Barry Ireland

I am Barry Ireland. As a youngster, I always wanted to grow up to earn a living as either a popular jazz or rock musician, a best-selling fiction writer, or as a top scientist working on space travel … but just before I left school I decided to go the commercial way and I ended up several years later with my own engineering business. It’s a funny old life, isn’t it? But music, fiction writing and science have always been there, as persistent driving forces in my life. I started writing stories when I was at school and often had the job of reading out my work in front of the class and occasionally in the school hall in front of the whole mob; daunting but exciting. And writing remained that thing that I always wanted to do properly but rarely had the time to fit in. I started playing drums in rock bands at the age of thirteen. At fifteen I was asked to join a successful local band of which the other members were several years older than me. It was a popular band playing throughout Essex, London and East Anglia. Doing three, four or five gigs a week, with very late nights, and trying to stay awake at school for GCE studies was hard going, but I did OK, and boy, did I have some fun along the way.

Getting married and moving away from Essex for progress in my then employment meant giving up the band. I started my own business a few years later, had children and became very busy. But I still had music going on and my son and daughter grew into it as well. So, three different genres of music being played loudly in three different rooms of the house was quite normal. I read as much as I could but still had no time for writing – apart from business reports.

Thirty or so years raced by and I was still recovering from a life-saving heart operation when the singer of my old band traced me and gave me a call. It was like a well-known movie when he came out with those immortal words: “I’m getting the band back together. The other guys are up for it and I want you back. Interested?” Without hesitation I said “Yes!” With the children now grown up I got back to loving playing live music on stage … and the band got busy again which involved me in a lot of travelling. But strangely, it was then that I was inspired to start fiction writing.

I joined a local writers’ group and then through my business I met Chris Hunt who was also an engineer and an aspiring sci-fi writer. We shared a lot of interests and soon became best mates. He and I ran another writers group for several years and those gals and guys who were members have remained great friends and an inspiration. I started by writing what was supposed to be serious science fiction but try as I might, the stories usually came through with a humorous leaning. So, I developed the humour side and wrote comedic fantasy -- witches, dragons, wizards, magic -- and the crossover between modern and ancient times through interdimensional travel. Creative projects with the writers’ group helped me get into other genres and while I still love writing comedic fantasy, I now enjoy creating children’s adventure fantasy – that’s novels for young readers, not illustrated comic books -- and period crime novels for adults. As well as humour, my musical interest always seems to get involved and my new character for a series of novels is a successful music agent who gets involved in private investigations, originally in the music business, then further afield. This latest genre is difficult to pin down as it involves drama, crime, humour, music, challenging personal relationships and some lovely original characters of all genders. When people ask me why I write, I don’t know the full answer, but it’s a bit like playing music: creating something that people will hopefully enjoy.

Writing in progress or planned includes further novels in the Zolin! series of comedy fantasy (titles: At The Speed Of Dark, The Dark Side Of The Broom and Unique Horns and Unicorns), two more in the children’s adventure trilogy Dulcie And The Whipples, and at least two more in the music agent-cum-private eye Nathan East series to follow Still Got The Blues. And then there are a few more completely different novels outlined. I now have so many writing projects that I hope I don’t run out of time…