A FIRST year student of Gort Community School has released his debut novel, which was written when he was just 11.

Now 13, Joe Fahy from Derrywee West, Derrybrien, has launched a futuristic tale, entitled Glitched, detailing a battle for control of the world.

Joe has also been enjoying the media attention surrounding the book. He made an appearance on Today FM’s Dermot and Dave in recent days, along with proud dad, Jimmy. 

“[Glitched] is about a 12-year-old boy called Billy who was injected by these nanobots and he meets with some teenagers and he tries to stop a company called AEN from taking over the world,” Joe explained.

“All the school kids in Ireland were injected one day by the company. It’s passed off as a vaccine. The chairperson comes into school to see if all the nanobots are working. Billy’s isn’t. It’s glitched.”

Joe, also known as JE, told the Today FM duo that he wrote the book a year before the Covid-19 pandemic. “I always wrote stories in school,” he said. “The teacher always said they were good so I decided I’d write a book. 

Joe’s dad confirmed his son’s love of writing. “He’d write on the wall if he was let,” Jimmy said. “He’d have ten half-written books lying around the house. We were saying, ‘Joe, you need to finish one of these’.”

Joe is planning a series of novels and would love to see Glitched on the bestsellers list. “That would be pretty cool,” he said. 

Inspiration for Joe’s writing comes from JK Rowling, David Walliams and James Patterson. Joe is a past pupil of Kilbeacanty National School. Glitched is available through WH Smith, Amazon and Austin Macauley Publishers.