This book will not bring the flowery, happily-ever-after readers might be looking for as local author Neil Godbout brings his Broken Guardian trilogy to its end.
The last book in the young adult fantasy series, Resolve, published by Bundoran Press, will be released Thursday at Books & Co.
"Disintegrate [the first in the series] took three years to happen," said Godbout, who wrote the book for his daughter Claire's 13th birthday. "Once you have the books on track and the publisher expects a trilogy, things have to happen. So three years for Disintegrate, then two years for the last two books and I started writing Resolve a week after I finished Dissolve. I was writing Resolve as I was doing edits on Dissolve. So 2012 was pretty hairy in terms of juggling two projects. Now, of course, established authors do that all the time, but I have a full-time job. It took a lot of early mornings and weekends to pull all this off."
To bring a trilogy to its end does take its toll on the author.
"The tough part was the emotional side," Godbout said. "As a writer you invest a lot in your characters, so to say farewell to them is difficult. The book's called Resolve for a reason. The trilogy is resolved. That doesn't mean that it comes all pretty, boxed up with a ribbon on top. That's not how this goes."
Godbout's editor Virginia O'Dine sold Bundoran Press as the series was being completed, but remained committed to the project throughout. Godbout found himself once again in the opposite situation of most authors who write too long. Godbout, managing editor of the Prince George Citizen, tends to write concisely -- to a fault. So O'Dine had to encourage him to expound on the story line and flesh out the end of Resolve for fans who enjoy the details that are so important to a good read.
"Virginia felt the ending was very rushed and you know -- I'm new to writing the ending of a trilogy, and she felt kind of like it just went ta-da," said Godbout, who said it was fun to come back to it and hash out the details. "Virginia, holding my feet to the fire, made the ending a lot stronger.
Anybody who is expecting the happy ever after ending in Resolve, please read something else."
Godbout has been nominated for the coveted Aurora Awards in a new category for best young adult novel for his second novel of the triology, Dissolve. Online voting for favourite authors ended last Friday and winners will be announced during Can-Con, the Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature, in Ottawa, from Oct. 4 to 6. Win or lose, Godbout, who will attend the event, will be the proud recipient of the coveted Aurora Awards pin, which will be presented during a pinning ceremony during the conference.
For now, Godbout is doing absolutely nothing in the way of creative writing, he said. It's been all-consuming and he knows what it takes to complete a book and a series and he's not prepared to do it again any time soon, unless something else lends inspiration, of course.
The launch for Resolve goes Thursday at Books & Co. at 7 p.m., with Godbout doing a reading and signing books for fans.
