BEHIND MICHAEL'S PEN
Michael Mulcahy was born and raised in Northern New Mexico, running the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains and the winding streets of Santa Fe.
Raising hell runs in the family, as does the unabashed working man’s spirit. He asks nothing of nobody and tells the gatekeepers exactly where they can stick it. This, he learned from his father, Muck. His mother, Rose, on the other hand, served as a living example of grace, kindness and humility. He, and his work, would be specks of dry dirt in the wind if not for this upbringing.
In all his work, Michael explores class struggle and the deeper battle within oneself. If forced to label his work, he’d call it Norteno Noir.
He’s been writing since his appendages allowed and started making films at the ripe age of eight years old with a childhood friend - turning their family homes into sloppy film sets. Along with his old man’s punk rock ethos, Muck lit Michael’s creative spark by taking him to films he had no business seeing at such a young age including Silence of the Lambs, Lock Up and Unforgiven.
Michael took his love of movies and writing to film school at Penn State University. After graduating he plunged into guerilla filmmaking, where his pocket was empty but his heart full. He then proceeded to bigger budget films within the industry, even getting into a union.
But his rebellious spirit was not meant for another man’s set, so he cashed in his chips attempting to make his own feature length film, a gritty neo-Western, Chasing Blood, from a script he wrote. After repeatedly knocking his head into the wall, he relented to the universe, understanding Chasing Blood was not in the cards right now.
In what his therapist described as, I’ll show you, I’ll get me, Michael enrolled in law school, and not only graduated, but finished a semester early while also on academic scholarship. Who said the Good Lord wasn’t ironic?
Michael soon learned, however, he was not cut out to be a lawyer and he’d be dead or in jail if he didn’t get back to the one thing that quelled his brawling soul. And if there ever was a place for an outlaw to settle in and write, Michael knew it was Taos, New Mexico.
Since that realization, he has penned four novels and lives in a home he proudly built with Muck. His first novel coming to publication, Brothers in the Night, will be released May 2025. It is based on the song Brother in the Night by rock n roll stalwarts, The Weeks.
Michael hopes his work brings each reader a little peace and understanding of their own restless heart.
Much obliged.