Horror for Newbies
Shane Harrison
265 ratings | 219 reviews | avg rating:3.51

Shane’s Year In Books

year in books
Shane’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Shane’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
Go to Shane’s 2024 Year in Books

Shane Harrison’s Followers (7)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo

Shane’s Bookshelves

to-read (8)
currently-reading (1)
read (266)

Shane’s Friends (11)

Thomas
Thomas
6,011 books | 3,325 friends

Carol (...
Carol (§CoverLoverGirl§)
4,322 books | 192 friends

Anne Fi...
Anne Fitzgerald
588 books | 101 friends

Bridget...
Bridgette Daly
299 books | 54 friends

Samanth...
Samantha James
50 books | 1,227 friends

Colin
Colin
290 books | 25 friends

Mark
Mark
329 books | 5 friends

Amye Qu...
Amye Quigley
1,488 books | 83 friends

More friends…

2025 Reading Challenge

Shane Harrison

Goodreads Author


Born
Dublin, Ireland
Genre
Fiction

Member Since
August 2016


Shane Harrison worked for four years as an electrician and telephone installer before enrolling in the National College of Art and Design. After graduation in the early eighties he worked in advertising and television. His interest in writing led him to contribute articles and reviews to various magazines including Hot Press, Dublin Opinion and local publications such as the Wicklow Times and Bray Arts Journal. By the nineties, Harrison was writing fiction and his first book, a collection of short stories, Blues Before Dawn was published in 1993. A second collection, The Benefits of Tobacco, a novel, The Testimony of Virginia McCabe followed after the turn of the century, and his latest collection, Kings on the Roof, has just been published ...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Shane Harrison questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

I am currently reading The Testimony of Virginia Wade. I am a fan of the Western and I'm enjoying it, especially the first person female POV which is unusual. I wondered if your new collection includes anything in the Western vein?
Shane Harrison I'm glad your enjoying Virginia, Aidan. It's my only published novel (so far) and it is a Western, but I'd have to say it's a vein I haven't mined ext…moreI'm glad your enjoying Virginia, Aidan. It's my only published novel (so far) and it is a Western, but I'd have to say it's a vein I haven't mined extensively in my short stories. However, Kings on the Roof actually includes a Western Story: Cloud City. This is something of a time travel tale, or perhaps Slipstream is a better genre description. Cloud City begins in contemporary times, somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, then tunnels back to post Goldrush days. A western within a western also occurs. The dime western the sheriff reads includes Kit Carson, a real life character, and a couple who feature in Virginia. The other stories in Kings are a varied bunch, but I'm hoping you give it a go. The Western theme, and the American continent, are places I want to return to in prose and in person. (less)
flag
What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?
Shane Harrison It’s a scenario that every writer, or would-be writer, must consider. What mystery, or event, in your life could be a plot for a book? Like most write…moreIt’s a scenario that every writer, or would-be writer, must consider. What mystery, or event, in your life could be a plot for a book? Like most writers, I have culled from personal experience. Some do it more than others. There’s always the danger of falling into that less admired genre: a writer writing about a writer writing. But that is just the autobiographical watermark that haunts every page.

Is such writing the equivalent of the self portrait, with the author gazing at their own reflection? Or even a string of reflections stretching back in time. It’s a bit like those infinity mirror set ups. Flann O’Brien’s fictional philosopher, De Selby, proposed that each reflection was like a snapshot in time. He claimed that he could, with a telescope, make out a distant reflection of himself as a child, but couldn’t see further owing to the limitations of the telescope and the curvature of the earth.

I see Sally Rooney, having scored two bestsellers with musings on her own life, writes a third bestseller about a writer who has written two bestsellers. I’m something of the opposite. I may have written two novels but very few have read them. Perhaps that’s the mystery I should write about.

I have been writing non-fiction for most of the last few years. It gives me the chance to complete, or begin the jigsaw, or even glimpse the illustration on the box. But every so often I’m compelled to make something up. Will it be the resolution of some great mystery from my past? Who can tell? I certainly won’t.
(less)
flag
See all 10 answers from Shane Harrison…

Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.4 · 10 ratings · 2 reviews · 5 distinct works
Kings on the Roof
4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — 2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Testimony of Virginia M...
4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2013 — 2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The Benefits of Tobacco
4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2007 — 2 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Blues Before Dawn
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1993
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Census: Issue 1 v. 1: The F...
by
0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2008
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
More books by Shane Harrison…

9 posts
Shane Harrison's Blog

Edinburgh - The Writers' City - 4

At the end of Grassmarket the road divides. Straight on and you pass under the bridges that buttress the Old Town. Candlemaker Row slopes upward to join George IV Bridge with the wall of Greyfriars Churchyard along one side. The Grey Friars themselves were Franciscans whose monastery was dissolved in 1560 as Scotland was gripped by the Reformation. It was a place of free assembly and The Covenante Read more of this blog post »
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on July 30, 2023 05:22 • Tags: edinburgh, greyfriars-bobby, ian-rankin, james-hogg, muriel-spark, rebus-pub-crawl
View all 9 posts »

Shane is Currently Reading

Dredgemarsh : Fir...
Shane Harrison is currently reading
bookshelves: currently-reading
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars

 
Sep 03, 2025 06:03AM

rss
Shane’s Recent Updates

Shane Harrison rated a book really liked it
The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson
The Chosen (Fredrika Bergman and Alex Recht, #5)
by Kristina Ohlsson
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Two crimes centred on a Jewish community school are the focus for this gripping murder mystery set in Stockholm. One involves the killing of a teacher, the other the abduction of two young boys. Are they connected or coincidental? Kristina Bergman an ...more
15 hours, 34 min ago  ·   · see review ·  preview book
Shane Harrison rated a book liked it
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
All the Colours of the Dark
by Chris Whitaker (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Two outcasts kids, Patch and Saint, in an outback town become tangled in web of a kidnapper killer. An extended childhood narrative of backwoods exploration is not always my cup of tea, but Whittaker cuts an inventive Twainish dash. The characters ar ...more
Oct 12, 2025 08:12AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
Shane Harrison is currently reading
Dredgemarsh by Dermot McCabe
Dredgemarsh : Fire and Water
by Dermot McCabe
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Sep 03, 2025 06:03AM  ·   ·  preview book
Shane Harrison is currently reading
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
All the Colours of the Dark
by Chris Whitaker (Goodreads Author)
Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Mystery & Thriller
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Sep 03, 2025 06:00AM  ·   ·  preview book
Shane Harrison rated a book really liked it
Dolphin Junction by Mick Herron
Dolphin Junction
by Mick Herron
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Short story collections are not as popular as they should be. The world of fiction is ever more dominated by the big read. There’s no reason why good fiction can’t be short. At its best the short story deliveres fiction that is both deep and inventiv ...more
Sep 03, 2025 06:00AM  ·   · see review
Shane Harrison rated a book liked it
Triptych by Karin Slaughter
Triptych (Will Trent, #1)
by Karin Slaughter (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
A new and horrible crime comes to Atlanta. Cop Michael Ormewood is sadled with Bureau man Will Trent. Then a crime in Ormewood’s own backyard throws fuel on the inquiry. Will, meanwhile, is drawn back to his on-off relationship with undercover vice-c ...more
Aug 26, 2025 08:04AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
Shane Harrison rated a book liked it
A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson
A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)
by Peter Swanson (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Swanson’s New England scenarios are attractive sub rural, with devious and urbane plots. Been a while since I read him and I was happy to find this novel grew into a Kind Worth Killing sequel. I’d forgotten Lily Kintner and only recognised the liones ...more
Aug 03, 2025 06:03AM  ·   · see review
Shane Harrison rated a book really liked it
Death at the White Hart by Chris Chibnall
Death at the White Hart
by Chris Chibnall
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
A bizarre murder on the Dorset coast greets DS Nicola Bridge on her return to home turf from a hectic big city career. The landlord of the White Hart is found dead, displayed with antlers on his head. A meaningful murder, surely. The pub’s varied cli ...more
Jul 29, 2025 07:15AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
Shane Harrison rated a book it was ok
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
Beautiful Ugly
by Alice Feeney (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
The set up is good. On the night when top writer Grady Green debuts on the New York Times Bestseller List, his journalist wife, Abby, vanishes when driving less than a mile from their home. Fast forward a year and Grady is all washed up, homeless and ...more
Jul 20, 2025 08:47AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
Shane Harrison rated a book liked it
Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz
Marble Hall Murders (Susan Ryeland, #3)
by Anthony Horowitz (Goodreads Author)
Rate this book
Clear rating
1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
Susan Ryland returns to England and is commissioned to edit a new book in the late Alan Conway’s Atticus Pund series. Eliot Crace is the author charged with producing Pund’s Last Case. He himself is grandson of legendary children’s author Miriam Crac ...more
Jul 16, 2025 11:45AM  ·   · see review ·  preview book
More of Shane's books…

Shane’s Quotes

Seneca
“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.”
― Seneca, Letters from a Stoic
11 likes

Ranulph Fiennes
“There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.”
― Ranulph Fiennes
34 likes

Roger Scruton
“Styles may change, details may come and go, but the broad demands of aesthetic judgement are permanent.”
― Roger Scruton
tags: aesthetics, beauty, classic, style
56 likes

recent posts
Shane’s Groups

49702 Goodreads Ireland — 2096 members — last activity Oct 19, 2025 12:41PM
Welcome to Goodreads Ireland, a bookgroup for people from, or just interested in Ireland and Irish literature. Please introduce yourself in the Introd ...more

Shane’s Friend Comments

No comments have been added yet.