Lasting Scars; New Novel by Local Author Available at Spar

Clontarf born and bred, Brendan Lyon has published his first novel. Brendan uses the pen name Lenny Brando, which is an acronym of his real name. “Lasting Scars” is a gripping crime thriller based in London and was highly commended in last year’s Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair.

Thanks to Gus O’Hara’s strong support for local authors, “Lasting Scars” is available from O’Hara’s Spar on Vernon Avenue. The above photo features Author Brendan Lyon and Gus O'Hara at the book display in Spar Vernon Avenue. Note this photo has been photoshopped so as to comply with social distancing. See the trick here. 

Brendan spent the 1990s in London where he worked in IT. On his return to Clontarf, he built a house in his parents’ back garden (talk about not moving far from home!), picked up a camera and went on to become President of the Irish Professional Photographers Association winning multiple awards along the way, including Irish Professional Portrait Photographer of the Year in 2017. Throughout this time, Brendan nurtured the urge to write, while he developed his writing craft with time-worn “perspiration and inspiration” and the input of established editors.

In a recent interview, when asked about the differences between his three careers in IT, photography and writing, Brendan said, “There are major synergies between all three. In application development, you had to structure and plan your application before you began to code. An application processes information, there is a beginning process and an end process. I adapted that approach to my writing. Further, I wrote hundreds of thousands of words in technical reports and specifications, so stringing sentences together was not a problem. Granted, the style had to be adapted, as technical writing differs greatly from creative writing. Technical writing is about telling explicitly, it’s logical, whereas creative writing is about showing, it’s more emotional. The photography is obviously creative, however, there are technical aspects to it, you need to be aware of many variables and be able to channel those into the end result. Photography also taught me that you can be the best photographer in the world, but unless you do your sales and marketing properly, you may never sell a single photograph. So yes, there is a common thread between the three and in the world we live in today, you need to be multi-skilled or have the resources to hire those skills. Creative talent alone is not enough.”

A couple of years ago while Brendan was photographing movie director Lenny Abrahamson, they spoke about creative projects and Lenny asked, “What’s yours about?” When a movie director asks you that question, you must have your premise line (aka elevator pitch) ready. This is a one, or sometimes two, sentence description of your story. In fact, if you are a writer, ideally you should know your premise line before you write your story and be able to recite it to anyone who asks, “What’s it about?”

So, what’s “Lasting Scars” about? What’s the premise line? Here you go –

Wrongly implicated in a London terror attack, a troubled young woman is forced to fight for her life when the twin brother of a victim vows vengeance.

Most readers describe Brendan’s book as gripping or a “real page-turner”. Here’s a little more about the story:

On a summer evening in London, Alice Madsen sips champagne at a restaurant pavement table. But plans to celebrate her new dream job as a TV show producer are shattered when a brutal terror attack takes place on the next street. People panic and Alice flees with the screaming crowd. Lewis Cole witnesses his twin brother suffer terrible injuries in the incident, and Cole accuses Alice of involvement. Social media wrath turns on her. She suffers insults and threats. CCTV images of Alice are shown on TV, and anti-terror police arrest her. Cole rages and vows revenge. When Alice goes abroad to escape the attention, Cole cunningly gets copies of her house keys and the code to her alarm. On her return to London, Alice is unaware of Cole’s obsession. But he watches her. He learns. He plots. As Cole gets closer to his goal, Alice is forced into a desperate fight for her life.

During this period where we're asked to stay at home, we're all reading a lot more, so why pop into Gus’s Spar on Vernon Avenue and get your copy of “Lasting Scars” today and show your support for local author Brendan Lyon?

By the way, Brendan is still hoping Lenny Abrahamson is going to call…