Welcome to the Official Page of Marc Estes, the Vendicatori Series, and the Upcoming 33 Series
Brian O'Hare
How to Connect With Brian:
Email: brianohare26@hotmail.co.uk
Blog or Website: http://brianohareprofessor.blogspot.com/
Twitter Handle: @brianohare26
Facebook Page URL: https://www.facebook.com/brian.ohare.96
Brian O'Hare, MA, Ph.D., is a retired assistant director of a large regional college of further and higher education. Married, three children, ten grandchildren, one great grandchild. He plays golf three times a week off a ten handicap and does a lot of voluntary work. Any writing he has previously done was academic...very much restricted to a very specific readership. Several articles in educational journals were followed by a number of book-length reports for the Dept. of Education and the University of Ulster.
He has also written an interesting biography of a man who daily performs amazing miracles of healing...The Miracle Ship. That is currently available in Amazon's Kindle bookstore. Hopefully those who read it will spread the word and write reviews to help John's message to reach the hearts of many, many people.
Brian had a liver disease since childhood which resulted in him taking early retirement a number of years ago. In 2002 he had a liver transplant but is strong and healthy now. He continued to do academic writing well into his retirement and followed that with a memoir about his liver transplant, dealing with the physical, emotional and spiritual experiences that came from that period in his life (A Spiritual Odyssey, published by Columba Press, Dublin).
Recently he experienced a desire to write fiction. Hence Fallen Men. It is a story about three priests...but it is religious in much the same way Thornbirds was religious. He has also finished a second book. It's quite different from Fallen Men... a detective mystery inspired by an old 14th century painting of the Last Judgement. It's called "The Doom Murders" available on Kindle. He is currently writing a third book, "The 11.05 Killings" featuring the same detectives as in The Doom Murders.
Also now available on Kindle is the story of Brian's liver transplant and the growth in spirit he experienced as he waited for almost a year, not knowing if he was going to live or die. See: "A Spiritual Odyssey [Diary of an Ordinary Catholic]"
I had the opportunity to ask Brian a couple of questions about his writing. Here is what he had to say.
Who was your favorite character in all of your work and why?
1. My favourite character is Father Ray in Fallen Men. This was my first foray onto fiction (my previous writing had, in the main, been academic), and during the time that poor Father Ray was going through some serious emotional and mental turmoil in the book, I was going through it with him. Experiences of that ilk tend to remain in the mind. Father Ray, to me, became a living breathing person, and I felt his anguish at every step. How Father Ray came into existence is an interesting story in itself. (See the comment about Fallen Men on my website: http://brianohareauthor.blogspot.co.uk/ )
What got you started in writing?
2. I have stated elsewhere on a number of occasions that I was writing long before I ever thought of describing myself as a writer. My employment years were spent in education and I had a close and comfortable working relationship with the Department of Education Inspectorate. When records of week-long training courses, written reports, even lengthy research documents, needed to be written, for some reason they came to me. I ended up writing full length book reports and later wrote a couple of full-length memoirs which were traditionally published. It was only when I retired, and still continued to do work like this for the University of Ulster and the Department of Education, that I began to wonder if I could write a bit. So I had a go at writing a contemporary fiction novel, Fallen Men, and soon followed that up with a detective novel, The Doom Murders. Both of these novels won an IDB award (one in 2013, the other in 2014 and the Doom Murders also won second in its category in the 2014 New Apple Literary Awards for Excellence in Independent Publishing.) I am now working on a sequel to The Doom Murders entitled The 11.05 Killings. So, suddenly I am beginning to think, "Hey, maybe I am a writer."
What was your favorite book to write and why?
3. Although I enjoyed writing the non-fiction stuff (I was really comfortable with that) I think my favourite book to write was The Doom Murders because it's rather unusual premise enabled me to use the bible to come up with five interesting, gory and creative murders that allowed me to leave, in plain sight, all sorts of clues that could only be baffling. I think the other reason why this was my favourite book to write stems from the fact that this particular genre is my preferred choice of reading and to be able to add a book of my own to this particular pool felt, in modern parlance, really cool.
Books by Brian O'Hare (Click on Cover Images For More information and to Buy)
The Doom Murders has been the recipient of two literary awards - The IDB Award in 2014 and The new Apple Award, 2014, for Excellence in Independent Publishing. The Doom Murders is soon to appear in paperback from Crimson Cloak Publishing, Missouri
Prominent figures in Belfast are being murdered. The bodies are left naked and posed in grotesquely distorted shapes. No clues are left at the forensically immaculate crime scenes except odd theatrical props and some random numbers and letters concealed at each scene by the killer. How are the victims linked? What is the connection between these killings, the bible, and a famous mediaeval painting of The Last Judgement?
Novelist and screenwriter (Film and TV) Eugene Fournier has this to say about The Doom Murders:
A disturbingly deep and satisfying Irish novel that pretends to be just an intriguing murder mystery set in Belfast. Despite its dark topic and the gruesome series of almost medieval killings that form its backbone, The Doom Murders surprises the reader with its wonderfully warm yet constricted microcosm of police and crime scenes, victims and suspects. Everything is drawn with an acerbic pen - whether it's the city, its institutions, or the gaggle of fascinating characters that populate the novel - all are at once engaging and, at the same time, flawed….but everything is authentic and thoroughly Irish… The serial crimes are thought-provoking, the clues make sense and the motivations ring true and all is resolved in a very satisfying manner.
. A young priest's life spirals out of control when long-submerged memories of childhood abuse begin to surface. He seeks solace in a friendship with a beautiful seventeen-year-old-choir girl but this leads to a doomed love affair that ends in disaster. Fallen Men touches on some dark themes but it is ultimately a novel of redemption. It has won the Amazon IDB Award in January, 2013.
Some significant critics have this to say about the book:
"Great story…I could not put it down when I got to the second half. Well written, great characters. The psychological aspects are key.” Stephen Frankini, Publisher, Tumblar House Books.
"O’Hare has a pleasant, easy-to-read writing style. I have written five books and edited five others, so I realize the hard work and effort that go into writing a full length novel...There are aspects of this book that I thoroughly appreciated. The topic of sexual abuse is dealt with sensitively. There are no attention-seeking graphic descriptions. The flashbacks of child sex abuse and the depictions of the depression, guilt and breakdown after a rushed abortion are particularly well done. I found the court sequences to be believable and compelling. This is definitely an author with natural storytelling ability."
Ellen Gable Hrkach, Reviewer, Catholic Fiction
“A story that is both current and gripping. It has distinctive and credible dialogue and beautifully forged characters. It is clear that the writer is a keen observer of human nature. I genuinely enjoyed reading this book.” John Anthony, Publisher, Pink Cloud.
"A Spiritual Odyssey" is the compelling story of a six-year journey on two converging paths - a burgeoning spirituality, and a dramatic physical degeneration that took the author to the doors of death. It is essentially a witness to the miraculous grace of God, and how it reaches into both soul and body. The author describes in detail his medical journey to a liver transplant while, at the same time, struggling with questions of a theological nature. The questions, however, are not academic. They emerge from the practical, often confusing circumstances in which the author finds himself as he copes with dying and tries to understand his growing spirituality.
Significant commentators had this to say about A Spiritual Odyssey:
1. "Some of the medical descriptions chill the blood but the religious explorations are heart-warming, ranging from reading theologians as different as Sean Fagan and Basil Hume, to a meeting with the sensible and down-to-earth Sister Briege McKenna, and to a pilgrimage through the holy places of France, all of which makes this a fine exposition of the riches of the Catholic tradition
[David McLaurin, The Tablet]
2...well written and should appeal to readers who draw inspiration from accounts
of others' experiences. Of interest to public libraries.
[Denise J. Stankovics, Connecticut Library Association Review, USA ]
3. Intelligent and sensitive...very moving...gives a graphic account of suffering and anguish...gives us wonderful vignettes of people he met on his journey. His
description of Lourdes is truly evocative and marvellous.
[Anthony Redmond, The Irish Catholic]
4. A courageous book, deeply fascinating. I believe it will do a lot of good.
[Sr. Louise Hume, Abbess of The Poor Clares, Australia.]
5. I read it with enjoyment and, I hope, profit. What distinguishes it from other
spiritual works is the clarity of the prose and the honesty of the author.
[Professor Art Cosgrove,Vice-Chancellor, University College, Dublin]
6. This is just a note to tell you how much I enjoyed, and was impressed by your Spiritual Odyssey. It deserves a very wide readership as it has the potential to do a lot of good for God’s holy people. I have bought extra copies for friends who will be deeply touched by it. [Fr. Sean Fagan, International Theologian, lecturer and writer.]
The Miracle Ship has won first place in its category (Religion Non-fiction) of the New Apple 2014 Awards for Excellence in Independent Publishing
YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU'RE READING BUT EVERY WORD IS TRUE!!
Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in demonic possession? Do you believe in exorcism?
A little girl with irreparable brain damage was pronounced dead by two hospital specialists. Today she is a healthy teenager. A teenage boy whose spine was crushed by a lorry was diagnosed as permanently paralysed. He now plays football with his friends. A curse that brought death over five generations has been lifted. People tormented by demons have been set free.
How were such miracles wrought? What do they have in common? They have John Gillespie in common. Who is he? How has he been gifted with such extraordinary power? The Miracle Ship tells John’s story. But it does so much more than that. Yes, the book essentially focuses on miracles. Yes it contains many extraordinary stories of healing and deliverance. Yes, it focuses strongly on the spiritual warfare that so many Christians are engaged in without any awareness of its dangers. But the book goes to the very heart of what is needed to find healing and deliverance. It tells of the obstacles and difficulties that get in the way of true healing prayer. It reveals the many pitfalls that lie in wait in seemingly innocent healing practices. It spells out in detail the serious dangers that underpin many apparently beneficial New Age therapies. And it offers many examples of the kinds of prayers and life-styles that can bring healing to the body and to the mind. It can even turn around lives that are falling apart (and this has already been several times communicated to the author or John Gillespie by people who have already read this book on Kindle.)
This is a book that should be read by all Christians. John’s message is profoundly insightful and, if it is uncompromising, it is laced with faith, forgiveness and truth. Many who have already read the book have described it as ‘life-changing.’ This true account of his life, of the miracles and deliverances that follow his prayers, will amaze you. Millions of people love to hear and read about miracles. Sr. Briege McKenna’s book Miracles Do Happen has sold all over the world in its millions. If you read and liked Miracles Do Happen, you’ll love The Miracle Ship
