A Campus on Fire is Available for Pre-Order Today

I am so pleased to announce that my debut novel, A Campus on Fire, is now available for pre-order through Regal House’s website and wherever books are sold. I cannot wait for you to read it!

Regal House Publishing

I am beyond excited to announce that Regal House Publishing will be bringing my debut novel, A Campus on Fire, to the world in Spring 2025!

When you write a novel you hope more than anything to find a publisher who like Regal House to work with. They are kind, considerate, and brilliant. Please check out their other novels and authors.

Patrick O’Dowd

All my life I’ve told stories. I told them to myself as a kid, whether I was creating complicated lives for my action figures or running around my backyard pretending I played for the Yankees. I fell in love with stories and their power from my parents. From my father and his mantra to never let a fact get in the way of a good story, and my mother, with her love of books and films that has so shaped my life.

Later I would begin to tell stories and bask in the glow that comes with a laugh or a nod of acknowledgment. Eventually, my stories would have costs. I told myself many stories about my alcoholism. I told myself that I didn’t need to write that paper or attend that class. That I didn’t need to plan for the future or look myself in the mirror. I told myself I was fine, even as I knew I wasn’t.

But again, it was stories that helped me to rise out of that ditch and get sober. Stories of a bright future. Stories that at times felt like the same lies I’d told myself about my drinking. Just as impossible and illogical. Just as hard to believe. Still, I told myself those stories, and before long they began to materialize. I finished my degree, moved in with the love of my life, learned to cook, repaired relationships I’d thought broken beyond repair, and began to think seriously about what I wanted to do with my life.

In the end, there was only one thing to do. The thing I’d always dreamed of doing. The thing I used to lie about and pretend I was already working on when I wasn’t. I would write. It started slowly with work that was far from my best but, if I’m being kind to myself, showed promise. I hung on to that promise and told myself that if I could quit drinking, I could figure out writing. I persevered, rejecting the rejection, and moving forward with an unrelenting dedication that had been responsible for all the successes in my life.

Since then, I have had stories published by Sequoia Speaks, Quagmire Literary Magazine, and The Write Launch. More importantly, I have found that I can’t live without my writing. I write because I’m compelled to. I write because I need to tell stories, always have, always will.

I began work on A Campus on Fire in the aftermath of two events. One was the January 6th capital riots, which left me staring, speechless, at my television. The other, a story about my alma mater, Montclair State University, and a situation they were dealing with regarding bigoted, far-right protestors clashing with students. I was struck, not for the first time, by the radicalization that pervades this nation. I wanted to write about post-truth and found that a campus was an ideal place for that discussion. From those events and my desperate need to tell stories, a novel was born.

I live in New Jersey with my partner, the center of my universe, Cassie, and our cat, Toffee. Without Cassie I would never be where I am. She is a constant source of love and support. She was there to save me from my alcoholism, there to push me to return to school, there to encourage me to write, and there to tell me I was a good person even when I wasn’t. All the good things in my life trace back to her.

My website is patrickrodowd.com and my Twitter handle is @Patrick_R_ODowd. I am currently working a second novel. Its historical fiction about Elvis Pressley when, for his military service, he was stationed in Germany. I hope that you’ll be able to read that one soon.

A Campus on Fire

Tess Azar writes for her campus paper and recently became a public figure when one of her articles garnered national attention. She’s received a taste of fame and wants more. Her next piece is going to be on a student’s recent suicide. The student was part of a creative writing workshop run by an acclaimed author. The workshop has a vaunted reputation but also exhibits all the tell-tale signs of a cult. Tess sets out to unravel its secrets and, in doing so, falls in love with one of its writers.

At the same time, a charismatic right-wing zealot has formed a men’s rights group on campus, and its growing. Tess begins to write an article on him and his group with the hopes of exposing the danger he poses. In doing so, she inadvertently increases his reach and popularity.

Tess begins to suspect she’s being surveilled and when someone sets fire to the journalism office, she must decide who she can trust and what she believes. She’s pulled between her journalistic instincts and her desires. She’s forced to decide what, and who, she’s willing to sacrifice to succeed.

My novel deals with obsession, power, and the cost of success. It portrays the current charged political climate of the nation, highlighting the immovable structures of our society and the dangers of navigating a post-truth world.

I began work on this novel shortly after watching the January 6 Capitol Riots. I was struck, not for the first time, by the radicalization that pervades this nation. I wanted to write about post-truth and found that a prestigious campus was an ideal place for that discussion.

 A Campus on Fire would appeal to readers of The Secret History. It's Normal People meets All the President’s Men. New Adult and Adult readers would be the primary demographic for my novel with a focus on High School and College students, recent graduates, fans of cult fiction and campus novels. As for genre/category, I believe it exists somewhere between contemporary and commercial. Some recent titles that I would compare it to would be Vladimir by Julia May Jonas and The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

The Rabbit Hole

A regular at a bar has been murdered and the police, along with the conspiracy obsessed employees of the bar, are attempting to find out who did it.

The novel jumps between two flawed, unreliable narrators. Colin, a severe alcoholic suffering from hallucinations and memory loss who believes he committed the murder. And Hannah, a driven, aspiring influencer, who sees the murder and its investigation as an opportunity to realize her dream and escape this world.

The Rabbit Hole portrays the atmosphere of the United States in the days preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. It deals with addiction, conspiracies, social media, isolation, suicide, perspective, and the malleable nature of truth. The novel is suspenseful, often surreal, and character driven. It is part mystery, part crime, part literary and touches in many other genres.

My book would appeal to readers of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins,