Shortly after the sale of his first non-fiction book, Patrick began work on a novel. The turn to fiction was the result of two converging streams of circumstance in his life: the slow disintegration of the local night life and loss of one of its leading lights (and Pat’s dear friend) -- and later, by the events of September 11, 2001.
The first fruit of his intense daily writing routine was a finished manuscript for the novel Payin’ The Door. Evoking the real-life people and places of his 1990s night life experienced against the backdrop of a fictional story of sudden loss, gradual awareness and ultimate redemption, the novel Payin’ The Door represents both the author’s coming to terms with the sudden changes in his own lilfe, and a significant writing achievement.
With barely a breath between projects, Pat’s fiction muse led him from dealing with personal loss to the writing of A Scratch on the Sky -- a psychic response to September 11. A novella of New York’s northern suburbs immediately before, during, and in the six weeks following that sad day, A Scratch on the Sky sees its world through the eyes of an innocent -- a teenaged girl -- who learns to cope with sadness of historic proportion through her interaction with the average suburbanites who surround her each day. In their very ordinariness, and their determined hold on quaint tradition, her neighbors and friends help the novel’s protagonist to a tenuous means of coping in a uniquely difficult time.
While still in fiction writing mode, Pat also entirely re-wrote the manuscript of an earlier project, resulting in Jimmy and the World -- a coming of age tale of two brothers growing up in the turbulent later years of the 1960s. Bravely facing the personal uncertainty resulting from the dissolution of his parents’ marriage and the possibility of being drafted for wartime service in Vietnam, the hero of Jimmy and the World finds a way forward in his enduring love for his younger brother, and in an epiphany borne of witnessing the Apollo 11 first manned landing on the Moon.
In these three long-form fiction projects, the author spells out themes characteristic of much of his work, including the interplay of personal honor and public duty; the weighing of perceived practicality and the often overlooked benefits of unapologetic idealism; and the enduring triumph of ordinary love over the sadness of shock and loss.
Pat’s fiction resume dates back to the 1980s, when his short story “Thieves” was awarded a silver medalist certificate in the annual competition of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. His fiction and poetry was also honored with several awards of the college literary magazine PLM, and his work at that time included an epic sequel to the classic poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”
Patrick J. Walsh: Novels & Short Fiction
Current Projects:
Long-Form Fiction:
• Payin’ The Door (the novel)
- 63,000 words; synopsis, sample pages, annotated outline, complete ms. available.
• A Scratch on the Sky (novella)
- 31,000 words; synopsis, sample pages, annotated outline, complete ms available.
• Jimmy and the World (YA novel)
- 37,000 words; synopsis, sample pages, annotated outline, complete ms. available.
Short Fiction (available for editorial consideration):
• Johnnie Said No
- 2,500 words; music-themed short story about the effect of the dissolving night life on two long-time band mates.
• A Different Kind of Freedom
- 1,975 words; temptation and fidelity in the suburbs.
• Observations in an Art Studio
- 3,285 words; sensitivity, cruelty and saving mercy in art school.
