A former Grand Forks residence has published a book about a writer who ends up hiding out in Christina Lake while hiding from an evil corporation.
The book, an ecological thriller called Dark Seed, is available online through Amazon and other outlets.
In Dark Seed, writer Nick Barnes uncovers a conspiracy involving genetically modified organisms (GMO) and a shady organization trying to cover up their evil global plot.
Writer Lawrence Verigin came up with the idea for Dark Seed after talking about GMOs with his father in Grand Forks about 14 years ago.
Verigin was born in Grand Forks and grew up here. He graduated from Grand Forks Secondary School in 1983 and moved to Vancouver to attend Capilano College.
Verigin actually has a marketing background and although he currently works at a newspaper he is in the advertising department.
Verigin said he has wanted to write a book for 20 years or so. “I thought, I’ll do it some day,” he said. “I’ll put it on my bucket list. Then about 14 years ago I thought I’d like to it so I started working on a story. It wasn’t really panning out.”
The inspiration for his first novel, Dark Seed, came from that visit to his father.
“He was telling me about all the stupid stuff that was going on where they were genetically engineering different fruits and vegetables,” said Verigin. “They were doing stuff like putting fish genes into tomatoes and things like that. My dad was always into natural things and not screwing around with nature.”
With the idea in his head, Verigin returned to his home in Vancouver and began the long research process. “After researching I thought, ‘this would make a good story. The companies that were doing the genetic engineering would make the perfect villains.’ That’s how I got started.”
He wrote the first draft of the story in one year but realized that he needed to hone his writing skills.
“I said this is a good story but I don’t know how to write,” said Verigin. “Because I didn’t have a writing background, it was harder for me to figure out how to tell the story and make every paragraph make sense.”
He then spent close to 10 years taking courses and speaking to published writers and learning how to write properly.
“The book was always at the back of my mind and I was always tweaking it,” he said. “Finally, about two years ago it was good enough to be published.”
Verigin was able to get Dark Seed published through Promontory Press from Victoria.
“They’ve been really good,” he said. “They’ve been able to get me into Chapters stores across Canada and we just finished doing a deal with Barnes and Noble in the U.S. where my books will be available by October. The helped me with getting the ebooks on every different platform. They also helped with the editing.”
Although Verigin’s immediate family has all moved from the area to Kelowna, he still visits Grand Forks and Christina Lake occasionally.
He said putting both towns in Dark Seed made sense since he knows the area so well and it fit in with in with his story.
One of the characters, Ivan Popoff, is a Russian scientist but has been discredited and he needs a place to retire. “So where would be a good place to have him retire—and I chose Nelson,” said Verigin. “I then had to get Nick and Morgan (another main character) close to Nelson. I know Grand Forks and Christina Lake well. In the winter, Christina Lake would be a great place to hide out and that’s close to Nelson. Plus, my family has had a cabin on the lake for nearly 40 years. So I know the place really well. It was a perfect place and I knew it so it was easy to write it.”
Verigin said the book writing experience was long and arduous but well worthwhile.
“I really enjoy the creative part of it and the use of your imagination,” he said. “Seeing a blank page suddenly filled with words is really cool. I think the perseverance of it—it sure takes a long time and it’s a lot of work to write a book.”
Verigin is pleased with the sales of Dark Seed and the feedback he’s received. He is currently working on his second book, the sequel to Dark Seed.
“It’s going really great,” he said. “It’s very encouraging. I want to continue writing books that are about socially relevant topics. I want to find something that needs more attention and something bad that’s going on and write a fictional novel about it in hopes that someone will say, ‘hey, this is really going on’ and want to find out more about it.”
Copies of Dark Seed are available for sale at Pedaller’s Place in downtown Grand Forks.