Faded Stardust

FADED STARDUST

By Paul Murphy

"In this business, human beings are the least-valuable commodity we trade"

In the last week of July 2025, the Irish singer/songwriter Paul Murphy began a new song immediately after completing the finishing touches to his final lyric anthology, UNSUNG.

Living alone, leg-paralysed from a muscle-wasting neurological condition, and denied medical treatment and assistance, over the course of 24 days he somehow crafted an epic, harrowing, and ultimately redemptive tale of the entertainment industry, and one woman's experiences in the film, music and pageant sides of it. He was able to lay down over 94,000 words - in verse - of this gripping story, concluding the tale shortly before his journey ended.

A story of manipulation, exploitation, broken trust, abuse, lost love and false love, low-worth and self-medicating... and of recovery, survival, self-belief, self-empowerment and real love. An enthralling, emotive, at times disturbing, at times humorous, and brilliantly-paced narrative prose-work, crafted by a unique talent in the genre.



After completing the work, Paul added a brief and informative essay on the creation of the work, 'It Was Meant To Be A Song...', detailing how it somehow grew, 'without planning permission', from a proposed 7-to-13 verse song, into a panoramic, epic-scope 1,100-verse song. Once again, humour and trauma are present in equal measure, as he describes sitting in his wheelchair, typing up to 4000 words a day, each keystroke paining his diseased and withered fingers. As with his only 'interview' on the book - a self-filmed video for his YouTube channel - Paul again declines to name the actresses who were the sparking point for arenas of the story.

Bonus materials included are some alternate cover artworks - Paul had designed at least 8, including one complete variant, which adorns the paperback edition; and some excised or exchanged lines.



PLEASE NOTE - this is an adult-themed work, and contains references to some harrowing acts including substance misuse. Although these are alluded to and not described, this book is for an 18+ market only.