The Lunar Effect
by John Connolly, Vega Powell , Lilian Pizzichini, Dominic Power, Polly Devlin
5 x 15 minute stories on 22-26th October at 6.30 pm and repeated at half past midnight on BBC 7
How often have you done something which seemed out of character only to discover that a full moon fell on that day or week? Five stories marking a full moon. When someone or something unexpectedly steps outside of the norm is it just co-incidence or is there really something in The Lunar Effect?

1.
The Cycle by John Connolly
Read by Michelle Gomez
Producer Lawrence Jackson
On her way home from work on an almost deserted train, a young woman starts to suffer pains that we are led to believe indicate her period is imminent. When two troublemaking youths board the train and there is a subsequent delay, the boys’ unwanted attention, the woman’s increasing pain and the effect of the full moon result in the demise of her tormentors by unexpected means …

John Connolly was born in Dublin in 1968 and studied English in Trinity College and journalism at Dublin City University. He worked for five years as a freelance journalist for The Irish Times, to which he continues to contribute. His first novel, Every Dead Thing, was published in 1999, and introduced the character of Charlie Parker. Dark Hollow followed in 2000. The third, The Killing Kind was published in 2001 with The White Road following. In 2003, John published his fifth novel – and first stand alone book, Bad Men. In 2004, Nocturnes a collection of novellas and short stories was added to the list (BBC NI Drama specially commissioned 5 of these stories for a week of Ghost stories for Radio 4). 2005 marked the publication of the 5th Charlie Parker novel, The Black Angel. John’s seventh novel, The Book Of Lost Things, was published in Autumn 2006 to be followed by the next Charlie Parker novel, The Unquiet, early in 2007. John is based in Dublin but divides his time between his native city and the United States. Supernatural fiction was the first genre John ever immersed himself in as a young reader and he was particularly fascinated by the 19th and early 20th century short story writers of the British tradition. John’s gift is that he can draw on a solid interest in classic writing and fuse it with what he wants to write about in the here and now. This ability makes him stand apart as a modern writer of substance.

Michelle Gomez has appeared to great acclaim in the cult television comedies ‘Green Wing’, ‘The Book Group’ and, most recently, ‘Feel the Force’.

2.
The Boy by the Light of the Moon by Vega Powell
Read by David Warner
Producer Lawrence Jackson
An older Spanish man returns to the Port of Tangier in Morocco, where memories stir of a love affair that changed his life. At his hotel he is attended by a strange boy, who seems to know about the woman he loved long ago. But when the man tries to find the waiter the next day, he’s told he only works there once a month: the boy appears only at the time of the full moon. An exotic Tale of the Unexpected.

Vega Powell was born in 1976. After living in the USA, Canada and Spain, she recently graduated from the Creative Writing course at Bath Spa University. She is currently completing her first novel, Gaditana.

David Warner is an acclaimed actor of stage and screen. His theatre credits include a legendary ‘Hamlet’ for the RSC and more recently ‘King Lear’, and his many films range from ‘Tom Jones’, ‘The Ballad of Cable Hogue’ and ‘The Omen’ to ‘The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse’.

3.
She Often Walked At Night by Lilian Pizzichini
Read by Lucy Cohu
Producer Lawrence Jackson
Three friends, adrift in a mysterious European city, congregate one night at cocktail hour in a strange, exotic bar and, as they partake of an absinthe-like drink, pathological, long-buried natural tendencies surface under the influence of the full moon.

Lilian Pizzichini was born in 1965. Her first book, ‘Dead Men’s Wages’, was published in 2002 and won that year’s Non-Fiction CWA Gold Dagger Award. ‘Dead Men’s Wages’ is a chronicle of Lilian’s relationship with her late grandfather, Alfred ‘Charlie’ Taylor, whom she gradually discovered moved in the highest circles of London’s gangster fraternity until his death in 1978; it’s also an unflinching look at the corrosive effect of criminality on family life. It offers a unique, woman’s perspective on a macho male underworld, and is peopled with rich, fascinating, dangerous and absurd characters. Lilian’s next book, ‘The Blue Hour’, a biography of Jean Rhys (author of ‘The Wide Sargasso Sea’), is due out early in 2007.

Lucy Cohu recently received acclaim for her performance as Princess Margaret in Channel 4’s ‘The Queen’s Sister’. Her other television credits include ‘Bombshell’ and ‘Red Cap’, and her forthcoming credits include the film ‘Becoming Jane’ and ‘Cape Roth’ for Channel 4.

4.
Scavengers by Dominic Power
Read by Amanda Root
Producer Lawrence Jackson
After a heavy, gin-induced afternoon sleep, sixty-year old Lottie Nancarrow wakes up with the sense of dread that has plagued her since the recent death of her partner, the abstract painter Ned Stein, with whom she had shared thirty years of a happy bohemian existence. Lottie is treating her grief with alcohol, and is becoming increasingly eccentric, alienating herself from her small West London community and the life she shared with Ned. This evening, Lottie feels that something is wrong, some change in the atmosphere. Going to the French window of her garden flat, she sees a full moon hanging in the sky, and illuminated by the moon, is a large urban fox - staring at her with a look that suggests some secret knowledge.

Dominic Power recently adapted Malcolm Bradbury’s classic campus novel The History Man in six parts for Radio 4, and he has also written Paradise Radio, a ghost story, also for Radio 4. Other recent work includes adaptations of Russell Hoban’s classic novel Riddley Walker, of Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews, and the recent adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.

Amanda Root has appeared in ‘Foyle’s War’, ‘The Forsyte Saga’ and ‘The Robinsons’ on television, and her films include ‘Persuasion’ and ‘Enduring Love’. Her numerous radio credits include the Radio 4 Classic Serial ‘Northanger Abbey’.

5.
The Hiring Fair by Polly Devlin
Read by Frances Tomelty
Producer Anne Simpson
In 1867 a young girl living with her father on their isolated County Tyrone farm often senses the magical attraction of the full moon. On one particular night of bright, silvery moonlight she gives in to strong forces sparking a sequence of events which echo across generations.
Polly Devlin, author, journalist, broadcaster, film-maker, art critic and conservationist, has had a remarkable career, taking her far from her rural roots in County Tyrone to the sophisticated world of Vogue in London, New York and Paris.   In 1994 she was awarded an OBE for services to Literature. She has been a Judge of the Booker Prize in England and in Ireland a judge on the Irish Times Aer Lingus Literary award.   In 1983 Polly Devlin published two books, All of Us There and The Far Side of the Lough. They have remained in print since then and have gone into several editions and All Of Us There is now a Virago Modern Classic. In 1991 she bought a house in Dublin and finding she knew little about the city, set about finding out more. The result was a comprehensive guide book to the city - Dublin. She has broadcast many talks and has written a radio play for the BBC in London. Stories from The Far Side of the Lough are frequently broadcast. She is on the Northern Ireland team in the Round Britain Quiz on Radio 4. Polly is currently a Professor at Barnard College Columbia University New York. Her book on her twenty year old on-going conservation project in Somerset A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF AN ENGLISH MEADOW was published this summer and Polly read Meadows and A Night in The Meadow from that book for Radio Ulster as part of a special programme in August this year.
Frances Tomelty is a celebrated actress and daughter of prolific Irish playwright Joseph Tomelty. Frances has been a columnist for the Belfast Telegragh and in recent years has written a number of very successful short films, stories for Radio 4 and BBC 7 as well as a comedy series which is being developed by the BBC. Frances is currently working on a novel.