Welcome to the Octagon

FIGHT CARD MMA: WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON Belfast 2013 Mickey The Rage Rafferty has gone through some tough times, but he's not ready to tap-out just yet. The Belfast widower has to take care of his eight-year-old daughter, Lily. However, his main talent is fighting and the only way he can make enough money off it to support his girl is to take dodgy underground matches paying off in bloodstained cash. Mickey's trainer, Eddie Smith, doesn't approve. He wants his most promising student to step into the cage as a real martial artist, not as a fool for thugs and gangsters. With Eddie on the verge of cutting him loose, Mickey is up against the cage – crushed between fast cash and a legitimate career. Mickey has some big decisions to make and some even bigger opponents to face. The MMA life can be harsh, and it's never easy ... Welcome To The Octagon. Praise for WEE ROCKETS “Gerard Brennan stands apart from the Irish crime fiction crowd with a novel rooted in the reality of today's Belfast. The author's prose speaks with a rare authenticity about the pain of growing up in a fractured society, shot through with a black humour that can only come from the streets. Wee Rockets is urban crime fiction for the 21st century, and Brennan is a unique voice among contemporary Irish writers.” – Stuart Neville “In Wee Rockets Gerard Brennan has written a fast paced, exciting story of West Belfast gang culture; brimming with violence, authentic street dialogue and surprising black humour. This is a great debut novel. Brennan takes us into the heart of Belfast's chav underclass, in a story that lies somewhere in the intersection between The Warriors, Colin Bateman and Guy Ritchie. This is the first in what undoubtedly will be a stellar literary career.” – Adrian McKinty "Brennan impressed me hugely with his debut novella The Point, and Wee Rockets has cemented my opinion that he belongs among the top rank of Northern Irish crime writers." – Loitering With Intent "So assured and mature you'd think this was his eight or ninth book, not one of his first." – Spinetingler Magazine "This is a tremendous book and I urge you to read it." – I Meant To Read That