Brother is a novel based on two feuding brothers who have been enemies since infancy, and are in part formed of their mutual hostility – they have grown to be restless and tormented men. When a killer conspires against them, they expect only attack from each other and have no sense of his schemes. If they can overcome their lifelong feud and come together to defeat their enemy, they have the opportunity to resolve their life-long conflict, and in doing so each find peace.
In terms of genre, Brother is a mix of family saga and thriller, and while the subject matter might appear to be dark, I believe that it is at times humorous, and is sufficiently quirky and offbeat to lighten the narrative.
You are the owner of a media company in Ireland, so can you tell us a bit about your role there.
We are a specialist recruitment consultancy to the Advertising and Web sectors in Dublin. My role is mostly operational – I pull the levers and keep the cogs turning, but I am also the driver of our marketing and branding. We are known to be highly innovative in our branding and advertising. My writing abilities are often called upon to create content for our website and advertising.
You have written features for magazines in the past, can you give us some insight into these?
This was a long time ago. I worked for a time as a freelance journalist, writing features for Dublin magazines. My most notable were a series of articles on Dublin’s many many historical eccentrics. I also used to get extras work on movies and write articles about my experiences. For example, I got a day’s work in Braveheart. My part was as a sentry. In full knight’s regalia, I was required to stand as a guard under a burning brazier. When the scene was being filmed, everyone was told to hold their positions no matter what – even if one happened to catch fire, which is exactly what happened to me. That was the last day of my career as a freelance journalist. Combustion was one thing, but I was also starving – I only ever made enough money from freelance journalism to keep me in beer. It was then that I set up the company that I am currently managing.
What were your three previous novels about?
I like to think of my previous novels as apprentice pieces, and just as an apprentice to a carpenter might produce a chair with legs of varying lengths and bristling with splinters, this is pretty much how my unpublished novels are. Strangely, the same story seems to thread through each of them – a naive, hapless, hero in thrall to a manipulative psychopath. I have never had this experience in my life, so maybe the naive hero and scheming psychopath are two facets of my personality. Can anyone recommend a good therapist?
Why have you only had the confidence to publish this one?
I feel that this novel works well in terms of a strong story, characterization and dialogue. The narrative flowed when I was writing it; it was much like learning to drive a car – for a long time we struggle to co-ordinate our hands and feet, and we concentrate hard on doing so, and then one day we realize that we are not thinking about the varying actions at all, and we drive along with a blank mind. That is not to say that I was writing the book with a blank mind – more-so that I felt focused on the art without having to sweat over the craft.
How when writing Brother did you juggle this with work?
As I was managing a business, I could not devote myself to writing full time. I therefore spent a few years working on this novel, mostly in the early mornings and at weekends. When the financial crash happened, we had to enact some harsh cutbacks in our business, and for the first 3 months of 2009, I suspended my salary and took myself out of the business, delegating management to a colleague. I used that time to work on Brother, and managed to complete a very rough first draft then.
Why did you want to explore the relationship between two brothers?
I wanted to explore the sense of exceptionalism one enjoys as a small child, and the loss one can feel when a younger sibling comes along. Freud referred to the baby as ‘His majesty the baby’ because it is the one time in our lives when we truly are treated as a King or a Queen (excepting The Queen, of course).
Tell us about your inspiration behind the story.
My infant throne was toppled by a younger sister, and I can still remember being quite upset about the demotion. I wanted to write a book that explores sibling conflict in that context, and how it can linger into adult life (not that it did in my case!). I also understand that great drama is created by taking two opposing characters, giving them a common challenge or threat, and forcing them to come together to resolve that threat.
Which authors do you feel have had an influence on your writing?
I do not believe that any particular author has been a major influence on my writing. There is one author that has had some bearing on my style – the Irish writer, Flann O’Brien; in particular a brilliant book he wrote by the name of The Third Policeman. Flann O’Brien nicely encapsulated how the Irish personality can be somewhat lateral in terms of dialogue and action. For example: In English we say ‘I am thirsty’ but in the Gaelic language we would phrase it more dramatically as ‘there is a fierce thirst upon me’. Rather than a statement of pure fact, this phrase is almost a little story in itself. There are, however, only flourishes of this Irishness throughout the novel, Brother; in reality is a contemporary novel that could really be based anywhere. When they make the movie, it might just as easily be based in London or Los Angeles : )
What is next for you?
I have finished the first draft of my next novel, Ladybird. It is a police procedural with ‘what might be’ a paranormal twist. The main character is haunted by the expectations of dead people – the question is whether these expectations are real or does he assume them. There are quite a few twists and turns in it, and I believe it is warming up to be a very gripping story. And yes, there is a naive hero and a manipulative psychopath!
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