Irish transplant Lizzy Shannon has gone from actor to author

The inspiration for her time-travel sci-fi novel was an airport bathroom

By Ray Pitz

The Times, Nov 5, 2009

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Although this is Shannon’s first novel, she’s no stranger to writing, having penned a stage play in 1998 based on L.M. Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables.” Two national tours ensued with performances spanning the country from California to Wisconsin.

She had an even earlier career as an 11-year-old novelist, writing a fictional diary that involved meeting the Bay City Rollers, a Scottish pop band hailed by some critics at the time as the next Beatles in the 1970s. The band topped U.S. music charts with their hit “Saturday Night.”

However, Shannon’s professional life began as an actress in the United Kingdom.

“That was my original dream as a kid,” she said. “But once I did it, I didn’t like it.”

She spent three years acting in London and all over England doing everything from George Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” to Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”

Still, it was playing “Gustav the Amazing Dancing Bear” in the London-based Clown Cavalcade Theatre Company that became her “favorite role of all time.” When not actually being in the bear costume, Shannon portrayed Bobo the Clown.

Her other career was that of a consultant for a New York literary agency, going through the so-called “slush pile” of manuscripts from would-be authors and later working as an agent herself. Some of the hilarious correspondence sent to her by disgruntled writers of that time can be viewed on her Web site by visiting www.lizzyshannon.com. Nonetheless, Shannon said the publishing business taught her a lot.

‘It’s more space opera’

A member of the Willamette Writers board of directors for the last five years, Shannon is in the process of writing a screenplay for “Time Twist” and is also working on a book for her screenplay, “Enemies of Peace,” which she has pitched around Hollywood.

“Enemies of Peace” is the story of a young girl whose family is destroyed by an IRA bomb with the protagonist taking action by joining an opposing military faction where she gathers intelligence that ultimately thwarts an assassination attempt against Prince Charles.

Still, she’s not holding her breath about chances of seeing her work on the big screen.

“I’m being realistic about it,” she said “I’ll just see what happens.”

Now Shannon is working on a sequel to “Time Twist,” where she takes her intrepid heroine Catriona on an under-the-sea adventure.

Meanwhile, she’s hoping her new book is a hit.

“I didn’t really believe it was going to happen until I saw the cover,” she said of the front of her book, which was designed by Lynn Perkins, a noted science fiction illustrator.

Shannon said she believes her book will appeal to a broader audience than only fans of science fiction.

“It’s more space opera than sci-fi,” she pointed out. “It’s a story about human relationships that transcend time and space.”

“Time Twist” can be preordered on Amazon, and Shannon hopes to be in independent booksellers as well with plans to push Barnes & Noble and Powell’s to stock it as well.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” she said of the adventures she expects await her.

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