James Dargan: 40 books

Galway, Ireland. At the wake of a young boy at O'Hare's pub, in walks Sean. Sean has powers, special powers, and he will use them to entertain the family in mourning. And maybe if they're lucky, a bit more besides. A short story of 3,700 words that blends Irish black humour, satire and fantasy to new heights of absurdity.

London Blues musician Sam has ambition, though he thinks the other members of his band don't have any. During a confrontation with them, Sam tells them some bitter truths. How will it all end? MOJO is a 3,000-word short story.

Working in a factory can be murder, literally. What does a saveloy, a bicycle and the Irish countryside have in common? Sausage Heaven, that's what, Britain's premier sausage & saveloy factory. Birmingham Irishman Michael Gibson and his merry band of co-workers are going nowhere...

Farzin, a simple man of simple faith, finds the end of the world has come - nuclear war has spread across the Middle East, and now he must escape with his family and find refuge. *Mushroom *is a 3000-word alternate history short story set in Iran twenty years in the future.

Football's only a game. Real life isn't. Birmingham, England, 1985, and Thatcher rules supreme. Darren Acheson is a normal lad with everything and the world going against him: he's on the dole, his girlfriend's got cancer and his beloved football club is near the bottom of the First...

Jan Nowak, a 94-year old Polish veteran of the Second World War, is tired of life. His days are spent in a monotonous way and he wants out, especially since the death of his wife. We follow him for a few days as he recalls the way things used to be and how it is for him now. *Old Man Blues *is a 3,500-word short story.

De Lacy has just got out of prison. His crime is a dark secret he wishes to keep that way. Alone, he must find himself again in the world - a world where he used to be someone respected. Now he is little more than a human stain, existing because that's what one does when one's alive. A black comedy/mystery...

PAPYRUS COMIC HOBO is an eclectic collection of four short stories and a novella. The stories are THE MIRACLE AT O'HARE'S PUB, an Irish fantasy-comic tale, GOD AND THE LONELY EMPEROR, a magical realism story about an emperor who's lost it all, IN THE DOLE-DRUMS, a description of life on the dole in...

Do you believe in Evil? Most Dubliners have heard the stories about the Lodge at the Hellfire Club on top of Montpelier Hill, in Rathfarnham, County Dublin, and the evil goings on of the place, but are they aware of what really happened? It is a stormy autumn night in the year 1739,...

Dean's got a problem: the 'back to work' course from the Jobcentre,. If he doesn't go, he'll lose his dole. With a girlfriend and two kids to look after, that doesn't sound good at all. We join him on the Monday morning in this gritty story of working-class realism. Will Dean survive a week of CV...

SPAGHETTI JUNCTION,  A NAPOLEON CLANCY BOOK, VOL. 1 It's two men against a world of criminality They're Batman and Robin without the masks, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza minus the windmills, Holmes and Watson with not a clue in sight. Meet Napoleon 'Nappy' Clancy - ex Birmingham bobbie...

DEAD SOPRANO, A BAYSIDE CITY BOOK, EPISODE ONE Only the strong will survive in this city in turmoil! The four ethnic mobs of Bayside City are vying for control of the town, and they will stop at nothing to get it. There's not a lot to stop them other than a few honest cops and each other....