Joe O'Neill

'Joe O'Neill is an Ian Fleming for the middle grade set' - Kirkus Reviews.

When Kirkus named the fourth book in the Red Hand Adventures, Thieves of the Black Sea, as one of their best books of the year and compared my writing to Ian Fleming's prose, it was one of the proudest moments of my academic and professional career. You see, Ian Fleming is one of my literary heroes and an inspiration for the books (along with Raphael Sabatini and Herge).

Being a writer is probably the greatest job in the world (for me, anyway). In most jobs, an overly active imagination is a serious detriment, but in storytelling, it's an absolute requirement. Waking up in the morning, sitting down at my desk with a hot cup of coffee as the sun is just coming up, one of my cats laying on my keyboard.. is the greatest workplace I could imagine.

I like to say I do my best writing on my bicycle, and that's true. I love to take three or four hour bike rides where I live (in the Gorge in Oregon... one of the most beautiful places in America), and on these rides, I think up stories and run through any plot adjustments in my head. Then, I bang away on the keyboard. I don't generally write for 6 or 8 hours, but in a manic 1 or 2 hour session and then it's onto another ride. It's a different process, but it definitely works for me.

Lately, my travels have started to include my daughter and she's a natural storyteller in her own right. We took a tour of Sri Lanka last year and now she wants to visit Morocco, Egypt, Japan, Ireland, and Brazil. Ah, a writer and a world traveler, what more could a father ask for?

I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them. Please reach out to me at joe@blackshippublishing.com anytime. I would love to hear from you.