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Local author pens on book, writing two more

A Good Death To Self has been given life. This new book was penned by Prince George writer Solomon Goudsward, the young scribe's debut novel, and it was launched recently with an event at Books & Company.
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Local author Solomon Goudsward held a book signing at Books & Co. and sold out. There's more copies coming.

A Good Death To Self has been given life.

This new book was penned by Prince George writer Solomon Goudsward, the young scribe's debut novel, and it was launched recently with an event at Books & Company.

Bookstore staff called the new novel "an honest, funny, simple yet contemplative story of friendship, freewill, faith and change in a Northern town."

Goudsward told The Citizen that it took him three years of intermittent effort to create the book.

"It was just a matter of sticking with it," he said. "I've written other stuff, and some larger projects in the past and did not always stick it through. I dont know what it was about this project, but I just kept coming back to it."

Part of the motivation was its underpinnings to his Christian faith, but another part of the motivation was knowing he was writing something outside the usual Christian literary tropes.

"There's a lot of swearing and drinking which is often counter to what many in the Christian community consider their lifestyle, but that's a choice, and it's not what I wanted to explore with these characters in this setting," Goudsward said. "I know it will not be popular with certain Christians, I know this is not really bestseller material just because it doesn't fit into those nice, safe genres, but I think it's a good read. It's an indie style I think a certain set of readers will really enjoy."

He's aiming the book at the young adult population, but believes it also has wider appeal outside of that.

"It's not the big coming-of-age adventure. It's the facing of reality, and that is mild and simple and about the nuances of growing up. There is a climx but it's not life-and-death stakes on the line," he said.

Books & Company quickly sold out of their first shipment of A Good Death To Self, so Goudsward had the pleasant problem of having to order more. It is also available via Amazon, and comes in paperback and ebook platforms.

For Goudsward, it was putting his local education to creative use. He went to Cedars Christian School for his grade school years, and is now in his third year of studies at UNBC. He credits English professor Rob Budde for being a helpful force on his writing aspirations.

"One of the most important things I learned through this is, I'm capable of completing a book, which is important because I'm working on another," he said. "It also played a part as my own therapy and working through my youth mentality. I was a year out of high school and trying to navigate the questions about what are we doing here? Free will, what does that all mean? Who do I get to be in my life? I wasn't writing from a place of understanding the answers; I was writing from a place of being caught up in these questions myself. Answers are not always the answer."

What he did know for certain was the setting in which he was steeped. The most common writer's axiom is "write what you know" and a big part of that could be restated "write where you know." Goudsward said being born and raised in Prince George "had a big influence on my writing and although it's not called that in the book, the setting is totally a fictionalized version of Prince George."

He said he has a pair of primary works underway next.

One he calls "a very ambitious novel" inspired by Tolstoy "in vague terms - inspired by history and desire and some big ideas we sometimes have about other people."

The other is something completely different, "a comedic collaboration" he is doing with his dad Ken Goudsward who is also a noted local writer and musician. To think of what they might come up with together is a tantalizing page-turner of an idea.