A Date for the Diary....Black Wood...How far would you go?

Author Derek Flynn will launch his new novel, a standalone thriller titled BLACK WOOD, in The Gutter Bookshop, Dublin, next Wednesday the 27th March at 6.30 and all are welcome!!

'How far would you go to get out?'

This is the question three unlikely friends living in a dead-end town in America ask each other. The answer would come to haunt them.

The narrator, a writer, now in his late 30s, lives alone in New York, eking out a living as a college lecturer. His life is turned upside down when Samantha Pierce, a woman he hasn’t seen in twenty years, re-enters his life and tells him she is being blackmailed because of something they did twenty years before in the Black Wood.

A cat and mouse game ensues as they try to find out the identity of the blackmailer, and the narrator recalls the events of the summer they graduated High School that led to the fateful night in the Black Wood, and how he – an average student nobody paid any attention to – wound up at the centre of an unlikely and dangerous relationship between Samantha – the High School prom queen – and Charlie Rhodes – the High School dropout; first as an observer and then, as something more sinister, changing their lives forever.

The Black Wood presents several flawed characters who reel you in as you too, the reader, becomes obsessed to know their darkest secrets. Can the past, especially one shrouded in deadly deeds ever go away? And when the bonds formed in adolescence, with that intricate mix of danger, passion, and fragility, cross the line, at first, the darkness may seem innocent, until bit by bit, one wrong decision after another, an overzealous teenager become capable of things that he can never escape from.... 

'Black Wood – the deeper you go, the darker your intent..'

You can order the book HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Derek’s previous books BROKEN FALLS and THE DEAD GIRLS have been a big hit with readers – THE DEAD GIRLS featured on a number of book blogger’s “Best of 2018” lists and came in at number 11 in the Rick O’ Shea Book Club poll of the “Best Irish Books of 2018”.

The BLACK WOOD launch kicks off at 6.30PM at THE GUTTER BOOKSHOP and all are welcome.

Music & Me......

Talking all about Music & Me with musician and writer Derek Flynn of writing.ie - Visit HERE 

The RED RIBBONS blog tour bus keeps on rolling!

On the day that HUGHES & HUGHES booksellers announce that the launch of RED RIBBONS was the most successful launch in their 26 YEAR history, the amazing musician and writer DEREK FLYNN drives the RED RIBBONS blog tour bus, and you can find out all about it HERE

DEREK FLYNN, is an Irish writer and musician, with a First Class Honours degree in English Literature. He’s been published in a number of publications, including The Irish Times, and was First Runner-Up in the 2011 J. G. Farrell Award for Best Novel-In-Progress. He released his debut album, “Do You Dream At All?” earlier this year.

His writing/music blog – ‘Rant, with Occasional Music’ – can be found here: http://derekflynn.wordpress.com and on Twitter, he can be found here: http://twitter.com/#!/derekf03

Twitter Made Him Do It!

Although it seems like an eternity since I started to get involved with Social Media, in reality, it is only 10 months.  The jury is still out on many aspects of SM, but undoubtedly, there have been some success stories.  Today, I would like to share one of those success stories with you. 

Very soon after I began to use Twitter, and other forms of Social Media, I hooked up with writer and musician, Derek Flynn.  A couple of weeks ago, he released his debut album, 'Do You Dream At All?', and here is his story:-

Musician and writer Derek Flynn

A year ago, Derek Flynn, writer and musician, was sitting in his study working on his second novel. Having played with original bands for years – and coming close but never quite getting the elusive record deal – he had put his music away in his bottom drawer to concentrate on his writing.

Someone advised him that if he was serious about being a writer, he needed to get on Facebook and Twitter, and start a blog, and he did. At first, it was intended to be a blog about writing but he soon realised there were any number of other blogs out there about writing. Wondering how he could put his own slant on it, he decided to start posting some of his original songs. He called the blog “Rant, with Occasional Music” and started posting a song every Monday on what he called “New Music Monday”.

In November 2011, Derek got involved in the #TwitterXmasSingle organised by Brenda Drumm. This was the first Christmas Charity Single organised and marketed solely through Twitter and other social media. Derek was one of the soloists on the song “Winter Song”. Organised, recorded and released in the space of two weeks, “Winter Song” reached No.1 in the iTunes chart on the day of release and No. 8 in the Irish charts overall. It was because of this – and the feedback and encouragement he received from people who listened to his music online – that Derek started to think about recording his own album and marketing it solely through Twitter and other social media.

Fast forward nine months and Derek now has over 4,000 followers on Twitter and his blog has had over 20,000 hits. 

Derek set up a studio in his house and recorded all of the songs on the album there. “Do You Dream At All?” is entirely self-produced and self-released. The marketing budget is a laptop, a twitter account and a Facebook page. In tandem with these recessionary times, this is DIY music-making.

Derek’s music ranges from a hard-edged guitar sound to acoustic songs that are often intense but always melodic, and are matched by lyrics which marry intensity with honest emotion. A Waterford native, Derek is a musician and a veteran of not only the Irish music scene, but also the US, having spent five years living and performing in New York. His influences run the gamut from The Pixies and Nirvana to Jeff Buckley and Bruce Springsteen, and this eclecticism can be heard in the wide range of songs on his debut CD.

Derek released the album in his hometown of Waterford as part of the Waterford Writer’s Weekend and was featured on RTE Radio One’s “Arena” programme performing the title track.

“Do You Dream At All?” was released on April 2^nd and is available as a physical CD and download on CD Baby, and as a download on iTunes and Amazon.

You can Listen to samples and Buy the CD HERE:

Website: http://www.derekflynnmusic.com/

Blog: http://derekflynn.wordpress.com/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/derekf03

And for a final treat!!!!

UTube link to the live video of the song '

All That's Left' is now available:-

HERE

My Interview with Michelle Moloney @ Rants, with occasional Music!

I don't normally say much, you all know that!!!  Anyhow (fav crutch word), here's my interview with Michelle Moloney all about writing, as a guest blog post on Derek Flynn's brilliant site Rants with occasional music :)

http://derekflynn.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/guest-post-michelle-moloney-king-interviews-writer-louise-phillips/