Damien Coffey

Deimne Damien Coffey

I have been enamored by the legends of Finn Mac Cumhaill since I was a youngster. The stories and legends that young Irish people grew up were short and very ephemeral and full of magic. They were handed down by the Seanchaidhe, the order of Irish story tellers for thousands of years. As a child I often wondered what Finn was really like. That wonder was the seed for this series of books that I have now finally begun to write. The books of which this is the first are primarily works of fiction that humanize the boy and the man of legend. I have spent the last four years writing this first book around my busy life as a Husband, father, and working the day job. The ancient history of Ireland has always fascinated me and very little remains of that history apart from these Irish legends that have been passed down by word of mouth for millennia. I have enjoyed immensely the investigation of the legends of Finn and have a passion to find the real man behind them. I wanted to strip away the purely magic creature that Finn had become through the legends and myths to tell the story of Finn through his eyes as a normal boy who was orphaned and left to be brought up by his two aunts, growing into the man around which the subsequent legends grew. I have dissected all of the legends and deeds of Finn to find the kernel of the true events that took place that led to the legends we know of today. I have also kept a little magic in the book although I have twisted it to be a more physical kind of magic surrounded by the druidic earthy beliefs of the Celtic people living in the time period the book is set in. I hope that you will get the same enjoyment from the stories as I do. Damien Coffey