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Noel Coughlan

Goodreads Author

Born

in Ireland

Website

http://photocosm.org/

Twitter

noel_coughlan

Genre

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror

Member Since

August 2013

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/noel_coughlan

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Noel lives with his wife and daughter in the West of Ireland. He writes epic fantasy, science fiction and horror.

From a young age, he was always writing a book. Generally, the first page over and over. Sometimes, he even reached the second page before he had shredded an entire copybook. And you couldn’t even recycle all that wasted paper back then.

When he finally wrote and published a book, it took him fourteen years. The Golden Rule became two books so let us be generous and say he averaged seven years per novel. He has gotten a little faster since then. Honest.

His hobbies include writing, reading, and reading about writing. He has written about reading in the past, and he occasionally writes about his writing. He would happily stay at ho ...more

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What was your inspiration for writing "A Bright Power Rising"?

Noel Coughlan From my early teens, I wanted to create an original secondary world with a novel mythology. I conceived the Photocosm, as I now call it, as a world wh…moreFrom my early teens, I wanted to create an original secondary world with a novel mythology. I conceived the Photocosm, as I now call it, as a world where the inhabitants practiced a religion/pseudoscience centring around colour. Mr Blue Sky by ELO may have been an influence. The gods of this world were Lights of different colours, and matter was simply a tangible form of light. Also, darkness was not merely the absence of light but a light in its own right. The universe was a product of the interaction of these divine lights. I wrote a creation myth around this idea, and you get a glimpse of some of the events in that story in the novel.

The initial focus of my writing was the offspring of the Dark Light, the Sables. However, I was eventually drawn to the Ors, the people of Aurelian, the Golden Light. One influence in their creation was an image of a pre-Christian Irish stone head I had seen in some school history book. I suspect that the head actually may have had three faces, but the picture showed only two, in effect making the bust a sort of bald Janus.

I like looking at the world from radically alien perspectives, though they are very challenging to write because the reader needs to understand the mindset of those characters to appreciate the logic of their actions. Sometimes they’re a bit counterintuitive. I created the Stretchers initially as proxy for the reader, but they took on a life of their own. The forked cross is based on a forked stone in Ireland. It is also like a fork in a road. The saints are loosely based the early church in Ireland with a frisson of druidic authority. Irish folklore, particularly the changeling, plays a big part in their relationship with the Ors.

Lastly, the name of the book is an inversion of the normal association of evil with darkness. One of Aurelian’s many titles is Bright Lord, an inversion of Dark Lord. I like twisting and inverting things because well it’s more fun. (less)

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Noel Coughlan’s books

Average rating: 4.07 · 195 ratings · 66 reviews · 12 distinct works • Similar authors

	A Bright Power Rising (The Golden Rule, #1) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 2014 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	No Escape 4.14 avg rating — 36 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Murder Seat really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 22 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fate Healer 3.95 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hoard 3.94 avg rating — 18 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fatal Shadow (Champions of Fate #1) 3.83 avg rating — 18 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Parting Gift (The Golden Rule, #0.5) 4.15 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Alienity 4.33 avg rating — 9 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Unconquered Sun (The Golden Rule, #2) 4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2016 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Slug Land really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Noel Coughlan

The Golden Rule, (2 books)
by

Noel Coughlan (Goodreads Author)

4.10 avg rating — 62 ratings

Champions of Fate (2 books)
by

Noel Coughlan (Goodreads Author)

4.09 avg rating — 58 ratings

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Noel Coughlan and 12 other people liked Martin Blackshaw's review of A General History of the Pirates: "An absolute cornerstone of pirate lore and maritime history. First published in the early 18th century, this book remains the definitive source for anyone fascinated by the golden age of piracy. One of the enduring legends surrounding it is the ident" Read more of this review »
Sep 26, 2025 09:34AM · see review
Noel Coughlan made a comment in the group Goodreads Librarians Group — Restore Book Cover topic " Hi Can the cover for the book below be restored please. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6... Thanks in advance, Noel ...more "
Sep 29, 2024 02:02AM
Noel Coughlan made a comment in the group Goodreads Librarians Group — Cover Is not showing up topic " Thanks so much "
Sep 14, 2024 07:13AM
Noel Coughlan has read The Andromeda Anthology (Andromeda, #1-2) by Fred Hoyle	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 18, 2024 05:35AM · like

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Fringe Fiction Un...: A Bright Power Rising	2	13	Jul 17, 2014 06:08AM
Review Group: * GROUP 39 Finished	107	64	Sep 29, 2014 11:46AM
Book Nook Cafe: What I read ~~ August 2017	46	61	Sep 20, 2021 08:12PM
Nothing But Readi...: New 2 U Authors 2022	107	593	Dec 31, 2022 04:49PM
Horror Aficionados : Horror Tag!	1782	1164	Nov 23, 2025 02:54AM

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Noel’s Quotes

“We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams.”
― H.G. Wells

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“We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery.”
― H. G. Wells

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