Intriguers

“Four married female friends are well versed in male psychology, educated, easy-going, and live by the principle, “If you want to change the world, start with yourself.” One day they join forces to help their yoga coach. She experiences her husband’s infidelity. With the help of her friends, she finds new love.  Encouraged by their success, the girls decide to organise the Broken Hearts Club to save women. The club becomes popular, gets great reviews, stable results and reunited happy families.  The friends are satisfied and become more and more passionate about their work. But one day the service receives an order for the husband of one of the girlfriends. Playing with other people’s fates, they missed the main thing – their families. Do not notice the emerging problems with children, husbands and parents.  It becomes necessary to save themselves. And this is much more difficult than helping others”

Reading

Game on the edge

Angelica dreamed of a simple woman’s happiness. It seemed to her that Vlad was the one who would make her happy. But the man has only one desire: 24 hours a day disappearing in the laboratory, he strives to make a discovery that will bring him world recognition. In the end Vlad managed to create a drug that made him almost omnipotent and even in a sense famous. But the price for the “game on the edge”, which he started, is too high. Both for him and for Angelica, who, without knowing it, became a part of it….

Reading on russian

A Prelude to War: Part One

Ériu!

In a bid for peace, Connery is crowned High King, but the Elder Council’s manipulations only invite war from an unexpected enemy. As chaos reigns and the peaceful king falls to invaders, the fate of the kingdoms hangs in the balance.

Amidst the turmoil, Conor Mac Nessa, a masterful schemer, vies for the throne against the Warrior Queen, Medb of Connacht. Their fierce rivalry sets the stage for the emergence of Ériu’s greatest hero, the legendary Hound of Ulster.

At time of print, A Prelude to War has had more than one hundred thousand reads on Royal Road.

WAITING FOR THE BULLET (Doire Press, 2014)

Madeleine D’Arcy’s debut short story collection, WAITING FOR THE BULLET (Doire Press, 2014) has been described by author Kevin Barry as ‘funny and wry… and often there is an undercurrent of darkness… that gives real weight to the work. A very accomplished collection.’

This book was awarded the Edge Hill Readers’ Choice Prize (UK, 2015).

LIBERTY TERRACE (Doire Press, 2021)

Liberty Terrace (Doire Press, 2021) is Madeleine D’Arcy’s second collection of short fiction. These linked short stories feature a bevy of characters who reside in a fictional area of Cork City in the period 2016-2020. The inhabitants of Liberty Terrace come and go and their lives occasionally intersect in stories that are sometimes funny, sometimes dark, often both.

‘Liberty Terrace is the world in merciless microcosm. Madeleine D’Arcy’s writing will make you laugh out loud and smart with painful recognition.’ Mary Morrissy.

‘The stories in Liberty Terrace are intimate, humane and wickedly funny. Moving and perceptive, these stories are by turns upsetting and luminous. A triumph!’ Danielle McLaughlin.

CORK STORIES (Doire Press, 2024)

CORK STORIES (Doire Press, 2024) is an anthology of short fiction co-edited by Madeleine D’Arcy and Laura McKenna. These stories, contributed by writers who live, or have lived in Cork, are set throughout the city and county. The anthology celebrates the great diversity of people who live in Cork, drawing vivid portraits of place and capturing the unique spirit of communities and their idiosyncratic inhabitants. The anthology also features maps displaying where each of the stories takes place.

Writers featured in CORK STORIES include Kevin Barry, Tadhg Coakley, Danny Denton, Martina Evans, Marie Gethins, Danielle McLaughlin, Donal Moloney, Oonagh Montague, Mary Morrissy, Grainne Murphy, Jamie O’Connell, Mel O’Doherty, Eileen O’Donoghue, Anne O’Leary, Tina Pisco, Sean Tanner, William Wall and Fiona Whyte.

Rejuvenation Book 2: The Rejuvenation Trilogy

Is Rejuvenation really humanity’s savior, or is it the hidden doorway to slavery and persecution?

Bobbie Chan has escaped the clutches of the all-encompassing Belus Corporation. She and her comrades are forced to seek sanctuary amongst a band of renegades – outcasts who eke out a meagre existence in the barren wastelands which emerged from the Melter War.

However, Bobbie finds herself at the heart of a game plan, devised by the renegades, to bring the Belus Corporation to its knees.

This second installment of the Rejuvenation Trilogy sees old friends becoming enemies and one-time enemies becoming friends as the true, diabolical nature of Rejuvenation becomes clear.

Rejuvenation Book 1: The Rejuvenation Trilogy

The Melter War has left the Earth’s surface devastated, leaving humanity to survive on what little land is left between the Scorch Zones and the rising oceans, where towering subscrapers dot the dystopian shore lines.

Then Came Christmas

Every time she thinks about Christmas this year, Tracey experiences a vortex of panic and confusion. How can she face it while grieving for her best friend? But life marches on, and Tracey will have a Christmas with someone she truly loves for the first time ever. Tommy has been the warm, bright light in a very rough year. Tracey is also looking forward to her baby niece’s first Christmas, as complicated as sharing the day with her seems right now. However, Christmas day will not be the same without spending it with her big brother, Dermot. But Tommy can’t bear to be in the same room as him. How will Tracey keep everyone happy this year and get through the day herself?

March to November

Five people. Eight months. Lives end. Lives begin. March to November navigates the entangled points of view of Tracey Duggan and her circle of friends and foes in modern-day Belfast, Ireland as they struggle with bereavement, broken marriages, broken dreams and broken minds. All Tracey wants is a normal life. All she has, however, is violence and betrayal from those closest to her. Can Tracey escape the pattern of destructive relationships that plague her? Will her new boyfriend Tommy decide to be right or be happy? Will her sister-in-law Molly find the strength to deal with her new situation? Will her brother, Dermot let go of his past and man up to his mistakes? Can Dermot’s lover, Sheila really have it all? Belfast is not the city of bombs and bullets of their childhood, but it’s still full of trouble for these five as they alternately walk, run and stumble along the road toward a shocking finale.