Happy Birthday to Me!

I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time:  🙂

Happy Birthday, Jonathan Swift!

The Guest of Honor, born November 30, 1667

Welcome to the birthday party!

Perhaps Jonathan Swift’s best known tale is that of Gulliver’s Travels (1726). The name of the eponymous character hints of Swift’s upbringing in Ireland, because of its resemblance to the Gaeilge word ghallaibh (foreigners), reflecting the character’s adventures in some very strange lands.

Indie authors who write in this genre would do well to study Gulliver’s Travels and consider what has made it a hit for nearly 300 years.

There’s much more to the story than the part on which the adaptation shown below is loosely based, but it is one of the most beautifully drawn animated feature films of its era, and certainly surpasses most modern cartoons of the last generation.

Enjoy Jon’s birthday today!

#birthday #party

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Birthdays and Irish Firebrands.

Main Characters:

Tomorrow, May 8th, is the birthday of main character Dillon Carroll. The year and some of the circumstances of his advent are found in Chapter 3 of Irish Firebrands. Other details are not revealed until Chapter 30.

Lana’s birth date is not given, but she admits to being “over 50,” and not long after meeting Dillon, she estimates that he’s about ten years older than she is.

Secondary Characters:

Frank’s birthday is September 1, which we learn in Chapter 16. In Chapter 8, Lana estimates that Dillon may be about five years older than Frank.

Medb tells Lana, in Chapter 8, that her birthday is at the “end of December.” When she turns 18, she makes it her excuse to misbehave, as she reports to Lana in Chapter 26.

The Book:

I began writing Irish Firebrands sometime in mid-February, 2009. The last plot hole zipped shut at 11:28 pm on January 27, 2012. The current edition was released on May 19, 2013.

In honor of Dillon’s birthday and the publication of Irish Firebrands, for a limited time curious readers can sample the first half of the book in PDF, available on the dropdown menu under SAMPLE CHAPTERS, on the main menu, above. After May 19th, the 50% preview will revert to Chapter 1, matching or approximating most of the other samples now available online.

Irish Firebrands
is available in digital and paper
through  libraries and booksellers, worldwide.