SKIBBEREEN author Brian Connolly has just released his second novel Annihilation Theory, the follow-up to his first novel Warstate, and recently spoke with The Southern Star on the apocalyptic novel that tells the tale of an ex-police officer who comes face-to-face with the leader of a doomsday cult.
The 47-year-old says he is an unapologetic fan of the dystopian genre, because supply lines in any culture in this day and age are acute.
‘Without it, people would descend into the primal side that we all have,’ he said, and is of the opinion that things would fall apart very fast if, for example, the electricity system, or the economic system, fails, trade wars notwithstanding!
‘Our system is so fragile. We are so soft, we are so spoiled, and that’s why the apocalypse genre is really interesting. It’s not like science fiction where you would be thinking: “That could never happen”. Post-apocalypse is right on our doorstep, all the time and it’s frightening,’ he said.
He traces his love of storytelling back to primary school when his teacher, Fachtna Casey, gave him great encouragement by reading his essays to the class.
In secondary school Brian started writing screenplays, and finished his first novel by the time he was in fifth year.
He was a huge fan of movies at a young age too, and later studied at the Ballyfermot College of Further Education, and progressed to film sets himself.
Brian recalls working in Kerry on Disco Pigs in 2001, which also happened to be Cillian Murphy’s first starring role in a movie.
‘Cillian and I used to get a train down together from Dublin to Cork at the weekends. We were the only Cork fellas on set.’ said Brian, recalling ‘fun days’ in the industry.
Brian, the son of Marie and Pat Connolly of Baltimore Road, Skibbereen, now lives in Whitegate with his wife Pamela, and their son Alex (11), and twin girls Hally and Reia (8).
Between his home life and his work life, Brian admits he has to carve out time for his writing.
‘I know by about 9.30 or 10pm I have a few hours when I can sit down and start writing,’ he said.
‘It can be very difficult to get down to it, but once you’ve finished it is so satisfying.
‘Sometimes, I can be mentally drained because I can’t shut off thinking about it during the day – the story and the characters are constantly going through my head.’
Annihilation Theory is now available through Amazon.
