Mike Farragher has been married happily for 29 years to his college sweetheart, and so he’s probably a good person to ask for advice about love. And indeed he has over the years helped with friends’ dating profiles. But during the pandemic this led to a more formal effort in that regard, www.lovelettersprofiles.com which helps people craft their dating profiles, and he also set up one for career profiles/resumes, www.careerletters.com.
And Farragher developed and shot a pilot episode of a comedy TV series concept, LoveLetters Profiles, which recently placed as a semi-finalist at the London International Screenwriting Festival.
However, the author of five books and two plays produced off-Broadway was the one seeking advice when he decided to develop an idea that had been with him for years.
“The Last Temptation of Mary” answers the question: what if the Blessed Mother and Lucifer met in a bar?” Farragher told the Echo of his sixth book. “I wanted to write a light-hearted yet thought-provoking tale of faith that cast Lucifer as an insecure demon and Mary as a calm, cool, and collected ‘boss lady’ who has his number.”
Mary is committed “to choosing to love on her own terms this time around, and Lucifer sees a golden opportunity to curry favor with Jesus...”
A press release for the book says: “Realizing that a fictional work involving The Blessed Mother could be fraught with risk, Farragher says he enlisted the help of his Lutheran minister and a former pastor in the Roman Catholic church as pre-readers to help him strike the right tone so that he didn’t run afoul of Scripture and dishonor his Catholic faith. ‘I am comfortable skating right up against the line, but didn’t want to cross it,’ Farragher jokes. ‘It was important to me that Mary was portrayed with the respect she deserves and selfishly speaking, I don’t want to sell books in hell for eternity! I am grateful for my spiritual advisors for keeping me on the right side of the line!’”
Farragher, the son of a dad from Ballyglunin, Co. Galway, and a mom from Ballylanders, Co. Limerick, will perform at the New York Irish Center, 10-40 Jackson Ave., Long Island City (one stop on the 7 train from Grand Central) on this next Wednesday evening, March 9, in an evening of stories, songs and guitar playing with fellow author Seamus Kelleher. Details here.
Mike Farragher
Date of birth: Aug. 5, 1966
Place of birth: Jersey City, N.J.
Spouse: Barbara
Children: 2 daughters, 22 and 24
Residence: Spring Lake Heights, N.J.
Published works: 6 books | 2 Off-Broadway plays, 2 comedy short films (including “McLean Avenue,” a winner of numerous awards at film festivals).
What is your writing routine? Are there ideal conditions?
I can write anywhere. I like the chaos and randomness of airports because you never know when the next character of your novel shows up to jam that overstuffed carry-on into the overhead compartment.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Write every day for at least 15 minutes. Pick the best time that works for you and then just write, even if you don’t feel like it and just scribble “I don’t feel like writing” 20 times on a page for 15 minutes. It’s all about building a writing muscle. Expect to have bouts of confidence. We all do. I’ve interviewed the most well-known Irish authors over the years and they all had doubts about their writing. It comes with the territory.
Name three books that are memorable in terms of your reading pleasure.
Colm Tóibín’s influenced my writing in general, and his novella “The Testament of Mary” inspired my new novel. The way he humanized the Blessed Mother was a revelation. She was in active grief over losing a son and “going through the feels” like any human in Colm’s story. Riveting. He is a master.
What book are you currently reading?
“The Writing Irish of New York” by Colin Broderick. He assembled some of his and my favorite Irish/Irish American writers to write essays on the immigrant Big Apple experience. This came out a while ago and he reissued it with some new essays (full disclosure: I have an essay in it). Colin Broderick is a mentor and hero of mine.
Is there a book you wish you had written?
The short answer: any book that sold better than mine!
Name a book that you were pleasantly surprised by.
I loved Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, “Born to Run.” His songwriting demonstrates an obvious way with words, but I was particularly impressed with how he used descriptive techniques, set scenes, and used dialogue in such a way that his memoir read like a novel.
If you could meet one author, living or dead, who would it be?
Yeats. I’d ask him how he was able to say so much with just a few words in his poems.
What book changed your life?
Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” changed my life; he wrote in simple prose that was gripping, heartbreaking, and hilarious, and it set this high bar for the rest of us. I was extremely fortunate to meet him a couple of times and got the opportunity to tell him how much he meant to me. I love his brother, Malachy, and I’m grateful to call the man a friend. “A Monk Swimming” is an incredible book.
What is your favorite spot in Ireland?
There is a thin tongue of black top that splits the fields between my uncle’s house and grandmother’s farm next door in rural Ballyglunin, Co. Galway. I rode the old horse Tom as a small child in the field to my left and my grandfather died suddenly tending the farm to my right. I can hear the ghosts of my ancestors’ whispers through the wind that whistles through the cobblestone fences. That sliver o’ road is mystical to me.
You're Irish if...
Your mother’s voice rattles inside your head and it lays a guilt trip on a Sunday morning after you’ve missed Mass.
