Paul O'Brien's Blog

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Free Stuff

"There's only two great wresting novels out there. And Paul O'Brien wrote them both." - WWE Legend, Mick Foley. 

Blood Red Turns Dollar Green is a crime novel set in the 70s pro wrestling territory days. It follows the fortunes of two different wrestling promoters as they struggle to get to the top of their secretive and backhanded business. Full of twists and turns, it is a fast paced story about wrestling, money, a giant and a lost foot.

To celebrate the recent launch of Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Vol. 2 - the original novel in the series, Blood Red Turns Dollar Green, is free to you, the F4W/WO reader, for one whole week.

That's right, you get the first novel for absolutely nothing. Just for being a fan. 

All you have to do is head on over to www.paulobrien.info/observer to get your free ebook copy. 

But don't forget your coupon: bloodredobserver

This coupon gets you Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Vol. 1 at a complete 100% discount. Just select the novel, go to the checkout, type in your coupon, and press the 'check' button.

And that's it. A free, bestselling, Mick Foley endorsed wrestling novel, just like that. 

Come and find out why the WWE Hardcore Legend has only ever officially endorsed two books outside his own - both written by Paul O'Brien. And when you're done, please feel free to check out the newly released second book in the series, Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Vol. 2

Enjoy!

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He needed to mourn but he couldn’t yet, because he knew there would be more death to come. – Danno Garland

Paul O’Brien’s debut, Blood Red Turns Dollar Green, was one of the more enjoyable books I read last year, a wonderful combination of organized crime and professional wrestling circa the early 1970s. The book ended with a rather intense cliffhanger, and fortunately for fans of the first entry O’Brien is now back to pick up the story in Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Volume 2

As we learned in the first outing, professional wrestling in the early 70s was not the huge, centralized business it is today, but rather was broken into various territories held by individual owners spread throughout the country. And though the owners worked together to a certain degree for the greater good of the sport in general, at the same time each protected their turf ruthlessly.

One owner, Danno Garland, has managed to claw his way to the top of the heap and now controls the World Heavyweight Champion, which gives him tremendous power. It wasn’t an easy climb, however, and the backstabbing and double-crosses are now catching up with Danno. When his rivals lash out at him in a particularly horrific way, Danno turns his back on everything he’s ever known and loved and directs the same single-minded focus he used to build his wrestling empire to a new purpose–revenge.

You can read the rest over at Elizabeth’s site.

When you skim over anything Mick Foley does in front of a crowd, it's sometimes hard to see the polish. The slickness. The work or craft behind the effort. His own self deprecating take on his work sometimes bolsters that impression - like there's a lucky randomness to Foley's success. However, anyone who truly paid attention to the WWE Legend's career would have seen that very polish shine out from behind the missing teeth, broken bones and stitches.

And anyone in attendance at the opening night of Tales from Wrestling Past surely saw it too.

His support act, local comedian Martin Mor, had whipped the buzzing crowd into a blue haze of hilarity and crowd participation (read: banter or heckling.) Mor was clearly in his element surrounded by his people, talking like his people, about things his people understood. By the time the Hardcore Legend was ready to come out, his support act had confiscated a phone, threatened violence to a audience member, physically walked another back to his seat, and informed someone in the front row what his mother "was really like".

And next up was the nice guy from Long Island.

It was hard to know what to expect. Not that anyone would ever intentionally give Foley a hard time. But, in the past, people have given him a hard time just by chanting for him during a punchline or shouting things at the stage when he asks a rhetorical question. Over-exuberance was the usual cause of wobbliness. That and drink.

But not this time.

One has to admire Foley's willingness to take to the road, to pay his dues all over again. He's played to huge crowds and tiny crowds (I last saw him in front of a drunk crowd of ten) but he always swings big. And even though this was my fourth Foley show in three different countries, one thing remains the same - he always does his job at these shows. He always leaves them laughing. Laughing, standing at the end and always wanting more. Because even though the material changes hugely from town to town and show to show, the audience reaction does not. They love former WWE Champion and they laugh hard at what he has to offer.

And Empire Hall in Belfast was no different. Foley came out and grabbed the show by the throat, in a very Mick Foley way, of course. The crowd were excited to meet the Hardcore Legend and they let him know it. They tore the house down, played along, chanted - when called for - and even Faun-dawn-goed in unabashed pockets. And they did because the main attraction guided them around like a pro, with command and skill. This was a Mick Foley who had seemed to finally stop subconsciously apologising for just being up there. A Foley who knew his audience and what they wanted. And most importantly, a Mick Foley who delivered laughs, bang, time and again.

His resulting charm, anecdotes and tales hit the target one after another, although I always get the impression with Mick that he wants to go towards 'smarter comedy' but shies away.

The highlight of the performance for me was when we were taken to Germany and let in on an astute observation in a sex club. What made it great was, it was an observation that only a group of wrestlers could make. An observation that gives us a peek inside the sometimes ridiculous worldview of pro-wrestlers. But it was an observation that kept unwrapping itself until it became comical and poignant at the same time.

It was a story that was layered beautifully, hilariously. It was a story where the polish was there to be seen.

Go see this show.

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Paul O’Brien is the author of the crime wrestling novels, Blood Red Turns Dollar Green and Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Vol. 2. The books are set in the 70’s territory days of pro wrestling. You can find out more here.

“Paul O'Brien has done it again! But this time, he's done it even better. With sharply drawn characters that any wrestling fan will feel like they know, and non-fans will wish they did, O'Brien's second journey into the world of 1970's territorial wrestling depends less on wrestling action, and more on the surreal scenarios that his cast of wrestling misfits - noble and seedy, loyal and cut-throat, confident and desperate - provide him. Give it a try, and see if the name Shane "Sugarstick" Montrose doesn't stay with you for a while. A must-read for any wrestling fan, and a should-read for any adventurous fan of crime-fiction.”

- WWE Legend and Hall of Famer, Mick Foley.

You can get your copy here.

I don’t know where to start, but what a day and night it was. I woke up to the startling news that Vol. 2 was climbing the US and UK Amazon charts very rapidly. They were placing in one hour what it took to get to in one year with the first book. I was also receiving tons of emails, DM’s, tweets and posts wishing me well. It really was a special day for me. People seem to have liked the first book a lot, and then carried that liking over to the second. I’m already onto the third!

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I travelled on Fri 2 to The Empire Music Hall in Belfast to see Mick Foley’s superb 2013 tour, Tales of Wrestling Past. I had the great experience of sitting in Mick’s dressing room and talking about wrestling, writing, Red Bull and just how much he loved Vol. 2. Such is the man he thought he might be offending me by say, “You know…I might have liked this one even more than the first one.” He told me how he made sure to go to the Post Office to collect the book I sent him and how he devoured it on the long flight from NY to London.

But Mick’s praise didn’t stop there, he also told the audience about the “two great wrestling novels” that I wrote and asked me to identify myself to the warm Belfast audience.
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It seems that the Hardcore(it’s a wrestling term Ma) Legend loves the series so far. Like he said, “I can’t to see where the last book brings the series.”

Me too, Mick. Me too.

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The first review is out for Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Vol. 2!!! It’s a great, spoiler free piece by Chris Pilkington over at Collar and Elbow.



THE FOLLOW-UP to Paul O’Brien’s best-selling novel Blood Red Turns Dollar Green hits shelves next Friday 26 April. This wrestling/crime series managed to wow audiences last year, including The Hardcore Legend himself Mick Foley, and so it was with much delight that we received an advance copy of the second novel. Having already interviewed O’Brien about his hopes for the second book, it’s safe to say that our anticipation was high, but does Volume 2 live up to our rather lofty expectations? Chris Pilkington had the privilege of finding out…

Some eight months ago, I stumbled upon a book named Blood Red Turns Dollar Green, an organised crime thriller set in the territorial wrestling industry in the late sixties and early seventies. Intrigued, I contacted author Paul O’Brien with the hope of being able to review the book for this site. As you’re probably aware by now, Paul agreed and I had the privilege of discovering one of my favourite books of last year.

The engrossing tale of Danno Garland and his attempts to nationalise his wrestling territory via any means necessary hooked me from start to finish. When the opportunity to review the direct sequel came up I jumped at the chance, relishing being able to climb back into a world that had very much stayed in my consciousness since that first read, yet somewhat nervous that it wouldn’t live up to my expectations. I read Volume 2 on a Kindle and as such can tell you that any fears I may have had disappeared completely 14 percent of the way in … and I never looked back.

As a direct sequel it’s hard to talk too much about the plot without spoiling the ending of Volume 1 for anybody who still hasn’t read it. Volume 2 picks up almost immediately from where the first novel ends and the twists and turns it takes deserve to be experienced first hand so I’ll keep things as spoiler-free as possible. Suffice to say that for those who have read the first novel you’ll be aware that despite all of main protagonist Danno Garland’s meticulous planning, things didn’t exactly go off without a hitch. The first couple of chapters of Volume 2 are explosive to say the least and leave nobody in doubt as to the dark alleys O’Brien takes his characters down.

If the first feels like a wrestling book with a crime element then Volume 2 feels very much like a crime novel with wrestling elements. It’s still very much set in the murky, dark world of professional wrestling and O’Brien continues to astound with his well-drawn and relateable wrestling characters, but it isn’t as integral to the plot this time around. It’s perhaps a bold tactic but one that mostly pays off, resisting the temptation to tread water and give readers more of the same when the first volume was so well received. Indeed, in many key ways, Volume 2 feels almost alien to its counterpart. Many of the key characters return but they are changed almost beyond recognition. Volume 1 was all about everything these characters had to gain, whereas Volume 2 deals with all the things they stand to lose.

Volume 1′s labyrinthine plot is replaced with a much more straight-forward revenge narrative that still manages to shock and surprise along the way. Volume 1 spanned several years whilst Volume 2 spans a few frenetic days interspersed with flashbacks that provide new information to old scenes. These shifts in time and perspective all add to the relentless pace of a novel that is purposely disorientating and never less than revelatory.

In a recent interview with CollarAndElbow.com, O’Brien stated that Blood Red Turns Dollar Green was always envisaged as a series and it’s clear to see this in chapters in which we return to events of the first book but seen through other characters’ eyes. They were always meant to fit into a grander scheme of things and there’s a great sense of delight in putting all the pieces together. It’s a sign of a writer who really understands the world he’s created; from the period details to the stellar dialogue, it’s hard to shake from your mind once you reluctantly put the book down.

The wresting aspect may feel a little more like window-dressing this time around, but what a fantastic window it is! There’s still so much for wrestling fans to enjoy here, wrapped up in a genuinely affecting story. The nods to the hedonistic “living the gimmick” wrestlers and promoters of the era is clear to see, with frequent nods to the likes of ‘The Nature Boy’ Ric Flair that will delight wrestling enthusiasts.

From it’s startling beginning to shocking conclusion, Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Volume 2 more than lives up to the wonderful original. It’s every bit as enjoyable as Volume 1 and at least twice as nasty. It’s a fast-paced, sometimes chaotic, and always pitch black tale of revenge that delights from beginning to grizzly end.

Hello all. It’s been a long road coming, but it’s here!!! Blood Red Turns Dollar Green Vol. 2 will be launched from my hometown on April 26th. On that same day it will be available worldwide on Amazon(and more stores to follow.) I hope to see you there if you live in Wexford, and if you’re one of the many people around the world who have purchased the first book, I say thank you.

Well, here it is - the final cover. This will be the very one that you’ll see when you buy Vol. 2 in paperback. I hope you like and I look forward to it going live on April 26th.