Welcome to johnbyrnebarry.com, where I’ve just announced my fourth novel, Pirates of Sausalito: Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery.
It started out as a play — in 2023, I wrote and directed ”Sausalypso Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery” at our local community theater, but I finished the play script back in 2020, shortly after the pandemic and we had no idea when live theater would return. I started turning it into a novel, then, and went into high gear once we wrapped up the play last March.
Before the pandemic, I launched my third novel, When I Killed My Father: An Assisted-Suicide Family Thriller. You can read the first three chapters here, and why I wrote it here. And you can purchase it here.
If you want to find out more about me, check out the ABOUT page, where you can read my official and unofficial bio. Scroll down to the video for a guaranteed laugh. Or your money back.
Enjoy. And let me know what you think.
— John
P.S. Sign up below for my occasional letters, where you’ll learn more about my book and my interviews about life and death. And/or follow me on Facebook.
Follow me on Facebook.
BLOG
Pirates of Sausalito
My fourth novel, Pirates of Sausalito: Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery, is now available. The story, inspired by true events, is set in the late 1970s on the shoreline of Richardson Bay. Hippies and squatters living on houseboats in a ramshackle shantytown are...
‘The Pirates of Sausalito’ Or Maybe ‘Pirates? In Sausalito?’ Help Me Decide
I'm publishing my fourth novel this spring and I'm still vacillating about its title. Maybe you can help. In January, I published an advance reader copy for beta readers with the title The Pretend Pirates of Sausalito: Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery True Story. Based...
‘Writing California’ + Seeking Feedback on Book Cover Redesign
On September 21, I’ll be part of a local author panel at the Mill Valley Library discussing researching and writing about California. I’ll be discussing my 2015 novel Wasted, a “green-noir” mystery set in the garbage and recycling world of Berkeley, as well as my work-in-progress, a historical mystery/comedy based on true events in Sausalito during the houseboat wars in the 1970s.
Because I’ll be talking about Wasted, I am percolating, again, on whether or not to redesign its cover, which is a problem.
When Plots Collide — Create Suspenseful Page-Turners by Weaving Multiple Storylines
What I love about these colliding plots is how an action in one story causes an action in another. We see Peter Fallows find his journalistic footing and redeem himself with solid reporting and writing. That’s his story. At the same time, his actions tighten the vice around Sherman.
When ‘Ted Lasso’ Meets ‘Grapes of Wrath,’ ‘On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,’ and My Unfinished Novel
During the school year, I’m a crossing guard — an hour in the morning, and an hour in the afternoon — and twice every weekday I walk to and from my corner, which adds up to five miles, more when I swung by Coyote Coffee to sit outside and schmooze with the regulars....
Sausalypso Video on YouTube
Finally getting around to posting the video of Sausalypso Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery, the play I wrote and directed earlier this spring. Watching it on the screen can’t match the energy of being there in person, but it’s still fun. Replete with a pretend pirate, a greedy developer with a maniacal laugh, his vengeful ex-wife and his hiccuping henchman, not to mention Sausalypso’s first ever woman police chief.
Here are some highlights — in case you don’t have time to watch the whole thing. 🙂
Scene 3 (The Greedy Developer and the Liberal Police Chief) 7:24
Scene 4 (The Vengeful Ex-Wife Confronts the Mistress) 12:28
Scene 6 (Eviction Raid) 24:20 (includes sword fight)
Scene 7 (I Hated You Before You Were Born) 33:12
Sausalypso! — ‘All is Lost’ or ‘The Show Must Go On’?
While directing my play, “Sausalypso Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery,” I read a book called Save the Cat Writes a Novel, in which author Jessica Brody lays out the various “beats” in a novel, one of which is “All is Lost.”
Three days before Opening Night, when three cast and crew members got covid, that was how I felt. All is lost.
Oh, and all four shows were sold out. Which was great, except a full house without a full cast is not great.
But we came up with a plan to push Opening Night from forward a week, so by the time three more cast members notified me they had covid the next day, we had switched the show dates, canceled our in-person rehearsals, and were practicing on zoom. Crossing our fingers that enough of us would be healthy to mount the show on our new Opening Night.
Cover Idea for ‘Showdown in Sausalito,’ My Next Novel
As some of you know, I'm directing a murder mystery play this winter at my local community theater — Sausalypso Houseboat Wars Murder Mystery. We completed auditions and casting in November and last week, we had our first table read-through with the actors. (Which was...