and television production.

Having read the book, Michael Grais was convinced of its potential as a television series, preferring that medium over a feature film as it allowed more time to develop characters and storylines that could delve deeper into the “Fenian” Cycle.

After several weeks of in-depth discussions and negotiations, I signed the option papers.

That was in April 2019.  Since then, I’ve kept pretty tight-lipped about the development as:

  • I didn’t want people to assume a screen adaptation was certain – my (very rough) estimate is that out of every book optioned, less than one in a hundred proceed to the next step (and there are a lot of next steps); and
  • I was too busy enjoying the adaptation process

To be honest, I’ve been extremely fortunate.  Liath Luachra: The Grey One has been adapted for the screen (i.e. part of the novel was rewritten as a television pilot screenplay) by Michael, who’s an incredibly accomplished screenwriter, creating the story for “Poltergeist” (probably one of the most successful horror movies of all time), “Great Balls of Fire”, “Cool World” and many more. The real clincher for me however, was one of his first screenplays: “Death Hunt” a film I’ve had in my collection for years.

I’ve also been very fortunate in that Michael was generous enough, not only to share various drafts of his screenplay, but to allow me to input via comments and suggestions. This effectively meant, I was not only party to seeing the process of how a book was adapted but learning by watching one of the best screenwriters in the business at work. There’s a real fire to Michael Grais I admire. A consummate artist, he’s attained (and maintained) a level of creative intensity and professional output most people could only aspire to.

Everyone knows that writing for the screen is very different to writing for a book. All the same, until you actually do it yourself (or see the process in action), you can’t really understand how different it is. When you’re writing a book, you’re essentially creating a wholly immersive experience for the reader; a richly detailed world, in-depth characters, narration and dialogue that pulls the reader deep into the story.

When writing a screenplay, the approach seems quite different in that the story is predominantly pared back to plot and dialogue. Most of the other (visual etc.) immersion components are interpreted and developed by other members of the movie/television production team. For me that was probably the most critical learning.

At heart, the novel Liath Luachra: The Grey One is about a defiant and resilient young woman struggling to survive in the brutal, male-dominated world of first century Ireland. In terms of tone and style, the story is very much ‘dark adventure’ and since its publication in 2015, several people have described it to me as “An ancient Irish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Historically, culturally and linguistically, the book is as accurate as I could make it. It introduces a number of ancient Gaelic cultural concepts that many people aren’t aware of and it aligns accurately with the existing Fenian Cycle and other Irish mythology.

At present, Graisland Entertainment are pitching the proposed television series to key players in the television industry. A screen version of that same story, by necessity, would have to undergo some changes given that its being transmitted through a different format. Nevertheless, I’m confident that Liath Luachra’s story is in capable hands and I look forward to seeing the final product if, and when, it happens.

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Brian O’Sullivan

Born in county Cork, Ireland, Brian O’Sullivan is an author, mythologist and cultural commentator. Currently based in Wellington, New Zealand, Brian is director of Irish Imbas, a company specialising in the research/analysis of ancient Irish cultural knowledge and belief patterns (‘Irish mythology). Irish Imbas Books, translates the more workable pieces into narratives and learning material for a contemporary audience.

Since 2012, Irish Imbas Books has been publishing fiction and non-fiction that incorporate strong elements of Irish culture, language, history and mythology. These include the ‘Irish Woman Warrior Series’, the ‘Fionn mac Cumhaill Series’ and several others.

 

Michael Grais (Graisland Entertainment)

From his association with Steven Spielberg, Grais co-wrote the mega-hit POLTERGEIST and co- wrote and produced the sequel, POLTERGEIST II. Grais also executive produced the film GREAT BALLS OF FIRE (starring Dennis Quaid, Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder) and co-wrote, produced, and financed the hugely successful MARKED FOR DEATH for 20th Century Fox. Other box office hits written or produced by Grais include Steven King’s SLEEPWALKERS, COOL WORLD (starring Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, and Gabriel Byrne) and WHO KILLED ATLANTA’S CHILDREN, the highest rated movie of 2000 for Showtime.

An accomplished showrunner in episodic television, Grais oversaw production on 22 episodes of the syndicated series, THE IMMORTAL, produced and directed THE PROMISE LAND (in association with University of New Mexico) as an Internet series for STRIKETV.

Mr. Grais’ films have garnered over half a billion dollars in box office receipts.

IMDB – Michael Grais

 

Carlos Barbosa (Graisland Entertainment)

Born in Bogota, Colombia and trained as an architect with a Masters degree from Tulane University, Carlos was recruited by architect Charles Moore’s Los Angeles firm of MRY which brought him to Los Angeles where the world of designing for the silver screen became a real possibility and an alternative career.

Ultraviolet, a Roger Corman film project, was Carlos’ first credit as a Production Designer and his hands-on education into film making. Today Carlos’ credits as a production designer include GODLESS, MAGIC CITY, season eight and the pilot of 24 (for which he was nominated for an Emmy), the pilot for TERRA NOVA, LOST, CSI-MIAMI, STUDIO 60, COACH CARTER, THE INVISIBLE, HURRICANE SEASON and many more.

In addition to filmmaking Carlos continues to practice as an architect and has completed projects around the world.

IMDB – Carlos Barbosa

Contact Details:

If you have further queries or would like to arrange an interview, Brian O’Sullivan can be contacted at info@irishimbas.com