Pat Mullan's Posts - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T00:47:23ZPat Mullanhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/patmullanhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/60985819?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=patmullan&xn_auth=noImpressions from ThrillerFest 2008tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-09-10:537324:BlogPost:1595272008-09-10T11:26:04.000ZPat Mullanhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/patmullan
<i>My wife, Jean, travelled with me to ThrillerFest in New York in July and she wrote this article for our local newspaper, Connemara View</i><br />
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<b>Impressions from ThrillerFest 2008<br />
By Jean Mullan</b><br />
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We arrive to a fanfare of police sirens and an intense gaggle of security men at the entrance of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. As we descend from the taxi on to the red carpet it slowly dawns on us that this welcoming committee is not for the Connemara contingent arriving to take…
<i>My wife, Jean, travelled with me to ThrillerFest in New York in July and she wrote this article for our local newspaper, Connemara View</i><br />
<br />
<b>Impressions from ThrillerFest 2008<br />
By Jean Mullan</b><br />
<br />
We arrive to a fanfare of police sirens and an intense gaggle of security men at the entrance of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown Manhattan. As we descend from the taxi on to the red carpet it slowly dawns on us that this welcoming committee is not for the Connemara contingent arriving to take part in ThrillerFest - the annual conference of international thriller writers. They're here to greet Barack Obama who is about to make a speech in the ballroom.<br />
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Undaunted, we proceed to the welcoming reception. As the cocktails flow we find ourselves face-to-face with David Morrell - the creator of Rambo - outgoing co-president of ITW. We chat with Raymond Benson, the chosen successor to Ian Fleming, author of the novels immortalising one James Bond. David Hewson, the English author of the Nic Costa series of novels set in Rome, impresses us with his self-effacing, gentlemanly charm and wit.<br />
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So who are these intrepid travelers from Connemara? At his first ever writers' conference is the multi-talented Maurice O'Scanaill, our local vet, who has also displayed his vocal talents in The Ceol Theatre production of My Fair Lady and in the bass section of Cantairi Chonamara. You may not know that some years back Random House published three of his books under the penname of Rory McCormac. His mission in New York is to find himself an agent to help him publish his latest work. ThrillerFest veteran Pat Mullan from Recess is also here. An ex-banker and published poet he now has two international thrillers under his belt. His most recent work appeared in the anthology Dublin Noir and two new thrillers are currently under negotiation in a two-book deal.<br />
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Old friends and new mix and mingle. In a corner we spy the rock star of thriller writers, Barry Eisler, with his flowing locks and designer jeans, holding court surrounded by a group of admirers. Barry's Rain books featuring half-Japanese, half-American assassin John Rain have been optioned for film by Barrie Osborne, Oscar winning producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.<br />
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In the days that follow all things related to the art of writing and selling books are debated, agents are wooed, books are autographed and change hands. Banquet night rolls around - the grand finale - presided over this year by the quirky James Rollins, who turned Indiana Jones and The Kindgdom of the Crystal Skull into a novel. We were fortunate to share our table with Richard Doetsch and his delightful wife, the witty Al Longden, and the irrepressible Tucker Andersen. 2007 Thriller Master, James Patterson, presents the 2008 Award to Sandra Brown, author of 56 New York Times bestsellers. Of many speakers the one that impressed the most was David Baldacci (author of Absolute Power which translated into a gripping movie starring Clint Eastwood). He spoke movingly of his organization dedicated to aiding millions of illiterate Americans and encouraging young people to take up the reading habit.<br />
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In a Who's Who of outstanding writers who crossed our paths those who stick in my mind are Douglas Preston whose latest non-fiction book The Monster of Florence is my next read; cigar afficianado, Robert Liparulo, whom we never quite made it to dinner with; the affable JD (Dusty) Rhoades, a lawyer from Carthage, N. Carolina, who we were lucky enough to spend an evening with; and those gutsy women who hold their own in a male-dominated world : the larger-than-life Gayle Lynds and mother of five and author of many, Alison Brennan. Final word goes to Jason Pinter who was totally gobsmacked when Pat produced a full-page article and photo from the June 22nd edition of Ireland's Sunday Business Post profiling Jason's novel The Mark which was recently optioned by Irish film production company, Treasure Films.<br />
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Thrills galore in the Big Apple! We look forward to relishing the fruit of the labors of these inspired writers in print and at the movies.The KINDLE Revolutiontag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-12-23:537324:BlogPost:1071372007-12-23T16:54:36.000ZPat Mullanhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/patmullan
<p><strong>The KINDLE Revolution</strong></p>
<p><strong>By Pat Mullan</strong></p>
<p><strong><u>Kindle:</u></strong> <em><strong>to set alight or start to burn; to arouse or be aroused; to make or become bright - from Old Norse Kynda, influenced by Old Norse Kyndill (Candle).</strong></em></p>
<p>It’s winter time here in Connemara, time to be indoors with a good book, time to gather around the fire these evenings and watch the flames from the wood kindling ignite the turf and fill our…</p>
<p><strong>The KINDLE Revolution</strong></p>
<p><strong>By Pat Mullan</strong></p>
<p><strong><u>Kindle:</u></strong> <em><strong>to set alight or start to burn; to arouse or be aroused; to make or become bright - from Old Norse Kynda, influenced by Old Norse Kyndill (Candle).</strong></em></p>
<p>It’s winter time here in Connemara, time to be indoors with a good book, time to gather around the fire these evenings and watch the flames from the wood kindling ignite the turf and fill our nostrils with that unique peaty aroma. Time for a warm whiskey …</p>
<p>But this year we seem to have mixed up our seasons because we’ve started Spring cleaning. Driven by the immediate need for more storage space, we’ve attacked our attic, finding it crammed to the rafters. We’ve found stuff that’s been there for twenty years, stuff that has no monetary value but holds huge sentimental and emotional value. How do you put a price on that?</p>
<p>We’ve uncovered boxes of books, mostly paperbacks: books that we loved, that we had no room for, that we couldn’t throw away. I read a lot and my wife reads four times as much as me. Of late my reading has been seriously imbalanced: too many thrillers (or so my wife says) but I do take time out to read other works, the latest being Cormac McCarthy’s <em>The Road</em> and Douglas Kennedy’s <em>The Woman in the Fifth</em>.</p>
<p>But I digress. Here we are, faced with throwing out boxes of wonderful stories, largely thrillers and mysteries – all great entertainment; none of them classics (yet), and none of them first editions or so attractively bound and produced to make them collector’s items in their own right. And, in case you’re wondering, we do not discard all the books we read/acquire. We have bookshelves in almost every room, filled with everything from Shakespeare to Art. Poetry (an addiction) takes up two whole shelves and we also have a shelf of the collected works of Rudyard Kipling. Paperback thrillers, signed by authors I’ve met or shared panels with at conferences, always find special shelf space on our bookshelves.</p>
<p>In the midst of this Winter cleaning, Jeff Bezos of Amazon surprised us by launching his new e-book reader, KINDLE ! What an emotive name! And I immediately thought that if I had had all these wonderful books on my KINDLE database instead of in my attic, I would not need to dispose of them.</p>
<p>And, of course, that brings me full circle to the traumatic task of getting rid of all those paperback novels in my attic. I’d already boxed lots of them, hoping to take them to a second hand bookstore in Galway. But I had procrastinated. In a sense, I knew that the majority of them would end up on shabby shelves outside the store selling for a few pennies; shelves even more downmarket than the awful remainder shelves at the stationery store further downtown. An ignominious end for books with titles that once made bestseller lists by authors who remain household names.</p>
<p>So I thought: could KINDLE be the solution? I’ve downloaded some e-books in PDF and Microsoft Reader formats in the past for research and other purposes. But I would never choose my PC to read a book. When the Sony Reader came out I was tempted but I resisted. I felt that, if I waited a little longer, the technology and the delivery network would achieve a breakthrough to the next level.</p>
<p>So I thought: could KINDLE be the next level? I read the spate of articles, the most prominent being the Newsweek one, that greeted the launch of KINDLE, ranging from favorable ones from proponents of e-books who are already at ease with the technology to those by opponents who will never be caught dead reading an e-book.</p>
<p>KINDLE uses free (yes, that’s right: free! Amazon absorbs the cost), built-in wireless, called ‘Amazon Whispernet’, to download digital books, magazines, newspapers and blogs. One can still use a PC to download but there’s really no need because Whispernet makes you independent. It uses a superb E-ink display that works well even in bright sunlight. It can hold over 200 titles (that will take care of at least two of the boxes in my attic) and there are almost 90,000 books now available for Kindle, costing $10 or less. Your book, article, newspaper, etc, is stored by Amazon in your own library where you can download it again. And you can download many free e-books using KINDLE’S web browser. Yes, you can browse the web if you wish. Kindle is also an audiobook reader (you can buy directly from Audible.com) and it’s an MP3 player: it has both speakers and a headphone jack. You can subscribe to newspapers and magazines and get your subscription well before the print subscribers get theirs. A single battery charge, which takes about two hours, will last for two days and, if you turn off the wireless feature, that same charge could support your daily reading for over a week.</p>
<p>Critics say that KINDLE is ugly and that its keyboard is awkward, and you need a light for reading in the dark. But you need a light to read a book in the dark now, don’t you? So maybe it’s the Model T of KINDLES and, as the design evolves, it will become more attractive. I still think the Model T is a beautiful machine!</p>
<p>I’ve spent much more time describing the functionality of KINDLE than I had intended. I truly believe that KINDLE and Amazon will revolutionize e-books and convert the non-believers. I don’t want KINDLE to replace the book as we know it. But maybe it can save the trees, spare the pulp, prevent good books from becoming kindling for my fire.</p>
<p>In the meantime, my boxes of books sit waiting for a new home. My daughter sold a huge box of them at a charity bazaar this past weekend, the proceeds going to fund activities at her school. The buyer runs a hostel so I presume he’s going to make them available to his customers. In the future those same customers may be able to rent the hostel’s KINDLE and get access to hundreds of books.</p>
<p>So I decided to put some of my own work on KINDLE and I’ve found their software upload and review platform very easy to work with: customer friendly, simple interface, absolutely no glitches.</p>
<p>I love poetry and I love thrillers and I often find myself torn between both. James Dickey is a poet who raised my consciousness at a time when I had stopped, a time when I had abandoned it, a time when the muse had departed. Well, James Dickey has now departed. He died on January 19, 1997. I suppose he was best known for his novel Deliverance but he also wrote about 20 volumes of poetry. So, I have published the following on KINDLE:</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/JAMES-DICKEY%252019S-POETRY%253a-Religious-Dimension/dp/B000ZNQR90/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1195819258&sr=1-1">James Dickey’s Poetry: The Religious Dimension</a></strong> (my elegy to the man) and those of you who own a KINDLE (and love poetry) can find it here.</p>
<p>On an entirely unrelated subject (and something more personal) you can also read about my son’s struggle with hemophilia here (this article was originally published in Buffalo Spree magazine) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ELEVEN-DAYS-JULY-Family-Ordeal/dp/B000ZU9QCS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1198427154&sr=1-1"><strong>ELEVEN DAYS IN JULY: A Family Ordeal</strong></a> ________________________________________________________________ You can visit me at: <a href="http://www.thrillerwriters.org/...and"><strong>www.thrillerwriters.org/</strong>...and</a> look out for my short story, <strong>GALWAY GIRL</strong>, which will appear soon on <strong>Amazon SHORTS</strong>.</p>IRELAND - Clifden Arts Week 2007tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-09-12:537324:BlogPost:717122007-09-12T11:35:33.000ZPat Mullanhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/patmullan
<p>IRELAND - Clifden Arts Week 2007 Clifden Arts Week 2007 20-30 September -</p>
<p>Celebrating 30 Years of Clifden Community Arts Week 1977 - 2007</p>
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<p>If you're in Ireland this month you will NOT want to miss Arts Week in Clifden. Go to the website and take a look; you won't want to miss: Christy Moore, the Dubliners, Altan, Mary O'Malley, Desmond Hogan, ..Argentinian poets Gerardo Gambolini and Jorge Fondebrider, Carol Anne Duffy, Tony Curtis, Shaun Griffin from Nevada, Michael Coady,…</p>
<p>IRELAND - Clifden Arts Week 2007 Clifden Arts Week 2007 20-30 September -</p>
<p>Celebrating 30 Years of Clifden Community Arts Week 1977 - 2007</p>
<p/><p>If you're in Ireland this month you will NOT want to miss Arts Week in Clifden. Go to the website and take a look; you won't want to miss: Christy Moore, the Dubliners, Altan, Mary O'Malley, Desmond Hogan, ..Argentinian poets Gerardo Gambolini and Jorge Fondebrider, Carol Anne Duffy, Tony Curtis, Shaun Griffin from Nevada, Michael Coady, Sam McAughtry, Billy Roche, Bernard Farrell, Concert with John O'Conor and The Royal Irish Academy of Music, Colm Toibin, Nessa O'Mahoney, John Montague, The Saw Doctors, John Waters, Joseph O'Connor ... and Pat Mullan, of course! And the pubs are great and the 'craic' is the best ! __</p>
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<p>Pat Mullan will be meeting the students of the Clifden High School on September 24. He will be reading from his crime/thriller novels. Pat is also a poet and will be reading his latest poems.</p>
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<p>Tickets now on Sale: Call 1850-357035 also on sale at Joyce's Newsagents Tel: 095-22611 and Clifden Tourist Information Office Tel: 095-21163 ..or use the website 'contact' page to send an email Email: URL: http://www.clifdenartsweek.ie/</p>A brief update on my recent travels and appearancestag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-04:537324:BlogPost:183692007-04-04T19:49:48.000ZPat Mullanhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/patmullan
<span><strong><br></br><br></br></strong>I attended the <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>LOVE IS MURDER</strong></span> conference in <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>Chicago</strong></span> on February 4 - 6, 2005, where I was a guest and panellist. My novel <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>The CIRCLE of SODOM</strong></span> received two nominations: one for Best First Novel and one for Best Suspense Thriller. I was on a number of panels and spoke to various groups. I also…</span>
<span><strong><br/><br/></strong>I attended the <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>LOVE IS MURDER</strong></span> conference in <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>Chicago</strong></span> on February 4 - 6, 2005, where I was a guest and panellist. My novel <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>The CIRCLE of SODOM</strong></span> received two nominations: one for Best First Novel and one for Best Suspense Thriller. I was on a number of panels and spoke to various groups. I also met many important authors, New York Times bestselling folks like Anne Perry, James Rollins and Raymond Benson who has written all the James Bond novels since Ian Fleming's death (in fact he has a best seller in the NY Times list at present called 'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell' (written under the pseudonym of David Michaels). Good contacts, authors, magazines, etc.....<br/><br/><br/>In March of 2006, I attended the <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>LEFT COAST CRIME</strong></span> conference which was held in <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Bristol</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">, England</span></strong>. It was especially important because <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS, INC - (ITW)</strong></span> - (of which I am a member) were presenting their list of nominees for their very first award 'The Thriller'. I had the pleasure of sitting on an ITW panel with David Morrell and Gayle Lynds (co-Presidents of ITW) and Barry Eisler, chaired by Ali Karim. This is what I wrote about that panel in the ITW Newsletter :<br/><br/><br/><br/><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">LCC Panel: Covert Specialists as Thrilling Authors</span><br/><br/><br/><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">One of LCC's most talked about panels was ITW's "In from the Cold: The Spy Thriller Today". It consisted of ITW members David Morrell, Gayle Lynds (both co-presidents), Barry Eisler and yours truly, Pat Mullan.</span><br/><br/></strong> The Saturday (March 18) panel attracted about 100 people, who listened to their favorite authors speak. Morrell opened by passionately explaining ITW's mission-to bring thrillers in from the cold and to recognize, warm and assist their authors. The moderator was charismatic Ali Karim-scientist, writer, assistant editor at Shots Magazine (UK), and a man of encyclopedic knowledge of thrillers. He guided the panellists through a wide-ranging discussion, from the post-Berlin Wall era to the aftermath of 9/11. "Who are the new bad guys today?" he asked. "Where are the new threats coming from?" And most importantly: "Is the world safer today?"<br/><br/>Each of us spoke from our personal, diverse experiences. Acclaimed author Morrell shared his thoughts based on his former job as a special operations man. The pioneering Lynds called on her days inside a government think tank, where she had top-secret security clearance. The articulate Eisler spoke about how his time as a CIA agent informs his novels. And I alluded to my stint in the U.S. Army and my years in the murky world of international banking.<br/><br/>Perhaps the most surprising thing about the panel was summed up by an attendee, who said: "That panel really held my interest. No one turned the promotion of their book into a dominant topic."<br/><br/><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">---Pat Mullan</span><br/><br/><br/></strong> You can read Ali Karim's full report on this conference - just click <a href="http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/photoshoots_2006/lcc_06/lcc_06.html"><font color="#669922"><strong>HERE</strong></font></a>.<br/><br/>Then in June/July 2006 I traveled to <strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Phoenix</span><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">, Arizona</span></strong> to attend <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>THRILLERFEST 2006</strong></span>, the inaugural conference of International Thriller Writers, Inc. Once again Ali Karim covered it in his inimitable way -read all about it <a href="http://www.deadlypleasures.com/THRILLERFESTalikarim.htm"><font color="#669922"><strong>HERE</strong></font></a>.<br/><br/><br/><br/>And my most recent public appearance was right here in <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>Connemara</strong></span> at <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>CLIFDEN ARTS WEEK</strong></span>, one of the best events you'll find anywhere:<br/><br/><br/><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">Clifden Arts Week</span><br/><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">2006 programme</span><br/><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">18 September</span><br/><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><a href="http://www.clifdenartsweek.ie/programme.php?date=18"><font color="#669922">Reading with crime writer and poet Pat Mullan</font></a></span><br/></strong> Reading with crime writer and poet Pat Mullan, of whose latest thriller Tribunal, Ken Bruen wrote ‘ it bristles with ingenuity, and a plot to kill for…..with dizzy narrative and marvellous readability.’ Admission €5<br/>Clifden Library, 4:30pm<br/><br/>You can also see a reference <a href="http://cerriellis.blogspot.com/2006/08/pat-mullan-reading_26.html"><strong><font color="#810081">HERE</font></strong></a>.<br/><br/><br/><strong><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma">WHAT I'M WORKING ON NOW</span><br/><br/><br/></strong>I have just finished a crime thriller set mostly in Ireland (titled <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL</strong></span> )-- you can read the first chapter <a href="http://pmullan.com/TRIBUNAL.htm"><strong><font color="#0000FF">HERE.</font></strong></a><br/><br/>...and the other a work of science fiction - and you can read the Prologue <a href="http://pmullan.com/FACSIMILE.htm"><strong><font color="#0000FF">HERE.</font></strong></a><br/><br/><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>Tribunal</strong></span> ( the opening chapter from my novel <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL</strong></span> ) has been published (2006) in the anthology <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>DUBLIN NOIR:</strong></span> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>published in the USA by Akashic Books and in Ireland and the UK by Brandon Books</strong></span>. You should be able to get <span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><strong>DUBLIN NOIR</strong></span> in your local bookstore now.<br/><br/></span>