Confessions from the Massage Couch

What’s the meaning of life? The intimacy and comfort of the massage room brings out amazing insights. This book is a collection of thoughts from conversations between a massage therapist and her clients. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR PAOLA BASSANESE: The massage room is a strictly titillation-free zone. There’s plenty of navel-gazing in this book – from the physical to the metaphysical. I have condensed 10 years’ worth of experience as a therapist into this book which covers all major life events that can happen to any of us, while referencing to various resources in the field of philosophy, alternative therapies and general health.

Lady Killers

Lady Killers is a collection of eleven true crime stories involving women who committed murder in Ireland from the early 1900’s through the 1940’s. The book details cases, investigations, trials, and outcomes of these crimes, providing a comprehensive look at each incident and the individuals involved, highlighting the societal attitudes and legal proceedings of the time.

The trials often featured dramatic courtroom scenes and conflicting testimonies and the book uses a detailed narrative style to recount the events, providing a comprehensive overview of each case from the crime to the final verdict.

Cases include:

Leave me my life. The murder of John Daly. Queen’s County. (Co. Laois)
In May 1902, Joseph Taylor was accused of assaulting Mary Daly with a hatchet. A month later, John Daly, the husband of Mary Daly, was found dead in a field near his home. Shortly after both Taylor and Daly were arrested on suspicion of murder. The following inquiries and trials revealed a complex web of accusations and intrigue.

Deadly Daughters. The murder of Alice Pearson. Armagh.
Alice Pearson died in 1904, and her son accused his sister and wife of poisoning her.

The Servant Girl. The murder of Rosa di Lucia. Sligo.
Rosa di Lucia was found dead, leading to the arrest of her husband Angelo and the couple’s servant girl, Jane Reynolds. The investigation revealed a complicated relationship between the three.

The Tall Man in the Scullery. The murder of Nora Horgan. Cork.
Mary Moynihan was accused of murdering her employer Nora Horgan in 1922. The investigation revealed a web of conflicting stories and deceit.

Drowned in a Stream. The murder of Daniel Walsh. Galway.
In May 1928, Daniel Walsh was found dead in a stream. His wife, Annie Walsh, and her second cousin were charged with his murder.

A Killing in Killinick. The murder of John Cousins. Wexford.
Jane O’Brien was accused of murdering her nephew, John Cousins, in 1932. The investigation revealed a motive related to family inheritance.

No Motive leaves a Bitter Taste. The murder of James Finnegan. Monaghan.
In September 1945 James Finnegan died from strychnine poisoning after eating a cake brought by a neighbour, Agnes McAdam.

The Unholy Hour. The murder of Mary Gibbons. Dublin.
In August 1948 Mary Agnes Daly was accused of attacking Mary Gibbons with a hammer in a Dublin church.

Brotherly Love. The murder of Richard Cox. Offaly.
In May 1948, Frances Cox was involved in two tragic incidents; the deaths of her new born son and her brother Richard.

The Bantry Murder

During the early afternoon of Saturday the 24th of February 1900, William Symms Bird, a local land agent and Justice of the Peace was shot to death in his office in the market town of Bantry, West Cork, Ireland. Within twenty-four hours a farm labourer named Timothy Cadogan was arrested and charged with the murder of Bird. Following two trials Cadogan was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged in Cork Gaol on the 11th of January 1901, the last person to be hung in the jail.

The damning evidence against Cadogan came from an eyewitness who swore to have seen him come down the stairs from Bird’s office with a revolver in his hand. In this book Pat Doran examines all the evidence given at the Magisterial Investigation in to the murder and the following two trials, he then asks a shocking question Did an innocent man go to the gallows while the guilty party hid in plain view?

In 2018 and 2019 President Michael D. Higgins granted two pardons to two men hanged in the late 1800’s, Myles Joyce who was hanged in 1882 and John Twiss, hanged in 1895. Is it now time that the name of Timothy Cadogan was included with these innocent men?

Writing4all: The Best of 2009

An anthology collecting the monthly winners of short fiction, poetry and non-fiction published on the Writing4All website for 2009. The monthly winners were selected for the website and edited for the anthology by John Kenny.

Box of Delights

A woman and her two young children are caught on a neverending train journey, a man discovers his new calling in life is the dispatch of the lonely and the desperate, a vegetarian vampire falls in love, a woman who just won’t leave her husband alone, even after she’s dead, two guitar-playing musicians seek out the ultimate jamming session, a young woman’s path to recovery involves an unorthodox therapy, a psychic TV presenter meets her match in an ancient cellar.

Dip into our Box of Delights and enjoy 16 brand new spine-chilling tales of love and death from the pens of Mike Resnick, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Steve Rasnic Tem, Don D’Ammassa, Erin Pringle, Ian Wild, Priya Sharma, Robert Neilson, Eleanor Marney, Taylor Grant, N.A. Sulway, David Murphy, Sean MacRoibin, Erik T. Johnson, John F.D. Taff and Craig Saunders.

Decade 1: The Best of Albedo One

Over the last 21 years, Albedo One, Ireland’s premiere magazine of science fiction, fantasy and horror, has enjoyed a rich and varied history, picking up several accolades along the way, including three European Science Fiction Society awards. From the outset, the magazine became known for featuring quality fiction from new and emerging writers. And now, collected under one cover for the first time is a selection of the very best of that fiction from the first decade of Albedo One’s existence. Witness a post-apocalyptic Earth where the bloated descendants of humankind gorge themselves on the offerings of automated food dispensers that are slowly breaking down. Queue up to view the essence of a lost love caught in an amber moment. Join Edmund Hillary on one last climb, to the top of the Tower of Babel. Don’t let even death stop you from taking over the family business. Lease a Dada Machine and create new works of art by dead masters. Dip in and enjoy a baker’s dozen of stories from the imaginations of Gil Alderman, John Hanamy, Sean Mac Roibin, David Murphy, Robert Neilson, Mike O’Driscoll, Peadar Ó Guilin, Philip Raines & Harvey Welles, Dermot Ryan, John W. Sexton, H. Turnip Smith, Tais Teng and Neil Williamson.

Coilhunter

Welcome to the Wild North, a desolate wasteland where criminals go to hide—if they can outlast the drought and the dangers of the desert. Or the dangers of something else.

Meet Nox, the Coilhunter. A mechanic and toymaker by trade, a bounty hunter by circumstance. He isn’t in it for the money. He’s in it for justice, and there’s a lot of justice that needs to be paid.

Between each kill, he’s looking for someone who has kept out of his crosshairs for quite a while—the person who murdered his wife and children. The trail has long gone cold, but there are changes happening, the kind of changes that uncover footprints and spent bullet casings.

Plagued by nightmares, he’s made himself into a living one, the kind the criminals and conmen fear.

So, welcome, fair folk, to the Wild North. If the land doesn’t get you, the Coilhunter will.

Revelation Machine: What robots tell us about being human

Revelation Machine is a narrative non-fiction exploring robotics as a mirror for human nature, covering the origins of automation, how machines shape human behaviour, how our biases get encoded into systems, perception, psychology, and what it ultimately means to be human in a machine-built world.

Detached Mind: Is consciousness without emotion the future of intelligence?

Detached Mind argues that most human suffering, and most human crime, is not caused by the absence of emotion, but by its excess. Using psychopathy and Buddhist philosophy as parallel lenses, the book asks whether what clinical psychology calls a disorder might be closer to what the wisest traditions in history call enlightenment.

Spark City

His name was Magnus.
He once conquered the Four Factions. He brought the world to its knees, annihilating all who opposed him. Even in retirement, they still fear his army’s march. But this is not his tale, for he is the past.

His name is Erroh.
He is nothing like his warmonger father. He is happier gambling, drinking and wandering the wastes, escaping the shadow cast by his legendary family. But fate has other plans for him, for he is the present.

He doesn’t know her name yet.
She is a warrior destined for greatness and heartbreak. She’s never belonged in the city of light. Every step in her life has been a struggle. This next step will bring them both towards war, for she is the future.