Mike McCormack Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Mike McCormack is a prolific author, short story writer, and novelist from Ireland, who is famous for writing literature & fiction, contemporary, and young adult books. He is known to have published a couple of short story collections called Forensis Songs and Getting It In the Head. Also, the novel writing career of author McCormack is comprised of 3 novels, namely Notes From a Coma, Solar Bones, and Crowe’s Requiem. Author McCormack has been labeled as a disgracefully neglected author. He was born in the year 1965 in London. McCormack was raised on a farm located in Louisburgh, County Mayo. He completed his graduation in the subjects of philosophy and English from the University College Galway. In 1996, he received the Rooney Prize for his excellent contribution to the Irish literature. Two years later, author McCormack’s first short story collection was voted as the Notable Book of that year by the New York Times. A story from that collection, The Terms, was later adapted into an award winning short film, which was directed by noteworthy director Johnny O’Reilly. Author McCormack’s 2005 book, Notes From a Coma, was shortlisted in the following year for the Book of the Year of Ireland Award. This book was described by John Waters from The Irish Times in 2010 as the greatest Irish book of the last decade. Author McCormack has said that it took him a total of 7 years to write the book. In the month of May in 2016, a publisher from Dublin called Tramp Press released his latest novel, Solar Bones. This novel has won the 2016 Goldsmiths Prize. Solar Bones is considered unusual in its own sense as it is written in only a single sentence. Author McCormack resides in Galway along with lovely wife named Maeve.

Before the success of Solar Bones, author McCormack spent around 10 years struggling to get his writing career on track and prove his worth as a writer. McCormack had received some success in the initial stages of his literary career before he dropped off the radar completely. However, he considers lucky to have gotten back on track and get things going for himself. In his 1996 prize winning debut, author McCormack has described some sharp-as-knives metaphysical flourishes and ultra-violence lashings. Crow’s Requiem followed a couple of years after his debut. It is seen as a fantastic mixture of doom alienation of students and young love, which takes place in Galway. When author McCormack looks back at this story now, he sees it as a magical realist type of Goth fairy tale. He even admits the fact that this book divided his audience and received very poor reviews. But, he corrected his mistakes in his later books and became successful in gaining back the support of the readers. As a child, author McCormack spent some time in Ireland by staying with the grandparents as his parents had gone out of Mayo to earn money. After some time, they returned back and shifted to the little seaside town called Louisburgh along with McCormack. He spent most of his time growing up in Louisburgh. He became so much attached to the place that he decided to set all his literary works in this town. McCormack’s family home was located just under the holiest mountain in Ireland known as Croagh Patrick. Between the ages of 7 and 13, served as an altar boy. He likes to mention that when he started writing, there was a huge reservoir of myth and ritual. He believes these things are his imagination’s backdrop. When McCormack was 18 years old, his father died due to a heart attack. He remembers that it was a very difficult for him and his family. He was so affected by the sudden death of his father that he filled all his novels with the fragility and the miracle of the human heart.

An initial book written by author Mike McCormack in his career is entitled ‘Notes From A Coma’. It was released by the Soho Press in the year 2013, after its first release in 2005. Author McCormack has set the story of this book in Romania and Killary Harbor, and has introduced the main character in the form of J.J O’Malley. At the start of the book’s story, it is shown that J.J O’Malley was adopted and raised by a single dad from an orphanage in Romania in the western region of Ireland. Even though Malley grows up as an outsider, he goes on to find a place for himself in the community. Everything seems to be going good until his best friend dies, causing his world to shake and fall apart. Later, Malley goes on to volunteer for the Sommos Project, which is an experimental program employed to test deep coma as EU penal system potential option. After his enrollment, Malley is taken to a prison ship, which is docked in the Killary Harbor. Inside the experimental setup room, he is hooked to the monitoring devices. The results of the experiment are fed out on the internet, thereby making Malley and the other volunteers like him global celebrities overnight. The book looks to be a beautiful description of the small town life of Ireland and a far reaching investigation of neuroscience, incarceration ethics, politics, and global communications. It was regarded as a major work by one of the most unusual and world’s bravest novelists.

Another excellent book that author McCormack has written is called ‘Crowe’s Requiem’. It was released by the Henry Colt publication in 1999. Author McCormack has mentioned this book was a dark, eerie, and an unusual story of a man who is uncertain of his origins. The novel also describes the man’s dreamlike rapid transit through his life. At the beginning of the story of the book, Crowe is depicted as having experienced unusual childhood and young age biologically. Later, he joins the Dublin University and tries to the get over with the difficult experiences of his life. But, he is unable to do so as he is made to bear the emotional trauma because of his lover and some sinister experiences medically. Crowe condition deteriorates so much that he does not get a happy ending. On the whole, the book describes a socially challenged boy’s story, who seems himself as a fallen angel. Starting from his upbringing, the story travel through various stages of his life. Crowe comes across a woman in university and experiences the feeling of love. The story seems surreal, raw, and dark. Its success again proved that author McCormack has some very unique writing skills with which he makes the readers keep turning pages until the very end.