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Irish journey -- Vacaville author spins tale of hard-drinkin' elf

By Judith Faught

FAIRFIELD - James Pasch's Irish roots wrap tightly around him, from the Ireland maps hanging on the walls of his Vacaville home, to his memories of living in the European country as a child.

So it seemed only fitting that his first novel, "The Dying Breed," would be set in that country.

"Ireland is a wonderful place. It's rich in legends. It's rich in history," said Pasch, 34. "It's a place I really love and have gotten to know and now I get to share it with other people through this."

Pasch's interest in Ireland goes beyond having lived there; his mother is a "Green-card carrying woman from Ireland" who lives in Vacaville. His family lives in the rural areas of Ireland that he has visited numerous times.

"I get caught up in the history of it all," he said. "Every time I go back, I go visit the ruins. It's all fascinating."

He used an 8-foot map to guide him and his characters through Ireland. The towns, and even some of the buildings, that Pasch includes in his story are actual places.

"The little burned-out house on the side of the lake, it's there. You can actually trail the roads; they are real places, but the events never happened," Pasch said. "That's why I call it an epic tale of an ancient Ireland that never was."

The main character of the book is an elf named Aiden who is trying to find his way back to the "new world," a realm where all the elves now live, except for Aiden.

But before dismissing the book as a fairy tale for children, be warned that Aiden is not a typical elf that people read about in bedtime stories or imagine making Christmas toys.

"He's a lyin', thievin', hard-drinkin', cheatin' elf bumbling his way through life," Pasch said. In fact, the novel opens with Aiden getting into a bar fight because he doesn't have enough money to cover the six drinks he downed.

In fact, another drinking binge led him to miss the day of the Exodus, when all of the elves escaped to their new world. That's why he was left behind as the only elf on Earth.

"His whole way of life is dying. He can see how the humans have come in and taken over everything," Pasch said.

The book went through seven edits, including one by his mother, Agnes Hynes Wiley.

"It had to meet her approval," he said, adding that it did after he changed two swear words to appease her.

Pasch, who goes by the name Jimmy but uses James as his pen name because it sounds more professional, always thought about writing a book but never sat down to do it until he started sharing his storyline with others.

"I'd start talking about it and people were listening and people came around to hear about it," he said.

The interest convinced him that it was a good tale others would find entertaining, he said.

Rather than relying on pen and paper, Pasch went out a bought a laptop so that he could work on his book during his lunch hour. He worked as a software developer since age 17 and now works as a programmer for Solano County. At home, he wrote on his computer.

At first it was difficult and Pasch said that he spent too much time self-editing. But soon he got into a habit.

"I just found myself becoming aggressive at writing," he said. "That's what kept me going for so long."

It took him three years to write the book and it was a struggle.

"Sometimes I only wrote a page, but that was a page closer to finishing the book."

He already started his next novel, a sequel called: "The Defiant Breed."

He is approaching this book differently.

"Before, it was write, edit, write, edit, write, edit. Now it's write, write, write, then I'll go back and edit."

"The Dying Breed" by James L. Pasch is available at Barnes & Noble at 1620 Gateway Blvd., Fairfield, or may be ordered online at bn.com, Iuniverse.com and Amazon.com. Readers can preview Pasch's book by visiting his Web at http://www.sputtertoad.com