A brief update on my recent travels and appearances

[Pat Mullan]

I attended the LOVE IS MURDER conference in Chicago on February 4 - 6, 2005, where I was a guest and panellist. My novel The CIRCLE of SODOM 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.....


In March of 2006, I attended the LEFT COAST CRIME conference which was held in Bristol, England. It was especially important because INTERNATIONAL THRILLER WRITERS, INC - (ITW) - (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 :



LCC Panel: Covert Specialists as Thrilling Authors


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.

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?"

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.

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."

---Pat Mullan


You can read Ali Karim's full report on this conference - just click HERE.

Then in June/July 2006 I traveled to Phoenix, Arizona to attend THRILLERFEST 2006, the inaugural conference of International Thriller Writers, Inc. Once again Ali Karim covered it in his inimitable way -read all about it HERE.



And my most recent public appearance was right here in Connemara at CLIFDEN ARTS WEEK, one of the best events you'll find anywhere:


Clifden Arts Week
2006 programme
18 September
Reading with crime writer and poet Pat Mullan
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
Clifden Library, 4:30pm

You can also see a reference HERE.


WHAT I'M WORKING ON NOW


I have just finished a crime thriller set mostly in Ireland (titled THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL )-- you can read the first chapter HERE.

...and the other a work of science fiction - and you can read the Prologue HERE.

Tribunal ( the opening chapter from my novel THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL ) has been published (2006) in the anthology DUBLIN NOIR: published in the USA by Akashic Books and in Ireland and the UK by Brandon Books. You should be able to get DUBLIN NOIR in your local bookstore now.