Len Vlahos Visits Hicklebee's for New Release, Scar Girl

Len Vlahos

Last Friday, April 22, TAB had the honor and pleasure of hosting Len Vlahos in the store for the second time. Len first came to Hicklebee’s two years ago to promote his novel Scar Boys, and is now on tour for its sequel, Scar Girl. His presentation at Hicklebee’s was extremely fun and we all enjoyed his visit very much!

Personally, Friday night’s was one of my all-time favorite events. The atmosphere, company, and Len’s presentation all combined caused this event to be one of the best I have attended in my three years in TAB. Len, like always, came prepared with a PowerPoint, his guitar, and exactly what he wanted to talk about. After talking a little bit about Scar Girls and asking the audience some trivia questions - the prize for a correct answer was a special guitar pick - Len explained about the plot technique known as Hero’s Journey. After proceeding to describe what it is, he told us of a game of sorts that he had played with a couple of schools and wanted to play with us. Using the Hero’s Journey, we - as a group - were supposed to come up with an outline for a story that Len would then post on his website. Using the comments, we would each write parts of the story, adding on to each other, until we have a complete book. Then, Len would edit it, publish it, and send us our story. Immediately, everyone began shouting out ideas, working with each other to come up with a character and the journey that character must undergo in order to save the world - the number one job of any hero, including those as unconventional as our non-binary Xavier Wang. 

Following the completion of our story outline, Len moved on to music. Both Scar Boys and its sequel Scar Girl place a large emphasis on the importance of music, just as Len does in his personal life. After explaining a bit about the power of music to both heal and hurt, Len asked a female TAB member to come up and read an excerpt from Scar Girl. In the middle of the excerpt he chose was a song, and he played it on his guitar and sang it for us, explaining that he had written all of the songs present in the novel, and most of them also have music, not only lyrics. His performance was amazing, really giving us a sense of the characters, not to mention the chance to listen to great music! To conclude his presentation, Len invited audience members to play or sing for everyone, and we all enjoyed listening to those who came up - everyone did a great job!

The night was not over yet, however, as Len stuck around to eat a bit of the great food, sign some books, and talk with those who wanted to ask him questions. At the end of the night, he signed our wall (for the second time!) and we made sure he received an invitation to come again and sign it a third time. 

According to Len, he loves presenting at Hicklebee’s because he feels as though he is among friends. We certainly consider Len our friend and we hope that he comes again soon!
by Romi E., TAB Member