Michael Mullen – författare

SHORTLISTED FOR FORWARD PRIZE BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2025WINNER OF THE LIST'S BEST RISING SCOTTISH AUTHOR AWARD 2025NOMINATED FOR SCOTS LANGUAGE AWARD'S SCOTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN POLLARD FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE 2026LONGLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2026'Goonie is a boisterously brilliant collection that sings like the mother of all songbirds' Michael Pedersen, author of The Cat Prince'An absolute beauty of a book by an absolute beauty of a writer. Goonie is an essential tribute to life and fight and love and language' Hollie McNish, author of Lobster'I've enjoyed Michael Mullen's poems since the moment I first encountered them. He is brave and funny, Glasgow-gallus and compassionate . . . Goonie announces a real new talent' Kathleen Jamie, author and former Scottish Makar'This is gorgeous, maximalist poetry, playful and glittering but rooted in anger and honesty, a sensual Technicolor shot of Scots joy. I will be raving about this for years' Kirstin Innes, author of Scabby Queen'These poems are tender weapons that will smash through any apathy that still remains towards the Scots language, they are pulsing with humour and wit but the reverence that Mullen gives to every day moments, characters and life make me realise there is always more to learn, more to see, deeper to go. I have no doubt Goonie is a new Scottish classic' Leyla Josephine, Forward Prize-winning poetGoonie is the raw and joyful debut collection from award-winning Scottish poet and spoken word artist Michael Mullen.Whether exploring queerness through fierce lyrical poetry or celebrating Mullen's beloved Scotland through vernacular vignettes, Goonie's main preoccupation is with how we form community around us and how community, in turn, forms us.Many of the themes are encapsulated by the title poem as the narrator readies themself to take the stage and perform for their older relatives wearing an old goonie (a nightdress): 'Ma aunt raising her vodka Iron-Bru, a tumblr ae noxious flame, a toast / tae me, n ma frilly jig. Awk A jist lettum wear witever he wahnts tae wear.'In Goonie, the oral tradition of Scots combines with whip-sharp Glaswegian humour to bring alive in language and form the full spectrum of human connection: working class friends gathering round a fire, a living room ceilidh, a chat in the hairdresser's chair, a queer awakening. These poems show the power of acceptance, togetherness and creative expression.All aspects of Mullen's life as a performer, a poet, a queer son, a Scot, a working-class boy, come together on the page to form a collection that casts a sceptical eye on identity whilst also championing it. Ultimately, Goonie address the ties that bind: it is a testament to how love - of ourselves, our heritage, our landscape, each other - transforms everything.

Death is an uncomfortable but inevitable topic often layered with euphemisms to cushion the reality of loss. Many people will outlive their beloved pets and must make the difficult decision to euthanize an animal. Killing Your Best Friend: A Veterinarian's Journal and Manual of Euthanasia is an unconventional look at issues surrounding end-of-life care for pets by Austin-area veterinarian Michael Mullen with his wife, Kate O'Neill. Their book presents an intimate, compelling journal and practical manual for euthanasia home visits that offers veterinarians guidance while informing pet owners of the process.Mullen draws upon his vast experience of euthanizing more than 2,000 pets in their homes with the owners present, a practice rarely done before 1985. He was among the pioneers who began using sedation before putting an animal to sleep, which was an almost non-existent process when he started his career, to ease the death of the animal and the anxiety of the owner. More than twenty years ago, Mullen began writing "death notices" as his own coping mechanism. He organized these journal entries with further reflections, giving readers a front-row seat to how he performs euthanasia while deftly exploring the accompanying grief, loss, and wisdom gained, often from the people for whom he is performing this unwelcome service.Killing Your Best Friend tells the story of how Mullen's attitude toward the most dreaded part of his profession has evolved over the last forty years to curiosity and even to perceiving it as a spiritual honor.

Before stadiums, scoreboards, referees, and modern rules, human beings played games that could honor gods, train warriors, settle rivalries, entertain kings, risk lives, and turn whole cities into roaring crowds.The Lost Games uncovers the forgotten world of ancient sports, dangerous races, sacred contests, brutal spectacles, ritual ball games, royal trials, village chaos, board games of fate, and the strange ways people competed long before modern sport took shape.From the sacred tracks of Olympia to the dust of the Circus Maximus, from Egyptian royal running rituals to Mesoamerican ball courts, from Viking board games to medieval mob football, this book explores the contests that once carried the weight of religion, power, death, courage, and identity.Inside this book, you will discover:• The ancient games played for gods, kings, warriors, and the dead• The dangerous races, chariot contests, wrestling matches, and combat sports that shaped early cultures• The mysterious Mesoamerican ballgame and its links to myth, sacrifice, and the underworld• The board games, dice games, and games of chance that connected play with fate and the afterlife• The wild folk contests, village sports, animal spectacles, and seasonal games that later authorities tried to ban• The forgotten players, children, women, outsiders, and ordinary people who kept games alive across history• The reasons so many old games vanished, changed, or survived in hidden formsThis is a journey through the lost arenas of human history, where play was never merely amusement. It was ritual, training, spectacle, danger, memory, and meaning.The Lost Games is for readers who love strange history, ancient civilizations, forgotten customs, cultural history, sports history, anthropology, archaeology, mythology, and the hidden stories behind ordinary human behavior.Because before games became entertainment, they were one of the oldest ways humanity tested the body, tempted fate, honored the sacred, and proved what it meant to be alive.