The characters in a book by a local author were in a bit of trouble in the first book.
Now, they're in big trouble in the second book.
Fans of the young adult fantasy genre can see for themselves during the Tuesday book launch of Neil Godbout's Dissolve, the second book of the Broken Guardian trilogy. The event takes place 7 p.m. at the Prince George Library.
Godbout wrote the first book of the trilogy Disintegrate especially for his daughter Claire and presented it to her on her 13th birthday.
When Claire told her dad the book was something she would've taken out of the library, it got him thinking perhaps others would enjoy it.
He met with Virginia O'Dine, the publisher of Bundoran Press and after some editing and re-working Disintegrate was published last year.
With Claire's sweet 16 come and gone in March, Godbout is offering the sequel Dissolve.
"I've already written the first third of the final book called Resolve," explained Godbout, who is also the managing editor of the Prince George Citizen. "In many ways, as Dissolve comes out, it's already something in the rearview mirror."
The middle book is darker than the first, he added.
Growing up, Godbout was a Marvel comics fan where the fate of the entire universe hung in the balance and the conflict in his novels is similar. There's a nice role reversal in Godbout's books where Lily, the main character, is female and has all the special powers, while Sam is the lovelorn teen who never really feels like he fits in.
Lily is part of a non-human race called guardians, who are basically caretakers of the universe and represent different aspects of it. There's a guardian for light, dark, power and so on, Godbout added. In the series, Lily and Sam hit if off and that's when things start to happen.
Godbout just returned from unveiling Dissolve in Calgary at When Words Collide, a festival for fiction readers, writers, artists and publishers.
"If you're a new writer, this is where you want to be and it went very well," said Godbout. Many people remembered him from the launch of his debut novel and were back to talk about and buy his second.
"People even asked me to sign the books, something I'm still not used to," he laughed. "I feel like I'm signing someone's yearbook. I'll have to work on that."
From the first book to the second, the process of creating was cut in half. Godbout said it took about 18 months to complete the first book and about nine for the second.
"This time I knew what I was getting into," he added. "I had a much better idea of what Virginia was looking for and I knew what I wanted for the book -- I wasn't wandering in the dark quite so much with this one."
Next stop for Godbout is the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto Nov. 1 to 4 where all the genre's powerhouses will gather.
"That's one thing I've learned," he said. "I have to put myself out there. I can't just sit in front of the keyboard and do my thing. I'm learning a lot about the publishing world."
Some authors will present their unpublished book to an agent, who, if interested, will make the effort to get the book published for the author. In Godbout's case, he got the books published by a small but well-respected publisher and is now on the lookout for an agent, he said. Toronto and New York are the hub of publishing in North America so it's a good place to start, he added.
"So we'll see how this goes," said Godbout.
He'll be at the library Tuesday at 7 p.m. to answer any questions about his novels, characters and writing career. Copies of Dissolve will be on sale and he will also do a short reading from the book.
