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J.M. Shorney

J.M. Shorney lives in Thatcham in Berkshire working part-time in a care home for the elderly with dementia. Now semi-retired she has the time to fulfill her life long ambition to write. Although not Irish herself, she has an infatuation with the Irish culture, which provided the basis for Stalking Aidan and the two further books in the series Borrowed Time and The Irish Connection. Shorney has a passion for country music, in particular Irish country music, and she also collects old horror movies, westerns and gangster films. Shorney is currently working on her first western novel.
Connect with J.M. at these sites:

Q&A with J.M. Shorney

Writing and Reading:
Do you draw from personal experiences and/or current events?
Do I draw from real life/current affairs. Yes, some current affairs get mentioned(mostly in my next book’The Irish Connection.’ as that’s a political thriller). As Stalking Aidan deals mostly with crime,I would like to mention an affair I had with a young man, before I was married. We were both 17/18. He was a Hungarian. Very good looking. And I was instantly drawn. The first date we arranged he did’nt turn up. I angst the whole weekend that hehad someone else, the girl who lived opposite him in Newbury.She told why I’d been stood up. He’d been arrested.At least, thought my 17 year old brain, he didn’t have another girl. As things turned out. (This would make a story in itself)’ we dated, fell in love,planned to get engaged. Then he went to Chesterfield. I knew he worked on fairgrounds occasionally. I think that’s all he ever did. But when you date a guy who resembles a gypsy with no conventions, nothing else matters. Then, one evening my mother was reading the local paper, and she told me how they’d arrested the boy I’d planned my life with, for armed robbery and resisting arrest.(my mother thoughtI’d finished with him a longtime ago)As the years rolled on, I was married with children, I learned that my old boyfriend had died in police cells at the age of 46.

Do you start with the conclusion and plot in reverse or start from the beginning and see where the story line brings you?
I start at the beginning. Obviously I have a plot which I work out while I ‘m working or in bed at night. I sometimes live these plots. I once had a girl running through a wood. It had my husband worried, because he said I sounded breathless. I usually like to know the end before I start. Then just unleash the characters and off you go.

Is writing your full time job?  If not, may I ask what you do by day?
I work part-time. Come home, have lunch. Then 2-3 hours for writing. I like to listen to music while I write. But it has to be old country music, and Irish country music.
I work in a care home for the elderly with dementia. I’ve been there almost eight years.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
My favourite authors: Elliott O’Donnell, Algernon Blackwood, M.R James, Jack Higgins, Shaun Hutson, Dennis Wheatley and Graham Masterton.

What is your current read?
ack Higgins’Confessional.’ Because I like to get the feel of his Irish thrillers. I know they are old books, but I like to read them often. I like some old Gerald Seymour too.

Are you working on your next novel?  Can you tell us a little about it?
The Irish Connection. The final narrative of the Aidan McRaney trilogy. Although I like him so much, I’ll probably use himagain. He’s a bit of an anti-hero. But I prefer anti-heroes I say trilogy, but they are all self-contained stories in their own right. In the Irish Connection, briefly Aidan discovers that he might be the son of a dead IRA man. That his half-brother, so eaten up with revenge for the British, takes over the turf of a deceased London gangster, whose brother Aidan once worked for, and is plotting to what he calls’bringing the Brits down from the inside.’ Not with bombings, but paedophilia and prostitution. Using soft targets. It gets rather nasty. Trevelyan, the Agency boss, where Aidan now works, knows about the relationship. Thus Aidan is sent in to destroy the late IRA’s man son. But he doesn’t to the cost of the woman he loves.

Fun questions:
Your novel will be a movie.  Who would you cast?
Actors I would choose for the film of ‘Stalking Aidan.’: Aidan Turner is Aidan McRaney. Lara Pulver as Joanna.

Manuscript/Notes: hand written or keyboard?
Always handwritten to start. The story comes out so thick a and fast, it’s easier to write. Then I prune the gobbledegook. It’s like having a planchette, used in seances, where you sit in front of it with a pen, and write down what comes.

Favorite leisure activity/hobby?
I suppose writing is my hobby. But I do have a day off. I collect old movies, that is gangsters, supernatural and Westerns. I so love Gunsmoke, the old T.V series. I listen to my favourite old country Irish country, and I’m partial to Eighties rock music

Favorite meal?
Sea Bass Salad with new potatoes .

 

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

In a past life Irish-born Aidan was the minder to notorious gang boss Frankie Lamond. Aidan was thrown into prison when he shot Lamond’s intended assassin in a disastrous shooting that not only left Lamond with a fatal spinal injury but also his girlfriend, and Aidan’s mistress, gunned down. Now fresh out of prison after serving eight years for his involvement in the shooting, Aidan plans to get his life back on track; his priorities lay with making amends with his family and attempting to be reunited with his nine-year-old son. Unbeknown to Aidan, sinister forces have something altogether different in mind. As he begins to settle back into life outside of prison, Aidan becomes certain he’s being followed and he convinces himself that his fate lies in the hands of someone who knows all about his past life. Events begin to spiral out of control; his flat is robbed and then a bomb goes off in his car seriously harming Terry, the son of Verdi, a tenacious woman Aidan has begun a sordid affair with. His thoughts are confirmed – someone out there is after one thing; revenge. He is forced to return to gangland, the one part of his life he thought he had turned his back on. Aidan is offered the security of a safe house and a minder, but when his minder disappears his life is thrust back into the gangster underworld and his family are, against his wishes, dragged in amongst the drama. Events take a turn for the worse and a murder enquiry ensues. If Aidan learnt one thing from his time in gangland, it’s to handle things himself, but for a man living in fear of returning to prison, it’s a dangerous road to take. But one that is necessary. Set in modern day London, Stalking Aidan is the fast-paced gangster novel from J.M. Shorney. The book explores traditional themes of the gangster genre; violence, sex, revenge, family loyalties and psychological warfare. The story is told from the point of view of the bad guys as opposed to the good guys, and the story follows the life of Aidan, a man haunted by his past and living with guilt. The idea that mind-games can be just as damaging as physical violence is a powerful theme.

BOOK DETAILS:

Publisher: New Generation Publishing
Publication Date: September 18, 2013
Number of Pages: 384 pages
ISBN-10: 1909878669
ISBN-13: 978-1909878662

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