Meet Our Authors
GARY MCELKERNEY
Born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland Gary gained a BA Hons in Furniture, Product and Interior Design at the University of Ulster before pursuing a career in Lighting Design. He considers himself a
storyteller more than an author and his experiences volunteering for first aid work in Nicaragua, Hungary and Ethiopia gave life to Volunteer.
Gary continues to live and work as a Lead Lighting Designer in Belfast. His hobbies include playing American Football for the Carrickfergus Knights and also taking part in endurance races around the UK and Ireland raising funds for charity.
Volunteer's publication is the first phase of a wider project, The Ultimate Creative Challenge; to write a novel and get it published, to develop a script and produce a film or TV drama and record songs for a soundtrack album.
Volunteer by Gary McElkerney
Chris Johnston, a 22 year old university student from Belfast, signs away another summer to lead a team of young volunteers as they travel to Ethiopia to build houses for charity. After an argument with the other leaders, Chris abandons the team and travels north to work for Medical Aid Africa in a clinic close to the Eritrean border. He agrees to join their make-shift ambulance crew in a bid to find the excitement he’s been searching for on the frontline, but finds life very different off the beaten track. Consumed by fear, he is terrified and experiences the true horrors of war as his dreams of heroism and adventure turn into a nightmare. Volunteer is laced with humour, heartbreak and horror and Chris’ journey will leave you questioning your own life, your achievements. If faced with the same situations, what would you do? And if the mental scars of war were carved into your memories, who would save you?
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