Brookeborough-born, Paul Breen, who now lectures in a university in Korea - he is an educational technology specialist - has just had his first novel, a political thriller, published. He has spent much of the past eight years studying and then teaching overseas, including time spent in Asia and Australia. This is his first attempt at a published novel, although he has previously written articles for academic journals, newspapers, and magazines, some of which can be accessed through the Internet.
The novel, 'The Diggerman's Night Class', is set in Belfast, and, according to its young author, 'it is a learning experience for all those who read it'.
"It's a character-driven story spurred on by a series of dramatic events on one Winter's night in Belfast, a city which is like a character itself, in the background. This is an Irish Christmas story with a difference, a romantic political thriller that takes place on the night that the President of the United States comes to Belfast to switch on the city's Christmas lights", he explained.
"His arrival draws together a diverse group of characters who will be shanghaied into a hostage situation before the night is out".
They include a young digger driver named Johnny Murphy who runs a radio show on weekends and an Asian girl, Crystal who's a cook in Marconi's Bar, in the centre of Belfast, and a surfer in her spare time. Marconi's is a Continental theme bar that's a shrine to radio, run by a man who has nobody to inherit it when he's gone.
The night unfolds with passion, violence, love, hate, betrayal, drama, and lyrical storytelling as the main players become caught in the crossfire of the most powerful State in the world and a group seeking personal vengeance by assassinating the President.
Paul's novel has been published in conjunction with Lulu (www.lulu.com), the world's fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books. It can be accessed on the Internet at - http://www.lulu.com/content/523368
According to Paul, independent publishing and print-on-demand is the wave of the future, and that future is now.
"The independent publishing process allows authors to cut out the middle man and get your work out there the way you want it. It also means that there's no excess waste in terms of publication, that you don't see all your hard efforts reduced to unwanted copies stacked up in bargain book stores. This way, if somebody likes the sound of the book they can buy a copy. There's no hard sell. I just did this because people liked the sound of my ideas and wanted to see them in printed form".
