THE BENCH 'Loved it! Read...but not for the faint hearted!' MARTINA COLE - The Queen of Crime Writing (The Runaway, The Take)
'...it’s very flattering to me to have been called the Salford Scorsese, the new Jimmy McGovern and to have my endeavours compared to the likes of James M. Cain, Jim Cartwright, Gabriel Marcia Marquez and Wim Wenders. I live in an inner city community like Paradise Heights so there is a reality at the core of these tales, a reality shot through with a rich vein of the supernatural.' Joe O'Byrne
It’s just a bench in the park, the one by the war memorial…
A club doorman, a thief, a fake medium, a homeless man, a council road sweeper, two war veteran pensioners, a scarred shoplifter, a widow, a drug dealer, a loan shark, an angel, a ghost and a psychic...they’ve all sat on this bench at least once this year; before the end of the year someone will die on it. Disconnected lives will connect and interweave around the eponymous bench in the park. Thematically this is a tale of love, life, death and rebirth and whilst there is joy here, there is also bone chilling terror.
Many of the characters find themselves at transitional points in their lives. They are either nervously eyeing an uncertain future and change, or they are coming to terms with the often painful process of moving on. Whilst some are desperately holding onto the past; others are desperate to escape it and the unbearable pain that has made them who they are. It's a tale of comedy, tragedy and ultimately hope.
THE BENCH is the first novel in a series of novels based on O'Byrne's critically acclaimed films and plays 'Tales from Paradise Heights'
On O'Byrne's Previous Works
'O’Byrne has been called Salford’s Scorsese, but if anything he has more in common with Martin McDonagh (The Lonesome West, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara, In Bruges) both writers share a skill for combining dark wit and ugly violence with a certain…not post modernism exactly, but…knowingness. The most quintessentially noir of authors, James M. Cain, reputedly claimed that The Postman Always Rings Twice was inspired by the tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides, and O’Byrne’s work certainly does have that same stark, fatalism. DIANE'S DELI takes this connection between Noir and Greek Tragedy and runs with it.’' Steve Balshaw, film programmer GRIMMFest, Salford Film Festival and Manchester’s KINO Film Festival
'The Bolton based writer/director/actor unleashed his latest creation - 'Strawberry Jack' - this week and delivered yet another 5 star effort. We should be used to this by now. Consistency is this man’s middle name, and work of this quality will surely find a bigger audience soon. Strawberry Jack is the latest instalment in O’Byrne’s series of plays and films located on the fictional Northern England estate of Paradise Heights…(it) has more twists and turns than Tarantino, a good deal more originality than any Guy Ritchie geezer-fest and comes straight from the heart.' Brian Gorman, The Public Reviews
‘RANK; O’Byrne’s latest creation and possibly his best…maintains an almost unbearably tense atmosphere as events build towards a climax. It’s all grounded by O’Byrne’s language however, his ear for authentic voices, rooting all his work in realism and an authentic world we all recognise. His characters are tough yet romantic, grounded and believable. With names and faces recurring though the different stories of Paradise Heights, you get a real sense of depth and thought, you could take any of the characters and develop them into the focus of another story.' Aaron Lavery, The Manchester Metro
‘Brutally emotional and slickly crafted, 'DIANE'S DELI' is a thoroughly recommended excursion into the dangerously real world of Paradise Heights.’
Thefictionstoker.com
‘When are TV Commissioners going to wake up and find Joe O’Byrne?’ Stephen Kingston, Salford Star
MATURE CONTENT
'...it’s very flattering to me to have been called the Salford Scorsese, the new Jimmy McGovern and to have my endeavours compared to the likes of James M. Cain, Jim Cartwright, Gabriel Marcia Marquez and Wim Wenders. I live in an inner city community like Paradise Heights so there is a reality at the core of these tales, a reality shot through with a rich vein of the supernatural.' Joe O'Byrne
It’s just a bench in the park, the one by the war memorial…
A club doorman, a thief, a fake medium, a homeless man, a council road sweeper, two war veteran pensioners, a scarred shoplifter, a widow, a drug dealer, a loan shark, an angel, a ghost and a psychic...they’ve all sat on this bench at least once this year; before the end of the year someone will die on it. Disconnected lives will connect and interweave around the eponymous bench in the park. Thematically this is a tale of love, life, death and rebirth and whilst there is joy here, there is also bone chilling terror.
Many of the characters find themselves at transitional points in their lives. They are either nervously eyeing an uncertain future and change, or they are coming to terms with the often painful process of moving on. Whilst some are desperately holding onto the past; others are desperate to escape it and the unbearable pain that has made them who they are. It's a tale of comedy, tragedy and ultimately hope.
THE BENCH is the first novel in a series of novels based on O'Byrne's critically acclaimed films and plays 'Tales from Paradise Heights'
On O'Byrne's Previous Works
'O’Byrne has been called Salford’s Scorsese, but if anything he has more in common with Martin McDonagh (The Lonesome West, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara, In Bruges) both writers share a skill for combining dark wit and ugly violence with a certain…not post modernism exactly, but…knowingness. The most quintessentially noir of authors, James M. Cain, reputedly claimed that The Postman Always Rings Twice was inspired by the tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides, and O’Byrne’s work certainly does have that same stark, fatalism. DIANE'S DELI takes this connection between Noir and Greek Tragedy and runs with it.’' Steve Balshaw, film programmer GRIMMFest, Salford Film Festival and Manchester’s KINO Film Festival
'The Bolton based writer/director/actor unleashed his latest creation - 'Strawberry Jack' - this week and delivered yet another 5 star effort. We should be used to this by now. Consistency is this man’s middle name, and work of this quality will surely find a bigger audience soon. Strawberry Jack is the latest instalment in O’Byrne’s series of plays and films located on the fictional Northern England estate of Paradise Heights…(it) has more twists and turns than Tarantino, a good deal more originality than any Guy Ritchie geezer-fest and comes straight from the heart.' Brian Gorman, The Public Reviews
‘RANK; O’Byrne’s latest creation and possibly his best…maintains an almost unbearably tense atmosphere as events build towards a climax. It’s all grounded by O’Byrne’s language however, his ear for authentic voices, rooting all his work in realism and an authentic world we all recognise. His characters are tough yet romantic, grounded and believable. With names and faces recurring though the different stories of Paradise Heights, you get a real sense of depth and thought, you could take any of the characters and develop them into the focus of another story.' Aaron Lavery, The Manchester Metro
‘Brutally emotional and slickly crafted, 'DIANE'S DELI' is a thoroughly recommended excursion into the dangerously real world of Paradise Heights.’
Thefictionstoker.com
‘When are TV Commissioners going to wake up and find Joe O’Byrne?’ Stephen Kingston, Salford Star
MATURE CONTENT
