Welcome. On this page you will find an overview of the site and author.

On other pages:

• Information about the novel Sybarite among the Shadows
• The Sybarite Chronicles, an account of the - at times bizarre - tale behind the novel and original story (also included)
• Published articles related to Crowley and Neuburg 
• Dolphin Rider - a marine fantasy featuring the quest of a boy and dolphin for a magic book 
• Disorders of the Pleasure Centre - a time slip narrative that moves between Nero's Rome and modern Ibiza
• Banned Practice - information about the band
• Poetry of Richard McNeff
• Poetry of Lynne Munn  
• Richard McNeff Senior - Actor  - Biography and filmography
• Barry Flanagan - Sculptor - images and an appreciation

Richard McNeff was born in Hampstead but lived all over Britain when a child. His father was a repertory theatre actor who subsequently went into film then TV, only to be exterminated during the first Dalek Invasion of the Earth (1964).  After graduating from Sussex University, Richard worked as a carpenter for the Greater London Council and wrote stories for International Times.

He subsequently lived in Barcelona, Amsterdam, and the Basque Country, finally settling on Ibiza where he stayed for more years than he can remember. During this time, he fronted a band, ran a language school with a Spanish partner, worked as a translator, and lent a hand to the sculptor Barry Flanagan.

He currently lives in London where he performs as singer-songwriter with Banned Practice and gives specialist language courses to Eurostar drivers and Norwegian judges. Articles of his have appeared in Wormwood and the Fortean Times. His first book Sybarite among the Shadows (Mandrake of Oxford - ISBN 1869928-822), addresses occult and espionage issues in bohemian London of the thirties.

Apart from Disorders of the Pleasure Centre and Dolphin Rider, both of which are featured on this site, Richard is also the author of Malpractice, a tale of sex, drugs and rock and roll set in Seventies London, and Shades of Ibiza, a gothic comedy set on contemporary Ibiza.

The Independent on Sunday on Sybarite 

McNeff's book is so different from anything you usually find on a book shelf that it should perhaps be a compulsory purchase.

Barry Unsworth on Disorders of the Pleasure Centre                

I thought the book impeccably researched. In fact I was full of admiration for the way that details of the period were worked into the narrative with complete naturalness. Details of dress, custom, social and military organisation, were all handled extremely well. The prose itself is fluent and expressive and can go from ironic observation to a vein of poetry.   

© with thanks to Kevin Scanlan for photo

Disclaimer: All photos and illustrations  on this site  are posted in good faith in the belief they do not infringe the moral right of any third party. Should this not be the case, please contact the author and the oversight will be rectified.

New edition of Sybarite available online @ Amazon,

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