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Damian hails from the hills of Monaghan, Ireland, and currently lives in Bordeaux, France, where he spends most of his time telling people that it *is* crazy that there's an Irishman that doesn't drink, but he still doesn't like wine.
Growing up, he spent most of his spare time reading, which causes a wonderful dilemma with parents, where, on the one hand, you can never cram too many words into a noggin, while on the other, if you don't put that book down and eat your dinner, young man - I don't care if you don't like it - I'm gonna fire that book out the window (windy, if you're from Monaghan).
Enamoured by video games at an early age, he went and studied Multimedia instead, Ireland not having a games course at the time. While his friends were faffing around Asia and Australia, generally having a great time, he worked in digital design for print and web in order to save up for a Masters in Game Programming in 'Ull, England.
This kicked off a career making games for: PC; consoles; R&D; web; Facebook; more web; Facebook and web; Facebook, web, and mobile; before finally mobile.
In early 2016, he decided to make good on a dream that'd been kicking around his head since he first started writing short stories; becoming an author. His debut novel, Shepherds: Awakening, was the result of that.
Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite
Aisling Shepherd is a loner in school. Her mother is a single parent working two jobs, and her father left them when she was younger. Life is dull, but she’s been dreaming about a colorful world where it seems like anything could happen. It’s vibrant and different, but everything changes when she notices the Shades. Hovering around each and every person, young and old, those dark parasites feed on them. When the Shades attack her, her absent father suddenly appears as her savior.
The concept of Shepherds: Awakening by Damian Connolly is intriguing and ingenious. There’s sincerity and other-worldliness in it that kept the story relevant and engaging to me, as Aisling reconnects with her father and learns about the world known as Limbo, as well as her duty as a Shepherd that has been passed down in the family. Following Aisling’s self-discovery and learning about her new skills in addition to her responsibility is fascinating. Her ups and downs, her effort to balance her life in the Limbo world, and her life with her mother in the real world kept me wanting to read what happens next.
On the whole, Shepherds: Awakening is a compelling and enjoyable read. I could finish it in one sitting, but decided to prolong my reading to two as I wasn’t ready to let go of the story that soon. This is a commendable literary work from Connolly and I’m very interested to see what he will come up with next. To be frank, I’m waiting for a sequel.
