Millar, Sam 1955-

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Millar, Sam 1955-

PERSONAL:

Born 1955, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

ADDRESSES:

CAREER:

Writer. Former Northern Irish political protestor and criminal who spent time in prison, including prisons in Long Kesh, Northern Ireland, and in New York.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Brian Moore Short Story Award, 1998, for the story "Rain."

WRITINGS:

On the Brinks (memoir), Wynkin deWorde (Galway, Ireland), 2003.

Dark Souls (novel), Wynkin deWorde (Galway, Ireland), 2003.

The Redemption Factory (fiction), Brandon (Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland), 2005.

The Darkness of Bones, Brandon (Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland), 2006.

ADAPTATIONS:

On The Brinks has been adapted for film by Warner Brothers; short stories "New York" and "Rain" have been adapted as radio plays and broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio.

SIDELIGHTS:

In his memoir On the Brinks, Sam Millar writes of growing up in troubled Northern Ireland, his political imprisonment, and his move to New York where he and a gang robbed Brinks Security in Rochester, NY, of 7.2 million dollars only to be captured and sent to prison. He was one of the political prisoners in Maze prison ("Long Kesh") in Northern Ireland who protested having to wear regular prison uniforms, and made their own uniforms out of prison blankets (called the "blanket protest"). "Millar's vivid recollection of privations withstood during the blanket protest offers grim testimony to the limits of human endurance," wrote Frank Shouldice in the Europe Intelligence Wire.

In addition to writing his memoir, Millar has gone on to write crime novels, including Dark Souls. The novel focuses on the cruel and brutal Larkin Baxter and his girlfriend, Dakota. The couple's story is told by a young reporter named Dominic, who is both repelled and attracted by the duo. Although Larkin begins by hurting animals, he eventually moves on to a series of murders. "Dark though it may be, in both title and theme, Sam Millar's novel is a compelling and forceful examination of twisted childhood," wrote an Emigrant Online Web site contributor.

The Redemption Factory tells the story of Paul Goodman, who works in an abattoir, and his girlfriend, Geordie, a cripple. When a friend of Paul's witnesses a murder, the two find themselves the targets for retribution with Geordie ultimately coming to Paul's rescue. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the novel a "short, gothic semi-fable." Another reviewer writing in the Europe Intelligence Wire, noted that the novel has "some fine writing." In his third novel, The Darkness of Bones, the author tells of an evil couple living on a farm who have kidnapped and committed murder. When young Adrian Calvert disappears, his father must overcome his guilt over having killed his wife in a car accident and focus on tracking down his son.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Millar, Sam, On the Brinks, Wynkin deWorde (Galway, Ireland), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 2006, Keir Graff, review of The Redemption Factory, p. 28.

Europe Intelligence Wire, November 8, 2003, Frank Shouldice, "A Life Less Ordinary for This Incredible Survivor," review of On the Brinks; July 16, 2005, review of The Redemption Factory.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2006, review of The Redemption Factory, p. 373.