Irish author releases his lastest novel
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AN EXPAT musician has released an “exciting” new novel. Irishman Hugh O’Neill’s The Greatest Prize is available on Amazon Kindle and other ereaders, with information available on his website hugh-oneill.com.
The book is a sequel to Band On The Run, which is about “a band playing in Belfast” that sees “something that they shouldn’t have seen”.
“One of the members is killed and others are on the run,” Mr O’Neill said. “They visit countries such as Germany and Turkey. They are completely innocent but a sinister army is after them.”
While the story is fiction, the places featured in the book are real places where Mr O’Neill has performed and all the characters are real too.
Referring to The Greatest Prize, Mr O’Neill said: “It’s a sequel and I don’t want to give away too much about it. Also some people are learning about the first book for the first time.”
The book is “funny but also serious” he added. “It’s a suspense thriller, a little romance, humour- noir humour.”
A paperback release date has yet to be set due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and Mr O’Neill said he has recently received the first copy of the book.
“The book is doing really well,” he said, especially in Sweden, which he links to the help he received from a “close Swedish friend who is an author”.
The audio book version of The Greatest Prize utilises Mr O’Neill’s own voice recorded at the studio in his house and the first six chapters will be available for free.
Mr O’Neill plans to present the book, which he wrote in “under three months”, to the TRNC public with launch events at the Basilic Café in Alsancak, Bar 5 in Esentepe, The Lodge in Çatalköy and Alvadar in Lapta – all places where he performs – in late April and early May.
Mr O’Neill wrote Band On The Run in Gümüşlük, Turkey, where he lived for 10 years, and the The Greatest Prize in Southampton during the lockdown.
“People should start with the first book even though The Greatest Prize is a book on its own,” he told this paper.
“I am telling people not to buy my [second] book [yet], which is strange when you’re releasing a book! But they should seriously read the first one first.”
Mr O’Neill added that his music albums, which are no longer available in a physical format, are now being released online “for absolutely free”.
The albums can be found on the news section of his website and he will be keeping busy by uploading his music for the next six weeks. So far Mr O’Neill has uploaded his first album The Hair of the Dog.
A TAKEAWAY delivery driver suffered a broken arm and leg after he was knocked off his moped by a car in Gönyeli on Tuesday.
The crash occurred at around noon on Şht Peval Mustafa Sokağı when Özhan Okur, 42, entered the road “carelessly” from a dirt track, colliding with 27-year-old motorcyclist Süleyman Mirioğlu, police said.
Mr Mirioğlu was taken to Dr Burhan Nalbantoğlu Lefkoşa State Hospital for treatment for his broken bones. An investigation was launched into the accident.
Elsewhere a driver escaped with minor injuries after the car he was driving plunged five metres into a riverbed after crashing through barriers on a bridge.
The incident happened at around 9pm last Saturday on Osman Örek Caddesi when Okan Tevi, 37, was driving “fast and carelessly”, according to a police statement.
He lost control of the car near the Dereboyu traffic lights, first hitting steel barriers in the central reservation and then skidding back across the road and smashing through the bridge railings. Mr Tevi was taken to hospital for treatment.
A crash happened near
the same spot on Monday evening, although no-one was injured.
Last Friday a “drunk” driver caused havoc on one of the busiest roads in Lefkoşa. Soner Maniler,
74, was driving south on Bedrettin Demirel Caddesi at 3.15pm when he lost control in front of the Önder department store and the Social Security Department, police said.
Mr Maniler hit a parked car on the left side of the road, which caused his car to overturn and collide with another vehicle coming from the opposite direction. Mr Maniler – who police said was more than three times over the drink-drive limit – and Asifa Bibi, 33, a passenger in the parked car, were treated for their injuries at Lefkoşa State Hospital.