Christine Whelan FEO, October 13, 2022, VOL. 4 ISSUE 4

The Fort Erie Trilogy is now complete as author John Scott brings the story full circle, tying up loose ends with the third book, Darn: Mending the Gaps In Small Town Politics.

Scott asks the readers via the back cover message, Can any single person reform local government? Not if the change threatens power brokers and developers who thrive under the old rules.

Newlywed Mayor Jenny Wessel Booker must stop a rumoured massive land development scheme without knowing who’s behind it or even where it will be. Meanwhile, The Fort Erie Tribune faces its own threat: someone wants to muzzle the paper and control its independent voice.

Fort Erie’s amateur sleuths scramble to discover who plans to destroy the character of their community — and make millions doing it. As always, time limits, hidden identities and undisclosed motives complicate an already-risky struggle to thwart these attacks on their beloved hometown.

Will there be a happy ending?

The former editor of the Fort Erie Times Review (1971-72) turned author shared, the publication of the first book, Button Holes: Discovering the Gaps In Small-town Politics, was, “A dream come true.” This first of three took more than 25 years to complete. The dream was enhanced by Zip: Closing the Gaps to Small-town Politics, which took shape within 10 months. 

According to John, far exceeding any expectation, was the completion of this third book. Darn, starting just a few minutes after Zip ends, flew onto the pages in eight months. It rounded out the Fort Erie Trilogy by advancing the story but also tying up many of the loose ends from the first two books.

John commented about the title, “A few people have asked about the strong language of the title. Darn is not meant as an exclamation, it’s the act of fixing the hole, as in darning or mending a sock.”

The author offered a couple of rare peaks into the trilogy. “You’re going to find in the second book, they take a bus tour to familiarize the politicians of the town. I give a street by street description of the tour.”

And in the third, “The characters evolve and they get into exciting activities. Names will come back that you haven’t heard in a while.”

They even spend a little time in Toronto. “This may bring some nostalgic buzz for people who have spent time in Toronto, in restaurants and other venues,” disclosing Toronto as being the city where the villains live and work. “They have to track the villains so they have to go to Toronto.” And then the author stopped, not wanting to give too much away, as I’ve come to patiently expect.

“I really did enjoy the people,” referred to the characters in the trilogy he just spent almost three decades with. He wanted to hear what they had to say and the kinds of things they might get up to but, “You reach a point when you say, is this just self-indulgence? Is this the only reason you want to keep going? Because I think the story is essentially told now.”

Bigger Than Expected

“The response from readers has been thrilling. This started out as a fun project for me for my family and friends. But all of a sudden now, it’s evolved into a level of support I never dreamed, I never would have imagined it would be. Thanks to The Fort Erie Observer and its readers, the reach of The Fort Erie Series has exceeded anything I could have imagined.

Scott admitted his biggest reward has been the feedback. He shared stories of his readers, telling him how they are experiencing similar feelings of sadness, feeling dread as the end of the first book drew nearer.

“Mayor Redekop wrote me an endorsement for both the first and second books, which is published in the third book.” The author commented that the mayor admitted he loves the storyline and that it all sounds plausible.

We talked about the irony, the fiction of the trilogy’s storyline parallelling the facts of Fort Erie’s reality, both with the election at hand and the responding tensions to the pace of the town’s development within its boundaries. 

Completion

“There’s a little regret that it’s over, but I was pleased I could bring everything to a conclusion.”

When asked if there was relief from the completion of hard work, John replied, “It’s not hard work. I was almost as fascinated as the readers were to find out where it was going to go. I had a rough idea but things evolved, the characters almost dictated.

“I had never expected to create a trilogy, but in retrospect, the characters needed that scope to create and develop their lives.”

What Comes Next?

For the first time in many years, John is not writing for any political candidates. “I used to have a string of mayors and other politicians I wrote for during elections – federal, provincial, regional, local. That’s a different kind of writing altogether. Nothing this year, which is interesting, but I kind of like it.”

Scott was in journalism for 16 years, the Information Officer of York Region for 16 years and on the side, wrote speeches and press releases for candidates for every level of political office — federal, provincial, regional, local, and board of education.”

But these days, “I’m very content to be writing for the Fort Erie Observer now.” Scott-Free is the column John started writing for The Observer around the same time the article covering the completion and book launch of the first book, Button Holes, was printed.

“I’ve been writing since 1966, I’m not likely going to stop now.”

Scott suggested, “The trilogy has the look and feel of a festive gift set — good for Christmas giving, birthdays, Thanksgiving or any time of the year.  I was thinking they might be especially appropriate for family and friends who might have left Fort Erie but who still enjoy that nostalgic feeling of ‘coming home’ — even if it’s to a place where these events never really happened — but could have.

If we get the long cold winter the forecasters are predicting, the Fort Erie novels are a good way to escape the season and journey to another time and place.” 

I, myself, am looking forward to cuddling up with my sweats and a warm blanket in the next couple of months to discover what these characters have gotten themselves into and if John has given Fort Erie a happy ending.

The Fort Erie Trilogy can be found now at Lakeside Books and Art, 341 Ridge Road N., Ridgeway.  Both single books and wrapped trilogies are available through the store, or by contacting Mr. Scott at jrscott@bell.net.

Photo provided by John Scott