Longford native excited to release his debut novel 'Fake Tan'

LONGFORD Town native Wayne Denniston is set to release his debut novel.

The novel entitled 'Fake Tan,' is a dark psychological thriller set in the fictional Leitrim/Roscommon border town of Ballinasna.

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The plot concerns Kim "Mikado" Wood, a middle-aged and recently divorced woman who has just bought a new apartment and is looking for a fresh start, all while carrying a heavy past. Her new neighbour Ed Mannion is quick to fixate on her, drawing her into a world of terror and violence, for her and people in her orbit.

Speaking to Longford Live ahead of the book’s release, Wayne said:

“Fake Tan is a psychological thriller, and I started writing it last August. Originally I thought this might be a short story, and then I just got really interested in the main character... She's a woman in her 40s who has to start over again in life. She's just got recently divorced, she's bought this new apartment, and she's at the age where you have to start over. Then she realises she has this neighbour who begins this unhealthy obsession with her and draws her into a world of danger and violence and the people around her.

Wayne continued: “I had written a book the year previous which is an adaptation of a play I'd done and that became a novella so I said I want Fake Tan to be my first book because it was more of a challenge to write... I was more intrigued to see what happens with these characters.”

The local author has been writing since childhood but said he never took it seriously until recent years. “I never thought it was something that could be done as some way of making a living.

“It was during COVID, we were all locked down and locked up in our houses, and I went back to what I used to do when I was a kid just writing short stories,” explained Wayne.

“I think I wrote two or three over the period of that time, and one of them won the Roscommon New Writing Award... I said I'm just going to keep doing stories and writing these books that I've planned, and so far it's been going good. And I've done the indie route, I've set up my own little imprint, Lucky Dog Books, and I just love the whole creative control of it and so far the response from people has been very good, so I'm happy out.”

Wayne is focusing on his writing full-time and teased that there’s lots in the pipeline. “There'll always be new ones coming from me, but Fake Tan is the main priority at this point, and that's available from November 30th, but available also for pre-order at the moment.”

He is happy with the response to the novel to date with people already making preorders for it online. “There's been loads of orders coming in from people that can't even get their hands physically on the book yet... so that's very positive and it's definitely encouraging and I hope it continues.”

The Longford native has ties to both Leitrim and Roscommon. He previously won the Roscommon New Writing Award. He contributes film analysis weekly on The Arts Show on Shannonside FM hosted by Charlie McGettigan.

Fake Tan is currently available for pre-order on Irish website Buythebook.ie ahead of its release next month.