As a small child I sat on the lap of my father as he practiced his language studies every evening, voicing the unusual sounds and words to my great amusement. As I grew, I listened to his tales of living abroad as a young man, witnessing history in the making, and romancing bold and exciting young women in the process.
He inspired in me the same fascination with European culture, language and lifestyle that shaped his life.
This blog is an occasional expression of my personal experiences and interests. From time to time I reference my trilogy of novels, Corridor of Darkness, inspired by his incredible adventures and the fascinating and very dark moments he experienced, and I may also excerpt from his actual journals, giving an American’s eye-witness view of the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Hitler.
But I also share my personal memories of odd adventures of my own youth and present-day travels. From time to time I write about exploring the back roads and hidden jewels of Europe, so that others might be equally inspired to break away from the traditional sights.
And the occasional real-life ghost story or two does crop up here, as well.
If you stumble upon these words and find something of interest, welcome! And do let me know your thoughts and suggestions.
Patrick W. O'Bryon 
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I arrived here via your niece, Olivia. Your book sounds fascinating, as does your blog. Welcome to the blogosphere!
Thanks for the warm welcome! I look forward to exploring your blog and learning the ins and outs of this interesting process of self-revelation.
This is becoming very interesting. Having served with the US Army in the European Theater, I am anxious to read more.
Watch for the next chapter coming later today, and thanks for commenting!
Your blog and book sounds intriguing – thanks too for visiting my blog.
Your blog looks fascinating…I’ll be enjoying it!
I am a lover of historic fiction, or anything involving history really. I would most likely enjoy your book, and other writings.
How nice to hear from you and have you follow my blog! I’m happy to say my novel CORRIDOR OF DARKNESS will be out by November 1st as both ebook and trade paperback. I hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your review.
Great! Looking forward to it.
when will beacon of vengeance be availabel..thanks
Thanks for your interest, Norm. I’m working hard on getting it out early, but the targeted date is no later than next October.
Patrick
Looking forward to your book. It is very interesting .looking forward to the book
Thanks, Steve. I’ll appreciate your thoughts on it!
I really enjoyed the trilogy and will look forward to future books. Bill Kimball
So pleased to hear from you, Bill, and glad the trilogy held your interest. Thanks for writing.
I just finished binge reading your trilogy. As you suggested, I will watch for future books. Might they include more Ryan Lemmon adventures?
Thanks for reading the trilogy, Betsy. As for Ryan, it always hard to keep a good man down…
Loved the Triology…couldn’t put them down and am now on to rereading them once I get them back from my friends who want to read them after my excited, glorious, sharing of how intriguing and exciting and interesting they were.
There is a story in The NY Times Metropolitan Diary column on 1/24/21 about a grad student’s boat passage to Europe, but the story is incomplete. I guessing this is your contribution. What happened after the purser brought you aboard without accommodations?
Thank you for your inquiry. The NYT editor had to shorten my story to fit their parameters, so it left quite a few readers wondering. Here’s the rest of the story:
I wandered about looking for somewhere, anywhere I might hide out on a nine-day passage. Arriving at a reception for the Europe-bound students, I recounted my tale. A German about ten years my senior excused himself from the group, only to return moments later to introduce himself as a group leader, there to hold orientation meetings onboard. He had spoken with the ship’s purser, and wonder of wonders, I would get the upper bunk in his private cabin. Rather than a four-person berth as held by the other student passengers, I’d won a far more luxurious accommodation.
“I have only one request,” he said with a grin, “Seven to nine in the evening is my private time, just in case I’m entertaining a guest. You get nine to eleven.”
“Not a problem,” I replied, “that’ll work out just fine.”
Off to Germany at last, I took my complimentary champagne and went out to watch Lady Liberty sliding past.