About the Book
Not easy to define - literary fiction, a kind of memoir, somewhat autobiographical... Alternative title: Phone Calls, Recalls and Spilt Milk. Chapters/Books/Sections... A mosaic of sorts. My favourite format? Radio Drama. By far. At its very best the listener is a fly-on-the-wall: eavesdropping, over-hearing, listening in, privy to the most intimate, soul-searching monologue, revealing dialogue... I worked in RTE's Drama Department for some 16 years in the '70's, '80's - directing, producing, scripting, editing. During that period I wrote and produced some of my own plays - well received and reviewed for the most part, they were subsequently broadcast by the BBC and, in translation, on European networks. Later... some years into my (early) retirement... it began to occur to me: six of my scripts were inter-related, in the same mould/vein, out of the same stable, so to speak... The same voice/voices... similar, complementary story-lines... So, Sean, re-work them as chapters/sections/ in print format and hey, you have yourself a book! If my work shows a heavy influence dating back to that time, well, I make no apologies for that... Writing "within myself" - for sure... 'Will make you forget you are reading a book..?" Again, for sure. I write, speak, hear Hiberno-English. (English as it is spoken in Ireland, in my city, Dublin.) I avoid the traditional narrative format for the most part; I prefer direct speech - monologue, dialogue. (I've left out the bits the readers would skip, anyway!) Six parts in all. Set in Ireland in the early 80's - important. (Before Civil Divorce became law, etc.) Each chapter is self-contained, just about; yet each complements the others... Moves forward and backwards - sometimes sideways! Disjointed narrative - rather than neatly joined together... Sometimes I knew where I was going - or so I thought. Sometimes I was drawing a chain out of muddy water - a link at a time. Kept putting it aside, it kept re-surfacing, demanding to be written... Six Chapters in Search of a readership!.. Warning! If your need is to be spoon-fed. If you have little desire to be challenged, mentally stimulated, if you wish to be left untouched in your comfort zone, if you have no stomach for the fray... then NOTES ON THE PAST IMPERFECT is not the book for you!
About the Author: I've worked and lived in communications all my life: journalist, subeditor, editor, actor, director, producer - here in Ireland and abroad. I fell in love with Hiberno-English a long time ago - English as it is spoken and written in my country - and have been in love with it ever since. I love the challenge of pen and blank paper: creating characters, storylines, drama. I love the wind and the sea and the mountains, fresh air and green grass and the sun on my back (I play a mean game of golf) - all of which I have around me... Not to mention the warm humour that wells up from a big heart. Interests Friendship - when it is not possessive, controlling... Quiet. Silence - a positive value completely overlooked by many today... Reading - carefully judged. If I'm not hooked by the first sequence - the first paragraph - I won't read any further... Trying, day in day out, not to spill any more milk... and to stop crying over milk already spilt. Not suffering fools gladly... Analysing Casablanca, frame for frame, line by line... Publications My scripts have been broadcast on RTE, Radio One, BBC 4 and, in translation, on European networks; televised on RTE One, BBC One and Channel 4; staged at the Peacock by the Abbey National Theatre, at the Project, the Eblana, the Liverpool Playhouse and on the London Fringe... Credits include The Night of the Rouser. Earwig. The Dreamers. Fugitive. Veil. Penny for Your Travels. Far Side of the Moon. Three for Calvary. Jenny One, Two, Three... The Circus. Centre Circle. Where Do We Go from Here, My Lovely? At The Praetorium. Conclave. Assault on a Citadel. I have conducted many workshops on Creative/Script Writing in Dublin and at various centres around Ireland. Favourite authors A D Sertillanges. John Henry Newman. Waugh. Greene. Hemmingway. Hans Kung. Likes Good conversation. The company of my fellow searchers... Dislikes Arrogant, self-opinionated prigs... Controlling, bullying clerics... Favourite Quote "I passionately hate the idea of being with it. I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time." (Orson Welles (1915 - 1985))
