American poet and commentator Djelloul Marbrook linked my blog to his Next Big Thing Blog Tour .
I have been a reader of Marbrook’s political/social commentary blog for years now. He had a long career as a journalist and returned to writing poetry in his seventies. Michael Meyerhofer invited Marbrook to take part in the tour. And now Marbrook is inviting me.

The tour consists of 10 questions and answers about works in progress. I’m going to invite a few other writers to join in the tour, and they should post their answers to the questions during the week beginning Feb 18th.

So here goes!

What is your working title of your book (or story)?
“Empires” – it’s a play actually

Where did the idea come from for the book?
It was an old man I knew who believed there were still British spies in Dublin Castle. If you listened to him, you would believe it too.

What genre does your book (play) fall under?
It’s a character study of an amateur historian who is borderline crank / conspiracy theorist. A person with a low-status job who spends his life searching for the Truth about the way the world is drifting. It’s partly comedy.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I never remember names of movie actors. I know several theatre actors though. Wait, I remember Anthony Hopkins. He’d be perfect as the elderly amateur historian.



What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
We live in a world of remote powers and conspiracy theorists: how can we tell the warriors for truth from the crackpots?

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
No or no.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Three months.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Ehhhh. My mind is blank. Wait, I see The NeverEnding Story … no, that’s embarrassing.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
How many times do I have to tell you it’s a play!! I already answered this one. Kind of. The idea I suppose needs extra impetus to take form. I wanted to make it into a play because
(i) I think this confrontation of a wily old man and a complacent college kid has great drama potential
(ii) I wanted to write a play with only 2 characters
(ii) It’s a dramatic situation that I’m undecided about. I mean, obsessions with large-scale politics are very common, there are people getting all hot and bothered about clandestine powers over which they cannot possibly have any influence. And maybe sometimes neglecting things closer to home which they could change. But on the other hand complacency is dangerous …

What else about your book play might pique the reader’s interest?
Latin is spoken in parts of it. That doesn’t do it for you? Phibsboro Aid gets a mention.

Now I’ll pass on the Next Big Thing blog tour to:
Colm Keegan well-known spoken word poet and poetry teacher

Mark Dark crime fiction writer and screenplay writer. Some of his short fiction is available on Ether Books

Brian Kirk Dublin writer whose work has appeared in just about every Irish outlet, newspapers, and various anthologies. His work is also available on Ether Books.

Ethel Rohan Unheimlich, lucid, surreal, disturbing, close-to-the-bone writing, a unique style of her own. I love Ethel’s writing.
BTW here’s a story of hers http://www.friggmagazine.com/issuetwentynine/fiction/rohan/kriegspiel.htm