Author: markswritingcorner

Mark Ahern was born in 1979 and is from Ireland. He attained a Degree in Commerce from UCD in 2000 and a Masters in European Studies in 2001. He has written three novels to date encompassing science fiction and thrillers. At times Mark has used his experiences as an individual with a disability to write from a truly unique perspective. "Chronicles of Martan" which is his sole science fiction work to date, is an epic space odyssey inspired by his love of Star Wars. This was followed by "Not the Usual Suspect" and "Paradigm". His current project is called "The Irish Ripper" and should be available late 2019.

Grand Theft Auto VI: A Cinematic Preview on Netflix

Sports car driving on a wet coastal boulevard beneath neon casino signs

Ah, Grand Theft Auto. It brings back so many warm memories. I’m old enough to remember the original. It was shocking at the time. Stealing cars, running over pedestrians. It felt like we were right hoodlums!

Of course, you really had to use your imagination.

Wow, the world has really changed.

Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look is currently being shown on Netflix. It looks more like a film.

Rockstar’s 26-minute compilation of in-game footage, captured on a base PlayStation 5 and presented like a cinematic short, dropped exclusively on the platform first and immediately shot to the top of the charts. It treats Vice City and the wider state of Leonida as a living, breathing world rather than a tech demo. The result feels less like a trailer and more like a taut, sun-drenched crime romance that happens to be playable.

Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos instantly register as the series’ most compelling leads. Their partnership has a Bonnie-and-Clyde charge mixed with everyday intimacy—raiding a fridge, arguing in an apartment, then exploding into a drug-deal-gone-wrong shootout and a frantic getaway. The footage lets their chemistry breathe between the chaos, suggesting a story that can be as much about two people trying to stay together as it is about heists and police chases. Missions that can be tackled together or separately, plus the ability to swap characters on the fly, give the relationship real mechanical and emotional weight.

Visually it is staggering. Lighting on wet asphalt, distant skylines during a parachute jump, the texture of Florida-inspired swamps, neon-soaked nightclubs, and even a tutu-wearing chihuahua all look photorealistic without losing Rockstar’s signature satirical edge. Everyday moments—driving through emergent street life, working out, grabbing food—sit comfortably next to high-octane sequences, selling the fantasy that this world exists whether you’re causing trouble or not. The editing keeps the pace cinematic while still showing off systems: wanted-level management, dual-character play, and a living city that reacts.

The soundtrack choices (Depeche Mode, Phil Collins, and more) land perfectly against the images, and the whole piece ends on a quietly effective note that makes November 19 feel both imminent and worth the wait. Netflix listing it under crime and action genres was the right call; people have already started logging it on Letterboxd as if it were a short film, which is exactly the energy it earns.

This isn’t just marketing. It’s a confident, stylish, frequently breathtaking preview that reminds you why Grand Theft Auto still matters. If this is the appetizer, the full game is going to be a feast.

Three stars – worth a quick watch.

Pegasus (Part 93)

Glowing network lines overlaid on dark interconnected infrastructure

The impact of the terrorist attack soon becomes apparent. The ship is undated with system wide communications that a no fly zone is being implemented.

Maeve brings up a schematic of the locations of the ships in the sky in the vicinity and watches their number starts to decline. “What’s happening?”

“The hunters have become the hunted,” Derek replies. “We’ll become very conspicuous very soon.”

“What will we do?” Maeve asks, her eyes wide open.

“We’ll need to fly much lower to the ground, hovering a few feet off the ground.” Derek frowns. “This will slow is down, a lot. I’ll have to drive the ship much slower. We’ll do that as a last resort.”

Further communications are received. Disorder is breaking out in cities across the world. There are warnings to stay away from major urban centers.

Maeve observes. “Things are going more or less according to plan. I think we need to descent now, though. There are only a few ships left in the airspace.

Derek guides the ship down to only a few feet from the ground of lush green farmland. “It’ll be a few hours before we arrive.”

“Let’s hope that the rest of the team made it back,” Lisa added.

Dear Killer Nannies – Must Watch Series

Vintage microphone, photographs, and red threads arranged on a detective evidence board

Okay, everyone I think everyone agrees that Pablo Escobar has been done to death. But this series comes from a new vantage point – that of his son.

Dear Killer Nannies is one of the most distinctive and emotionally resonant crime dramas of recent years — a coming-of-age story told from inside one of history’s most infamous households rather than another retread of Pablo Escobar’s empire.

Co-created by Juan Pablo Escobar (Sebastián Marroquín) himself, the eight-episode Hulu/Disney+ miniseries follows young Juampi as he grows up in luxury in 1980s Medellín, surrounded by bodyguards he treats as playmates and nannies. He sees his father as a generous benefactor. The devastating revelation that those caregivers are hired killers, and that his father is the world’s most wanted drug trafficker, is handled with unusual restraint and psychological honesty.

What sets the series apart is its focus on the quieter devastation of a child losing his innocence. The obligatory shootouts and car crashes exist, but the real impact comes from bloodless moments: a boy finishing off an injured animal because the men around him treat it as normal, the slow collapse of his idealized image of his father, and the weight of a surname that turns his life into a flight from death. The time jumps between childhood, adolescence, and later years feel purposeful rather than gimmicky, building a portrait of inherited trauma and the struggle to choose a different path.

The performances elevate the material. John Leguizamo brings unexpected warmth and complexity to Pablo, portraying a loving father whose affection is constantly at war with his criminal life. The young actors playing Juampi at different ages — especially Miguel Tamayo as the seven-year-old — capture both wide-eyed belief and the first cracks of understanding with remarkable naturalism. The ensemble of “nannies” (Juanita Molina, Danharry Colorado, Rafael Zea, and others) makes the surreal domestic arrangement feel lived-in and strangely intimate: hardened killers who are also dysfunctional uncles and protectors. Laura Rodríguez grounds the family as Victoria, a mother desperately trying to shield her children while knowing the truth.

The first-person narration by the real Juan Pablo adds a layer of intimacy and moral ambiguity that most cartel stories lack. The show never excuses the violence or the empire, but it humanizes the boy caught in its crossfire and the men assigned to keep him alive. Production values, period atmosphere, and the mix of Spanish-language authenticity with accessible storytelling make it bingeable in its half-hour episodes without sacrificing weight.

This is not just another Pablo Escobar show. It is a surprisingly literate examination of adultification, masculinity, loyalty, and the long shadow of a last name. For anyone who thinks the subject has been exhausted, Dear Killer Nannies proves there was still a deeply personal story left to tell — and it tells it with heart, craft, and unexpected tenderness.

Make sure to give it a watch. Four stars from me.

Wheelchair Wars Addition Part 2

Two armored robots duel with glowing blue blades in an underground arena

Using the mind control on the battlechair, Timothy slashed his sword this way and thar through the airs. His anger unabated.

Audrey appeared, gaunt and ashen faced. “Let’s do this. It seems to be all you care about.”

She transferred into her battlechair and armed herself with a long sword like Timothy. They were not to be used for training, only real battles. Gasps went up around the hall. All the other teams stopped practicing.

Audrey drove toward Timothy and the sound of metal clashing reverberated through the air.

Timothy swerved this way and that, his entire being focus on the fight.

Driving forwards, he aimed for her torso. She parried and then parried again.

Her reactions slowed as adrenaline flowed through Timothy.

His sword swung once more and Audrey’s fell to the floor. He advanced and put his sword to her neck.

The terror in her eyes sent a tingling down his spine.

What am I doing?

He took a deep breath, and dropped the sword. “I’m sorry.”

Turning to the onlookers, he roared, “What are you looking at?”

They returned to what they were doing. When Timothy turned back, Audrey was gone.

Wheelchair Wars Addition Part 1

Shattered neon highway spiraling through outer space

This is an extra bit I’m thinking of adding to Wheelchair Wars. It’s after the Gargantuan battle.

The following time-cycles were filled with sorrow. Timothy was filled with an emptiness, each death replaying in his mind. He kept thinking that he had seen one of his fallen comrades, only to feel sick moments later with the realization he would never ever see any of them again. They were gone and would not be returning.

Still, he turned up for practice. All eyes fixated on one of the “heroes” that had killed a Gargantuan. Audrey did not appear, and with no new teammates allocated, he sparred alone with his shadow.

His dad had little to say except, “You should go to see her. She’s not leaving her room or eating.”

Timothy didn’t reply, instead staring into the distance.

I don’t feel like a hero. Or, that we won.

It was the fifth time-cycle, and Timothy found himself sparring alone again. His jaw clenched as rage boiled through his body.

He drove out of the hall, and towards Audrey’s room, knocking hard on her door.

Silence.

Knocking again he shouted, “I know you’re in there, Audrey.”

A weak, muffled voice replied. “What do you want? Leave me alone.”

With that, he departed to the hall.

“It’s time to practice. I expect to see you in the hall in five minutes. We won the battle, and I’ll not let you sully it.”

The Beauty of Rewilding: Ireland’s Atlantic Rainforest

Mossy woodland trail overlooking rugged coastal cliffs and ocean

This is an interesting documentary about my home country of Ireland. A bit of background information – almost all of Ireland’s natural forests were cut down by the British. About 12% of the island of Ireland is currently forested, it was only 1% in the early 1900s. However, true native woodland only comprises 2%, and most of this is managed.

n Irish Atlantic Rainforest (directed by Gary Lennon, 2026) is a strikingly beautiful and quietly powerful environmental documentary that transforms a small corner of Ireland into something that feels almost otherworldly.The film centres on Eoghan Daltun, a Dublin-born sculptor, author, and rewilder who in 2009 bought a 73-acre farm on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork.

The land was ecologically damaged—overgrazed by deer and goats and choked with invasive species, particularly rhododendron. His approach was deliberately minimal: he fenced out the grazers, cleared the non-native plants, and then largely stepped back to let nature recover on its own.

The result is the spontaneous return of a temperate Atlantic (or Celtic) rainforest, one of Europe’s rarest and most threatened habitats, complete with moss-draped trees, dense epiphytes, ferns, fungi, and returning wildlife.Lennon’s film is at its strongest visually. Cinematographers Ross Bartley and Brian O’Leary get remarkably close to the forest floor and the living surfaces of trees and rocks. Macro shots of flapped fungi, green-eyed insects, snails, and intricate plant life make the familiar Irish woodland look exotic and alien—lush, intricate, and teeming in a way that invites comparison with more celebrated tropical forests. The seasonal changes and the sheer density of life that emerges once pressure is removed are captured with genuine wonder. These sequences are the film’s greatest asset and frequently feel transcendent.

Daltun himself is an intense, articulate presence. The documentary interweaves his personal backstory—growing up in Dublin, studying sculpture in Italy, restoring a cottage, and eventually choosing radical simplicity on the edge of the Atlantic—with his ecological observations and arguments. He makes a clear, passionate case for passive rewilding and the recovery of native woodland as both an ecological necessity and a source of joy and meaning. Brief contrasts with other landscapes (including sequences elsewhere) underline how distinctive and fragile these Irish temperate rainforests are.

At around 90 minutes, the film sustains its focus without overreaching into heavy-handed advocacy. It is more observational and immersive than didactic, allowing the recovery of the land and Daltun’s lived experience to carry the message. Viewers come away with a vivid sense of what Ireland’s lost woodlands can still become when given space, and with admiration for the patience and restraint required to achieve it.Not every viewer will envy the isolation or the deliberate rejection of modern urban comforts that Daltun has chosen, but few will fail to be impressed by the results or moved by the beauty on screen. The documentary stands as both a celebration of one successful act of ecological restoration and a gentle, hopeful invitation to reimagine our relationship with the Irish landscape.

Five stars out of five for those interested in nature.

One Mile: Chapter One Review – A Gripping Survival Thriller

Highway winding toward snow-capped mountains at sunset

This film is currently being shown on Paramount+. I decided that I’d give it a try.

One Mile: Chapter One (2026) is a taut, gripping, and emotionally grounded survival thriller that delivers high-stakes action while never losing sight of its heart: a father’s fierce determination to protect and reconnect with his daughter. That’s the first thing that’s different about this film. It’s the first one in quite some I’ve watched with this father, daughter dynamic.

Ryan Phillippe stars as Danny Beckett, a recently retired U.S. Army Special Forces operative struggling to bridge the gap with his teenage daughter Alex (Amélie Hoeferle) after years of absence due to his military service.

What begins as an earnest college road-trip detours into nightmare territory when the pair encounters a secretive, violent off-the-grid community in the wilderness. Alex is taken, and Danny must rely on every hard-earned skill he possesses to track the kidnappers, outmaneuver them, and bring her home—alone and outnumbered.Phillippe delivers a compelling, grounded performance.

He plays Danny not as an invincible action machine but as a capable yet weary, emotionally frayed father whose protective instincts and tactical expertise feel authentic and hard-won. The early scenes establishing the strained father-daughter dynamic give the subsequent violence real weight; you root for Danny because his mission is as much about redemption and reconnection as pure survival.

Hoeferle is excellent as Alex—intelligent, resilient, and fully realized rather than a passive victim—creating genuine chemistry and tension with Phillippe that elevates the material. C. Thomas Howell brings layered intensity as Stanley Dixon, the community’s leader, portraying a man driven by his own twisted sense of protecting his people rather than cartoonish villainy.

Director Adam Davidson (known for strong television work on shows like Bosch and Deadwood) keeps the pacing lean and purposeful across the roughly 90-minute runtime. The film builds atmosphere effectively through its remote, isolating wilderness setting (shot on Vancouver Island), then shifts into sharp, practical action sequences that emphasize resourcefulness and high tension over excess spectacle. The sense of isolation and danger feels palpable, and the story balances pulse-pounding set pieces with quieter character moments that make the stakes personal.

As the first half of a two-chapter story released simultaneously, Chapter One works strongly on its own: it establishes the characters, ratchets up the conflict, and leaves you eager for the resolution without feeling incomplete or padded. It’s a satisfying, no-frills thriller in the vein of efficient modern survival-rescue films, distinguished by solid performances, a clear emotional core, and efficient storytelling.

Spoiler!

Still, the film’s ending doesn’t make much sense. He rescues her but they forget to do anything about the compound or the other women. Like even telling the police.

Four stars from me.

Pegasus (Part 92)

Futuristic spacecraft escaping a rocky explosion above an alien desert

Sunlight could finally be seen in front of the ship.

Derek gripped the controls. “We’re almost there”

Flashing red light appears in the cavern. “What the hell?” Derek asked.

Maeve clattered through the options in front of her. “It’s an emergency message. They are shutting down the base?”

Derek turns his head to face her. “Are they looking for us.

A pale Maeve replies, “I don’t know, maybe?”

Derek knows what he has to do. He fires the thrusters, accelerating the ship.

The opening begins to close. Maeve yells, “We’re not going to make it!”

With shaking hands, he accelerates the ship. Flashbacks of all that has happened whiz through his mind.

The gap is small now, and he steers the ship to its side. A second later, and the ship out. Back to freedom, and the dream for some more.

Cries of “Yay” come from Derek and Maeve. Large smiles impossible to contain.

The ship rose up above the clouds. “Where now?” Derek asks.

“Let’s keep to the plan. Back to Liverpool and the others.” Maeves taps away and brings up a holographic display of their current position, and their destination.

“Let’s rock,” Timothy roars, a mix of fear and excitement about what lies ahead.

Wheelchair Wars

Sealed parchment decree before a throne surrounded by robed officials

So, readers, to create the Wheelchair Wars Universe in people’s minds, I’m planning on writing preambles at the beginning of each chapter. My intention is for them to sound somewhat biblical. Readers of the novel Dune will be familiar with what I’m trying to do.

For chapter 1.

A Communiqué from the Emperor’s Central Command to the Governor of Uisneach – Year 387673 AD Number 156

The Emperor has considered your request for the authorisation of new warrior games to be called Wheelchair Wars in the city of Xenos. The request has been authorised.

It will prove useful in keeping the masses content and away from any thoughts that may lead to Chaos. That is the primary ground for its approval.

A risk, as with all gladiatorial contests, is that a leader of the people may emerge. This would be most unfortunate. Therefore, none of the warriors should survive more than a few contests. If any do reach an exalted status, they should be transferred to the Emperor’s forces.

The weapons to be authorised for these contests will remain at the Governor’s discretion. However, attention must be paid to previous guidelines. At no point should any faction have access to weaponry capable of disrupting the Emperor’s authority.

Approval is also granted for the construction of a mid-sized stadium to cater for the contests. The necessary budget should come from the city’s own resources. A new tax may be in order.

The shortfall in the tribute to the Empire has been noted and is unacceptable. The people must not be allowed to grow soft. The lives of those on Uisneach, as throughout the Empire is a gift from the Emperor that must be repaid.

If you are not prepared to take the necessary measures, then I will find someone who will.