I’m in preparation for the publication of my NYC crime thriller, Transatlantic, The Ballad of Thomas Fox. Set in NYC in 1984. It tells the story of Mayo man, Thomas Fox, and his life in the Woodlawn Heights area of the Bronx. He becomes involved with the local Irish-American hoods, Eddie McGoldrick and his nephew Sean McGoldrick. Fox is a simple guy – he likes a drink and the craic with his pals. His Irish-American girlfriend, however, has other ideas about their future together. The book follows him at work and at play in Manhattan and the Bronx. The story is inspired from the time I was working in NYC as a bartender in an Irish bar in the mid-1990s. It was there I got to observe some of the characters who are semi-portrayed in the book.
The book is going through final edits, and I hope to have it published by March, maybe April. One problem which has recently popped up is the title: Transatlantic, The Ballad of Thomas Fox. Since I started the piece in 2011, this has been the working title and the title which – in my opinion – best describes the story and mood of the novel; however, last June the Irish writer Colum McCann published his own novel, TransAtlantic. Now, though the subject matter of McCann’s book differs from mine, I have had a few semi-sleepless nights thinking if I should change the title or not. I finally came to the decision not to. ‘Transatlantic’ as a word is now too much ingrained in my mind in relationship to the story, and another title just wouldn’t be the same.
