About Liam Sweeny

Liam Sweeny was born in Albany, New York, and grew up in and around the Capital Region. On the shores of the Hudson River, at a point between the Catskill mountains to the south and the Adirondack mountains to the north, the Capital Region is the “crossroads of the northeast.” Two interstates intersect the area, making it simple to arrive and leave with ease.

The Albany area is steeped in history, first settled by the Dutch in 1621. It is in the backdrop of all of this that Sweeny grew up, wandering the streets of his home town on the edge of north Albany, and making up sagas in the woods that lay interspersed, little more than ravines, but to a young mind – magic.

Sweeny began his creative endeavors with sketch art, which carried him to poetry and playwriting, earning him a scholarship to Hartwick College in the hill town of Oneonta, NY. His education took an unfortunate turn, however, when he had a major manic episode, and was diagnosed with Bipolar I disorder. Determined to manage the illness, he went to work at a tobacco store, and pursued music, playing guitar. As much as he enjoyed the instrument, it wasn’t until a traumatic national event occurred that he realized his true calling of writing.

Hurricane Katrina, and the human tragedy that it encompassed, inspired Sweeny to begin writing. It also inspired him to become a relief worker in Baton Rouge, and a few years later, to a position volunteering in the American Red Cross Disaster Cycle Services.

His first writing was Science Fiction/Fantasy, but it quickly transitioned into mystery, crime and noir. His work has appeared in periodicals and print publications such as Spinetingler Magazine, Switchblade, Pulp Modern, Thuglit, Shotgun Honey and So It Goes: The Literary Journal of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library.

Sweeny’s most recent standalone work, a short story collection titled Dead Man’s Switch. and a detective thriller titled Welcome Back, Jack is available at most online retailers. A new collection, Street Whispers, is available from All Due Respect Books, and a sequel to Welcome Back, Jack will be released by Down & Out Books in August of 2018, titled Presiding over the Damned.