The Novel "The Paper Man" Penned by Billy O' Callaghan
Scribbling down thoughts is my thing, yo. I've got a couple WIPS (Works in Progress) on the boil, some novel stuff and short stories too. Seems like everything needs time for it to truly manifest.
My ol' lady's the one who sparked the thought of Matthias Sindelar, world-famous soccer star during the interwar period. For my fifteenth birthday, she gifted me a World Cup history book, and there I found the legend known as the Paper Man. A precursor to Puskas, Pele, Cruyff, and Maradona, a brilliant anti-Nazi, and his team, the Wunderteam, lost the '34 semi-finals due to blatant ref corruption. Five years later, he's gone.
Visiting Vienna in 2014 ignited the creative fire. A student showed me the town, and she dug up locations I had to see. The following year, I knew how I wanted Sindelar portrayed, but I needed more. It was about weaving his era with mine, and with the image of the Syrian kid washed up on a beach, I started thinking about refugees, their struggles, and Sindelar's Jewish pals fleeing in desperation. That led me to Jewtown, a quaint corner of Cork, Ireland, with a deep Jewish history that's all but disappeared. Even though it isn't home to Jews anymore, the history there is engraved deep. Plus, I've got relations that still dwell there.
Writing was slow, as it should be. I had my fair share of love, travel, footy, and reading. My mom battled cancer, and eventually we lost her. The process of crafting the Paper Man story continued, with periods of writing, setting it aside, and then returning to it. It all came piece by piece, and finally, in its own unhurried manner, the story of The Paper Man took hold.
Pre-order The Paper Man by Billy O'Callaghan today!
Sources:
- Sindelar, Matthias. (2013, February 10). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_Sindelar
- The Paper Man by Billy O' Callaghan. (n.d.). In Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35623930-the-paper-man
In the midst of writing my novel, I realized that I needed to combine the intriguing history of football great, Matthias Sindelar, with the struggles of modern-day refugees. This led me to delve into the rich Jewish history of Jewtown in Cork, Ireland, where I have family connections. To understand more about Sindelar's era, I found solace in books, particularly a World Cup history book, which introduced me to entertainment beyond novels and sports matches.
