'Appendix A', from, Gangsters or Guerrillas? Representations of Irish Republicans in 'Troubles Fiction', by Patrick Magee (2001)

The Appendix below has been taken from the book:

Gangsters or Guerrillas?
Representations of Irish Republicans
in 'Troubles Fiction'
by Patrick Magee (2001)
with Foreword by Danny Morrison

ISBN: 1-900960-14-1 (Paperback) 248pp

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The Appendix is copyright of Patrick Magee (2001) and is included on the CAIN site by permission of the author and publisher. You may not edit, adapt, or redistribute changed versions of this extract for other than your personal use without the express written permission of the author, and the publisher, Beyond the Pale Publications. Redistribution for commercial purposes is not permitted.

From the back cover:

‘When I mention having studied “Troubles fiction” while in prison, that is, prose fiction dealing with the conflict in the North of Ireland since the late 1960s, I often meet with polite silence...’

This is how Patrick Magee begins his fascinating study of the strange world of novels about the conflict in Ireland. Beginning while he was interned in Long Kesh in 1974, he worked his way through hundreds of the 700 works of fiction produced to date. No one is better placed to introduce the reader to the ‘Provo godfathers’, ‘psychopaths’, and ‘romantic nationalists with a death wish’ who inhabit this fictional universe. And no one is better placed to critically assess these representations of republicans than an active republican like Patrick Magee.

The popularity of ‘Troubles fiction’ lies in the genre’s success in performing a key ideological and political function for the British reading public, argues the author. The fiction often serves to denigrate the enemy, idealise ‘our side’ and over-simplify the reasons for political conflict. In this way it has played a crucial role in the propaganda war over the last three decades. As a consequence, there has been little insight provided into the real world of Irish republicans. As the author puts it, ‘to read these works uncritically is to accept at face value many assumptions that continue to hinder a resolution of the divisions of Ireland’. His task therefore is to read the fiction critically.

Patrick Magee was born in Belfast in 1951. In 1985, along with others, he was charged with involvement in an IRA bombing campaign in England which included the explosion at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Tory Party conference of 1984. He was sentenced to eight life terms, with the Home Secretary setting his tariff at ‘whole life’, but was eventually transferred to Maghaberry Prison in 1994 and subsequently to Long Kesh, from where he was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in June 1999. This book is based on his doctoral thesis, begun while in prison and completed on his release.

Patrick Magee has now established the Causeway Project which seeks to facilitate encounters between perpetrators and victims of any action that occurred during the course of the Troubles.

Appendix A: Category (a) novels by year of first publication

1970: 6
Menna Gallie,   You're Welcome to Ulster
Peter Leslie,   The Extremist
Joan Lingard,   The Lord on Our Side
Joan Lingard,   The Twelfth Day of July
Lee MacKenzie,   Hadleigh
Martin Waddell,   A Little Bit British

1971: 5
James Barlow,   Both Your Houses
Russell Braddon,   The Progress of Private Lilyworth
James Carrick,   With O’Leary in the Grave
Tom McIntyre,   Through the Bridewell Gate
James Wood,   Road to Canossa

1972: 5
David Brewster,   The Heart’s Grown Brutal
Robert Crawford,   Whip Hand (Hugh C. Rae, 1974)
Shaun Herron,   Through the Dark and Hairy Wood
Jack Higgins,   The Savage Day
Joan Lingard,   Across the Barricades

1973: 16
Bob Aylott,   Cry for Tomorrow
Harry Barton,   Yours Till Ireland Explodes, Mr Mooney
Elizabeth Boyle,   Obsession
Jimmy Breslin,   World Without End, Amen
Elliot Cannon,   Stand By to Shoot
John De St Jorre & Brian Shakespeare,   The Patriot Game
Peter Dickinson,   The Green Gene
June Drummond,   Bang! Bang! You’re Dead!
Walter Hegarty,   The Price of Chips
Shaun Herron,   The Whore Mother
Jack Higgins,   A Prayer for the Dying
Joan Lingard,   Into Exile
Ned Nicholl,   No More Leprechauns
James A. Philips,   Joe Gall: the Shankill Road Contract
Francis Stuart,   Memorial
Terence De Vere White,   The Distance and the Dark

1974: 8
Harry Barton,   Yours Again, Mr Mooney
Robert Charles,   The Hour of the Wolf
Jon Cleary,   Peter’s Pence
Peter Dnscoll,   In Connection with Kilshaw
John Feeney,   Worm Friday
Michael Kenyon,   A Sorry State
Donald Seaman,   The Bomb That Could Lip-read
George W. Target,   The Patriots

1975: 12
Brian Ball,   Keegan: No-Option Contract
Robert Charles,   The Flight of the Raven
Max Franidin,   Hennessy (The Fifth of November)
Douglas Hurd,   Vote to Kill
Joan Lingard,   A Proper Place
Brian Marriner,   A Splinter of Ice
David Martin,   The Task
Ian Kennedy Martin,   Regan
Ian Kennedy Martin,   The Sweeney
Edith Morrison,   Joy in the Troubles
Edward A. O’Neill,   The Rotterdam Delivery
Gerald Seymour,   Harry’s Game

1976: 20
Anthony Burton,   The Coventry Option
Robert Charles,   The Scream of a Dove
Gerard De Villiers,   Belfast Connection
PA. Foxall,   Inspector Derben ‘s War
John Hale,   Lovers and Heretics
Oliver Jacks,   Assassination Day
Joan Lingard,   Hostages to Fortune
James Lund,   The Ultimate
Sam McBratney,   Mark Time
Eugene McCabe,   Victims: A Tale from Fermanagh
Naomi May,   Troubles
Robin Moore,   The Kaufman Snatch
Malachi O’Doherty,   Belfast Story
Chapman Pincher,   The Eye of the Tornado
Philip Prowse,   Death of a Soldier
Gerald Seymour,   The Glory Boys
Dennis Sinclair,   The Third Force
Paul Theroux,   The Family Arsenal
Peter Van Greenaway,   Suffer! Little Children
Jon Manchip White,   The Robinson Factor

1977: 20
Patrick Aalben,   The Grab
James D. Atwater,   Time Bomb
Colin Bennett,   Night Moves by Armour
Robert Byrne,   The Tunnel
James Carroll,   Madonna Red
Peter Carter,   Under Goliath
Kevin Casey,   Dreams of Revenge
Robert Cawley,   Friend or Foe?
Robert Charles,   The Prey of the Falcon
P.A. Foxall,   Inspector Derben and the Widow Maker
B. M. Gill,   Target Westminster
Michael Hilliar,   Come Dance With Me
Jennifer Johnston,   Shadows on Our Skin
Benedict Kiely,   Proxopera
Bob Langley,   Death Stalk
David Martin,   The Ceremony of Innocence
John Morrow,   The Confessions of Proinsias O’Toole
Ritchie Perry,   Dead End
Donald Seaman,   The Committee
Francis Stuart,   A Hole in the Head

1978: 14
James Carroll,   Mortal Friends
Ray Connolly,   News Death
John Cowell,   The Begrudgers
Clive Egleton,   The Mills Bomb
James Forman,   A Fine, Soft Day
Bartholomew Gill,   McGarr and the Politician’s Wife
Clifford Hanley,   Prissy
John Hardesty,   The Killing Ground
Andrew Lane,   Forgive the Executioner
Bob Langley,   The War of the Running Fox
Nick McCarty,   Spearhead
Michael McNamara,   The Dancing Floor
Lucille Redmond,   Who Breaks Up the Old Moons to Make New Stars
Martin Walker,   The Infiltrator

1979: 18
Patrick Adams,   Everything Can Be OK
David Bellin,   The Children’s War
Stewart Binnie,   Across the Water
lain Blair,   Hooligan’s Rant
Robert Cawley,   Shockwave
John Chapman,   City War
Kevin Dowling,   Interface Ireland
Bartholomew Gill,   McGarr and the Dublin Horse Show
Des Hamill,   Bitter Orange
David Hanley,   In Guilt and in Glory
Palma Harcourt,   A Sleep of Spies
Christopher Hawke,   For Campaign Service
David Hayward,   The Provo Link
Andrew Lane,   The Ulsterman
Michael McNamara,   The Sovereign Solution
Richard Montague,   Frank Faces of the Dead
Walter Nelson,   The Minstrel Code
Surrey Smith,   A Gun for Delilah

1980: 16
G.J. Arnaud,   Colonel Dog
Ambrose Clancy,   Blind Pilot
Coim Connolly,   The Pact
Guiy De Montfort,   All the Queen’s Men
Lee Dunne,   Ringmaster
Brian Garfield,   The Paladin
David Grant,   Emerald Decision
Norma Harrs,   A Certain State of Mind
Colin Leinster,   The Outsider
Brian O’Connor,   The One-Shot War
Uinsin O’Donovan,   Rag Shadows
Julia O’Faolain,   No Country For Young Men
Joseph Rosenburg,   Death Merchant: the Shamrock Smash
Gerald Seymour,   The Contract
Peter Spain,   Blood Scenario
Norman Stahl,   The Assault on Mavis A

1981: 14
Roy Bradford,   The Last Ditch
Mildred Downey Broxon,   Too Long a Sacrifice
Susan Cheever,   A Handsome Man
Russell Claughton,   The Long Good Friday
Nelson DeMille,   Cathedral
Jack Holland,   The Prisoner’s Wife
Alan Judd,   Breed of Heroes
Maurice Leitch,   Silver’s City
Peter McDonald,   One Way Street
Valerie Miner,   Blood Sisters
Michael North,   Mission to Ulster
R.W. Porter,   Kiss and Kill
Ian St James,   The Balfour Conspiracy
Arden Winch,   Blood Money

1982: 12
P.A. Foxall,   The Face of Fury
Frank Herbert,   The White Plague
George V. Higgins,   The Patriot Game
Jack Higgins,   Touch the Devil
Rupert Holloway,   The Terrorist Conspiracy
John Milne,   Tyro
John Morrow,   The Essex Factor
Hardiman Scott,   Operation 10
Terence Strong,   Whisper Who Dares
Julian Symons,   The Detling Murders
Steve White,   The Fighting Irish
Des Wilson,   The Demonstration

1983: 8
Marjory Alyn,   The Sound of Anthems
Antony Beevor,   The Faustian Pact
A.EN. Clarke,   Contact
Tom Gibson,   A Wild Hope
Battholomew Gill,   McGarr and the PM of Beigrave Square
Ted Harnot,   No Sanctuary
Bernard MacLaverty,   Cal
Mary Tanquay,   Run With the Hare

1984: 15
Linda Anderson,   To Stay Alive
Lynn Reid Banks,   Maura's Angel
Elizabeth Gibson,   The Water is Wide
Bartholomew Gill,   McGarr and the Method of Descartes
Pete Hamill,   The Guns of Heaven
Dermot Healy,   Fighting with Shadows
Desmond Hogan,   A Curious Street
Richard Hugo,   Last Judgement
Jennifer Johnston,   The Railway Station Man
Peter Ransley,   The Price
John Rowe,   Long Live the King
Mike Shelley,   The Last Private Eye in Belfast
Ian St James,   The Killing Anniversary
Mary Ann Sullivan,   Child of War
Una Woods,   The Dark Hole Days

1985: 12
Colin Dunne,   Rat Catcher
Jack Higgins,   Confessional
John Howlett,   Orange
Grace Ingoldby,   Across the Water
Philip Kerrigan,   Dead Ground
Donall MacAmhlaigh,   Schnitzer O’Shea
Dominic McCartan,   Operation Emerald
Frances Molloy,   No Mate for the Magpie
William Paul,   Seasons of Revenge
M.S. Power,   The Killing of Yesterday’s Children
Gerald Seymour,   Field of Blood
James Shannon,   A Game of Soldiers

1986: 15
Linda Anderson,   Cuckoo
Albert J. Countryman,   The Streets of Derry
M. Gilliland,   The Free
Desmond Hogan,   A New Shirt
P.J. Kavanagh,   Only By Mistake
Peter Lauder,   Noble Lord
Don MacNaughton,   They Stayed a Soldier
Deirdre Madden,   Hidden Symptoms
Chris Ould,   A Kind of Sleep
Roger Parkes,   Riot
Sean Patrick,   Maureen’s Ireland
MS. Power,   Lonely the Man Without Heroes
Allan Prior,   Her Majesty’s Hit Man
Catherine Sefton,   Starry Night
Terence Strong,   Dragon Plague

1987: 20
Evelyn Anthony,   A Place to Hide
Evelyn Anthony,   No Enemy But Time
Campbell Armstrong,   Jig
Mary Beckett,   Give Them Stones
Mary Bringle,   Death of an Unknown Man
Mary Bringle,   The Man in Moss Coloured Trousers
Jim Case,   Cody’s Army: Belfast Blitz
Tom Clancy,   Patriot Games
Michael Gilbert,   Trouble
Peter Harris,   A Solitary Terrorist
James Kelly,   The Marrow from the Bone
Stephen Leather,   Pay Off
Maurice Leitch,   Chinese Whispers
Joan Lingard,   The Guilty Party
Hugo Meenan,   No Time for Love
James Murphy,   Juniper
G.F. Newman,   The Testing Ground
MS. Power,   A Darkness in the Eye
Catherine Sefton (Martin Waddell),   Shadows on the Lake
David Thompson,   Broken English

1988: 8
John Brady,   A Stone of the Heart
Michael Chaplin,   Act of Betrayal
Eoin McNamee,   The Lost of Deeds
Antony Melville-Ross,   Shaw’s War
S~arah].J. Michaels,   Summary Justice
Julie Mitchell,   Sunday Afternoons
Glenn Patterson,   Burning Your Own
Catherine Sefton,   Frankie ‘s Story

1989: 18
Philippa Blake,   Looking Out
John Brady,   Unholy Ground
Richard Bums,   Why Diamond Had to Die
R.W. Jones,   The Green Reapers
Joe Joyce,   Off the Record
Denis Kilcommon,   Serpent’s Tooth
John Loftus & Emily McIntyre,   Valhalla’s Wake
Patrick McCabe,   Carn
Tom McCaughren,   Rainbows of the Moon
Vincent MacDowell,   An Ulster Idyll
Peter Mans,   Father and Son
Pat Molloy,   A Legacy of Demons
Danny Morrison,   West Belfast
Frederick Nolan,   Sweet Sister Death
Aly Renwick,   ...last night another soldier...
Catherine Sefton,   The Beat of the Drum
Eileen Sherman,   Victor’s Place
Robert McLiam Wilson,   Ripley Bogle

1990: 21
Don Anderson,   Heatshield
Dermot Bolger,   The Journey Home
John Brady,   Kaddish in Dublin
Peter Burdon,   Warrior’s Son
Gavin Ester,   Loyalties
Fergus Finlay,   A Cruel Trade
Niki Hill,   Death Grows on You
Shaun Hutson,   Renegades
James Hynes,   The Wild Colonial Boy
Russell Celyn Jones,   Soldiers and Innocents
Joe Joyce,   The Trigger Man
Jonathan Kebbe,   The Armalite Maiden
Kitty Manning,   The Between People
Brian Moore,   Lies of Silence
Frederick Nolan,   Designated Assassin
Timothy O’Grady,   Motherland
Kenneth Royce,   Exchange of Doves
Lionel Shriver,   The Bleeding Heart (Ordinary Decent Criminals, 1992)
Alan Spence,   The Magic Flute
Hanna Wakefield,   A February Mourning
Stuart White,   The Shamrock Boy

1991: 22
John Arden,   Cogs Tyrannic
Ronan Bennett,   The Second Prison
Dan Binchy,   The Neon Madonna
George Brown,   Ringmain
Susan Crosland,   Dangerous Games
Frederick Forsyth,   The Deceiver
David Hegarty,   Short Storm
Jack Higgins,   The Eagle Has Flown
Graham Hurley,   Reaper
Evelyn James,   Taking the Forbidden Road
Frank Kippax,   The Butcher’s Bill
Mary Leland,   Approaching Priests
Thomas McCarthy,   Without Power
Ron McKay,   The Catalyst
Paul Mann,   The Traitor’s Contract
S.J. Michaels,   Dieback
Daniel Mornm,   All Our Fault
Victor O’Reilly,   Games of the Hangman
MS. Power,   Come the Executioner
Jan Roberts,   A Blood Affair
Patrick Ruell,   The Only Game
Deborah Valentine,   Fine Distinctions

1992: 20
Ronan Bennett,   Overthrown by Strangers
Bernard Cornwell,   Scoundrel
Mary Costello,   Titanic Town
Its Daly,   All Fall Down
Julian Desser,   Soap Star Kidnapped
Joe Donnelly,   The Shee
Randy Lee Eickhoff,   The Gombeen Man
Richard Grindal,   The Tartan Conspiracy
Ken Gross,   Hell Bent
Jack Higgins,   Eye of the Storm
Henry H. Howley,   The Making of an Assassin
Frank Kippax,   Other People’s Blood
Stephen Leather,   The Chinaman
Henry McCallion,   Double Kill
Jane McLoughlin,   Coincidence
Brian Morrison,   A Cause for Dying
David Park,   The Healing
Glenn Patterson,   Fatlad
Kenneth Royce,   A Wild Justice
Gerald Seymour,   The Journeyman Tailor

1993: 16
James Adams,   Taking the Tunnel
Mary Breasted,   Why Should You Doubt Me Now?
Shaun Clarke,   Soldier E, SAS: Sniper Fire in Belfast
Patrick Coogan,   The General
Richard Crawford,   Fall When Hit
Peter Cunningham,   Who Trespass Against Us
Angela Doherty,   Constant Friends
Briege Duffaud,   A Wreath Upon the Dead
Jack Higgins,   Thunder Point
Blair McMahon,   Nights in Armour
Paul Mann,   The Britannia Contract
Frank Palmer,   Bent Grasses
William Rocke,   Operation Birdie
Gordon Stevens,   Provo
Edward Toman,   Shambles Corner
Paul Watkins,   The Promise of Light

1994: 27
George Brown,   Sacrifice
Roger Cottrell,   The Orpheus Programme
Richard Crawford,   The Minstrel Boy
Conor Cregan,   With Extreme Prejudice
James Daniel,   They Told Me You Were Dead
James Douglas,   The Clearing
Tom Faulkner,   The Machiavellian Legacy
Dermot Healy,   A Goat’s Song
James Heneghan,   Torn Away
Jack Higgins,   On Dangerous Ground
Jack Holland,   Walking Corpses
Shaun Hutson,   White Ghost
Colbert Kearney,   The Consequence
Stephen Leather,   The Long Shot
Eugene McEldowney,   A Kind of Home Coming
James McKeon,   Operation Pontiff
Eoin McNamee,   Resurrection Man
Kirk Mitchell,   Blown Away
Edna O’Brien,   House of Splendid Isolation
David Park,   The Rye Man
Patrick Quigley,   Borderland
David Rice,   Blood Guilt
Sean Rooney,   Early Many a Morning
Ras Sewell,   A Basketful of Sleepers
Eddy Shah,   Fallen Angels
Terence Strong,   The Tick Tock Man
Glover Wright,   Headhunter

1995: 26
John Arden,   Jack Juggler and the Emperor’s Whore
Colin Bateman,   Divorcing Jack
Colin Bateman,   Cycle of Violence
Sean Martin Blain,   The Java Man
Phil Clarke,   Featherbed
Johnson Courts,   Collusion
Peter Cunningham,   Tapes from the River Delta
James Daniel,   Out of the Strong
Eamon Delaney,   The Casting of Mr O’Shaughnessy
Martin Dillon,   The Serpent’s Tail
Louise Doughty,   Crazy Paving
Daniel Easterman,   Day of Wrath
Pat Gray,   The Political Map of the Heart
John Hands,   Brutal Fantasies
Jack Higgins,   Angel of Death
Graham Hurley,   Sabbathman
Patrick McCabe,   The Dead School
Eugene McEldowney,   Stone of the Heart
Gareth O’Callaghan,   Dare to Die
Kate O’Riordan,   Involved
Rhonda Paisley,   Lost Fathers
Glenn Patterson,   Black Night at Big Thunder Mountain
Deirdre Purcell,   Sky
John Quinn,   Generations of the Moon
Ian Rankin,   Mortal Causes
Michael Shea,   Spin Doctor

1996: 33
Paul Anthony,   The Fragile Peace
Keith Baker,   Inheritance
Jo Bannister,   No Birds Sing
Colin Bateman,   Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men
Colin Bennett,   The Entertainment Bomb
Theresa Breslin,   Death or Glory Boys
Sam Brian,   Winter’s Return
Sean Colm,   Letter to Glenn
James Daniel,   Kisses of the Enemy
Seamus Deane,   Reading in the Dark
Daniel Easterman,   Night of the Apocalypse
Michael Foley,   The Road to Notown
Reg Gadney,   Just When We Are Safest
James Hawes,   A White Mercs with Fins
Jack Higgins,   Drink with the Devil
James Kennedy,   Armed and Dangerous
Stephen Leather,   The Double Tap
Ian McDonald,   Sacrifice of Fools
Eugene McEhdowney,   The Sad Case of Harpo Higgins
Deirdre Madden,   One by One in the Darkness
Julie Moffett,   The Double-Edged Blade
Sean P. Murphy,   Foreign Chains
Ruth Padel,   Fusewire
David Park,   Stone Kingdoms
Chris Petit,   The Psalm Killer
Chris Ryan,   Stand By, Stand By
Eamonn Sweeney,   Waiting for the Healer
Gordon Thomas,   Poisoned Sky
Leslie Thomas,   Kensington Heights
Rebecca Tinsley,   The Judas File
Marian Urch,   Violent Shadows
Simon Weston & Patrick Hill,   Cause of Death
Robert McLiam Wilson,   Eureka Street

1997: 18
Colin Bateman,   Empire State
Sean Beecher,   The Fastnet File
Shaun Clarke,   Underworld
Anne Doughty,   A Few Late Roses
Lois Gould,   No Brahes
Jack Higgins,   The President’s Daughter
Shaun Hutson,   Knife Edge
Paul Harvey Jackson,   McCluskey (serialised in Figments)
David M. Kiely,   The Angel Tapes
Eugene McEldowney,   Murder at Piper’s Gut
Adrian McKinty,   Orange Rhymes with Everything
Bernard MacLaverty,   Grace Notes
Andy McNab,   Remote Control
Danny Morrison,   The Wrong Man
Chris Ryan,   Zero Option
Terence Strong,   Rogue Element
Ian Watson,   Oracle
Stewart J. Wilson,   The Gobbins

1998: 21
Alex Ashe,   An Acceptable Level of Violence
Hugo Barnacle,   Day One
Sebastian Barry,   The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty
Colin Bateman,   Maid of the Mist
Geoffrey Beattie The Corner Boys
Ronan Bennett,   The Catastrophist
Tom Bradby,   Shadow Dancer
Shaun Clarke,   Red Hand
Evelyn Conlon,   A Glassful of Letters
Simon Conway,   Damaged
Frank Delaney,   Desire and Pursuit
Tom Foote,   Undertow
Mark Harris,   My Sweet Irish Rose
Douglas Hurd,   The Shape of Ice
James Kennedy,   Silent City
Joan Lingard,   Dark Shadows
Patrick McCabe,   Breakfast on Pluto
Gerry McGeough,   Deftnders
Dan Mahoney,   Once In, Never Out
David M. Thomas,   Anger’s Violin
Mark Urban,   The Linguist

1999: 14
Patrick Corcoran,   Last Light Breaking
Murray Davies,   The Drumbeat of Jimmy Sands
Frances Fyfield,   Staring at the light
Jack Higgins,   The White House Connection
Peter King,   Terrible Beauty
Stephen Leather,   The Bombmaker
Michael Ledwidge,   The Narrowback
K.T. McCaffrey,   Revenge
Gemina O’Connor,   Time to Remember
Glenn Patterson,   The International
Henry Porter,   Remembrance Day
Daniel Silva,   The Marching Season
Katharine Weber,   The Music Lesson
Sylvester Young,   What Goes Around