“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.” William Styron

Vero Beach, Florida

The Last Storyteller

by

Frank Delaney

What is a “Seanchai”?  A Seanchai is an Irish storyteller, a bard, someone who maintains and relates Irish history verbally and by memory.  Irish history has been passed on by these Seanchaithe traveling from village to village, telling their stories in the living rooms and kitchens of the rural Irish people for centuries.

Ben McCarthy is an Irish story collector, employed by the Irish Folklore Commission traveling and collecting stories throughout the Irish countryside.  Ben’s mentor, James Clare (another story collector), bequeathed his most precious resource to Ben while on his deathbed.  John Jacob Farrell O’Neill was known as the most powerful remaining storyteller in Ireland (possibly the world), the last great Seanchai.  Up until James Clare passed him onto Ben, James had jealously guarded John Jacob as his own.  Now Mr. Delaney begins to weave a story of Ben McCarthy’s life while paralleling this journey with Irish stories told by John Jacob in the best of Irish traditions.  Ben falls in love, marries his love, loses her, finds her again, skirts dangers with the IRA, arranges for the murders of 3 men, condemns himself for his actions and begins a path to redemption.

This is but a short list of the travels and travails of Ben McCarthy.  The reader is exposed to an intimate view of Ireland in the 1950’s, the hard lives of the Irish in the rural countryside, the violence and the subterfuge caused by the conflict between the IRA and the English.

These narratives are full of Ben’s introspections as he faces one hurdle after another.  My contention would be that it is near impossible for any human being to read this book and not be able to relate on many levels with Ben and his troubles.  Not only can you relate, you learn more about yourself while enjoying the journey and you understand why these Irish folks looked forward to the visits of the Seanchai.

In “The Last Storyteller”, Mr. Delaney has written a multi-dimensional novel that is enjoyed from many perspectives.  Follow Ben’s journey while he is transformed into the next great Seanchai with the help of John Jacob O’Neill.


Thanks for reading,


Mike

The Ninth Orphan

Vero Beach, Florida

The Ninth Orphan

James & Lance Morcan

Imagine a 31 year old man who has been bred and trained from birth to be the perfect secret agent.  In the course of his job, he finds a huge fortune in booty previously squirreled away by the Japanese in World War II which just happens to be worth about 250 billion dollars.  Actually, his job was to find this fortune for his employers to help finance their efforts to take over the world.  Yes, “take over the world”. 

He has had growing discontent in his job, realizing that if he tries to leave, he will become the next “mission”.  The defection of any of the agents bred and trained by this super secret organization cannot be tolerated.  The location of this treasure trove becomes his opportunity to break away once and for all, and live like a fairly normal human being.  The agent decides he can sell this secret instead of reporting it to his bosses and disappear for the rest of his life with the proceeds.  Realizing there are not a plethora of candidates that make up a market for his “goods”, he contacts the Chinese (who most of the treasure trove was stolen from in the first place) and arranges a sale of 150 million dollars for the secret.   

This is the beginning of a tumultuous journey involving the kidnapping of a beautiful French photographer, who just happens to be the daughter of a very high profile, influential retired diplomat.  Throw in pursuit by Omega (the super secret organization), the CIA, MI6, the Chinese, travel from Baguio in the Phillipines to Paris, France  and every twist and turn than you can imagine.  That’s just it, you can’t imagine it.

Sound a little over the top?  Well, it would be, except that James and Lance Morcan have constructed a fast reading novel following this plot that actually makes this seem believable.  I literally picked up my laptop (I usually just read hard copy books) early on a Sunday morning, and closed up my laptop that night finishing the book.  I admit I took a couple of breaks to eat and other necessities, but this book dominated my day and I enjoyed the heck out of it.

The agent’s name is Sebastian Hannar, the beautiful photographer is Isabelle Alleget and as I mentioned, the name of the super secret organization is “Omega”.  James and Lance have obviously researched their material and you put the book away wondering if something like this could really take place or, is it taking place somewhere?

Do yourself a favor, read this book, enjoy the journey and find out the surprise ending.   

Thanks for reading,

Mike