Sean P. Mahoney
Although Fenian’s Trace is the first book from Sean P. Mahoney, he already won a very prestigious writing award for the tale that it tells, the Nicholl Fellowship for screenwriting, which is awarded by the Academy of Arts and Sciences and generally regarded as the most distinguished screenwriting award in the industry.
It was the centenary of the Easter Rising that inspired Sean to dust the script off for its adaptation. Although the story is set out in the west of Ireland and more concerned with drama and romance than politics and history, the national celebrations stirred great interest in all things Irish the world over and the timing seemed right for some good old tragic fiction set in Ireland.
One major change from screenplay to novel is the use of a specific character as the first-person storyteller. Mr. Clancy - a gruff and tipsy old publican who takes an interest in the main characters - provides a compelling voice that was especially well-suited for an audio-book and has been magically brought to life through the narration of Irish actor Liam Carney.
Before getting back into Fenian’s Trace, Sean had cut down on his writing time to bring up his two boys, Quinn and Mack, together with his girl Toni, and to focus on a real job, but still he did manage to finish a few other scripts - covering subjects from Dublin cops to Boston politicians to ABA basketballers to Sicilian pizzamakers - and even won another Best Screenplay award and a fantastic bobblehead trophy.
Sean was born in Albany, New York but eventually found his way to California to attend the super sweet Pepperdine School of Law. Today he’s an attorney who lives in Sonoma but works elsewhere – deep in the garbage business. Before all the grown-up stuff, he spent enough time behind the bar himself to know how to put a shamrock atop a Guinness and also worked as the manager of both an amazing rock band from north Dublin and a shady trailer park near Hell - but those are different stories altogether …