Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutGoderich Signal Star, 2017-01-25, Page 1414 Signal Star • •Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Bringing the Canadian action hero to life with 'The Bad Canadian' Darryl Coote Editor Canada's literary history is long. It's filled with the names of Stephen Leacock, Timo- thy Findley and Margaret Lawrence and contempo- rary writers Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje and Alice Munro, just to name a few. But what about the page - turners? The writers of pulp classics and action -packed subway novels that keep one awake reading till the crack of dawn? The Ludlums, the Greshams and the Pattersons? Local writer Leonard G. Mokos is hoping to be the answer with his recently self -published historical fiction novel "The Bad Canadian." From his Goderich home, Mokos said he wanted to create a Cana- dian action hero with his sophomore effort in his main character Marshall Geary, who is a veteran of the First World War and facially disfigured from fighting on the Western Front. I think there's a misconception of dullness in the stories we have to tell in our own history. So wanted to write something that was exciting, action packed, accurate. — Goderich author Leonard G. Mokos "I've always been a huge history buff, of history in general," he said. "I think our country's history is fab- ulous. is exciting, it's interesting, but it isn't nec- essarily marketed that way. When you think of Cana- dian novels you think W.O. Mitchel ... Maybe Alice Monroe, but I don't know if she's writing that level of genre excitement." Geary lives in 1940 IN A PLACE OF PEACE, DURING A TIME OF WAR, THE UNFORGI VEN WILL NOT GO FORGOTTEN Leonard G. Mokos, author and self-proclaimed history buff, looks to bring Goderich's history to life with Itis second novel "The Bad Canadian." Edenville, a fictionalized Goderich, where fear of the Nazis is at a fever pitch, and the local wartime special constable approaches the post-traumatic stress Please be advised that Bluewater Cleaners will be CLOSED from February 4th to February 10th No Dry Cleaning will be available through this time. If you need cleaning, we would be pleased to accommodate your request prior to February 1st. We will re -open at 9:00 am on Saturday, February 11th. Thank you, Ann & Staff E 0 C/) CCI 0) 0 disorder sufferer for help with a case. At its heart it's a mystery, he said, that lives between the two wars as its charac- ters are haunted by the first while toeing into the second. He said he wanted to cre- ate a iaracter study with that book that examines what it would have been like for a person who had experienced the horrors of The Great War while staring into the inevitability of the next one. "If you went to WWI, if you made that sacrifice for four years, if you were shot, shelled, gassed, if you had lost most of your brothers, if you had lost your girl- friend, if you were facially disfigured and given effec- tively what is a copper mask with a strap, how would you feel seeing it replayed all over again?" he proposed. And w ile historical he doesn't think it is that -dis- similar to today -- the themes he tackles he says have been present since the terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. "Things like this put the fear of God into people and there was a high level alert," he said. He said that following that attack America was set on edge, which he "The Bad Canadian," by Leonard G. Mokos. experienced first hand. During a vacation to Flor- ida shortly after the trag- edy, he said he was arrested three times for taking a pic- ture of a pole in a parking lot. Another time while in France he was strip searched at Charles de Gaulle Airport. "That's the fearfulness," he said. He wants to combine that tension with Canada's his- tory, which he says has tra- ditionally been eclipsed by America's stories. But, Canada's stories, specifically those of Goder- ich and Huron County dur- ing the Second World War, are rich and fascinating, he said, and he wants to bring them to life -with his book. There's Camp X, the radar base in Clinton, civil- ians volunteering to guard hydro stations and infra- structure installations from attack, he said, adding there is a deep, interesting history here ready to be fictionalized. "I think there's a miscon- ception ordullness in the stories we have to tell in our own history. So I wanted to write something that was exciting, action packed, accurate, he said. He is now planning its sequel. With now having laid the groundwork through establishing the setting and the characters, he says there is more ability to make the next mystery in Geary's saga even more complex than the original. He plans for its narrative to breach the borders of Edenville (A.K.A Goderich) into Clinton and the sur- rounding areas. Ultimately, what he wants his readers to get from his pages is a little excitement, he said. - "Fun," he said. "Number one, it's just meant to be fun. I think any mystery novel or genre novel is just meant to give you a ride, an experience, a thrill. If there's something learned about PTSD., about WWI, about our own history, that's great," he said. The book is available now at Fincher's in Goderich as well as online at Amazon and Good Reads, among other sites.