Happy Place is a “brainless” read, according to Al Leduc. The author said he would be hard-pressed to find a more fitting word to describe the zombie novel he recently had self-published.
The spoof, which “makes fun of every B-movie you’ve seen,” was written in the typical “overused Hollywood formula,” using all the traditional players expected to appear in a zombie story.
“Zombie movies — they’re all bad, right?” Leduc said with a smile.
The novel even comes complete with small town references. What makes those references unique is how close they come to home.
Loosely based on Leduc’s hometown of Espanola, the novel mentions the smell most northerners recognize when passing through the small paper town, the local watering hole and other “small-town” amenities. Frequent visits to Sudbury, stops along Highway 17 and northern companies are also mentioned in the novel.
Leduc, who admitted he is “a longtime zombie fan,” began writing Happy Place a few years ago. The ideas developed over time, but the final product came together in a matter of weeks.
He said the novel was his “happy place” when he was going through some difficult times. It gave him an outlet. Leduc said he enjoyed the writing process and coming up with the plot and characters in the story.
While it’s filled with what he refers to as “stupid funny” thoughts, scenes and personas, there is a legitimate story-line tucked into Happy Place.
The story begins when Alfie, a friendly, outgoing longtime resident of the fictitious town of Welmm, drives his delivery truck into an oncoming transport, “because the Native spirits told him to.” Both Alfie and the transport driver, John, are unharmed in the accident.
However, an extra arm on the scene of the collision gets the town talking.
Before long, Alfie and John are both revealing secrets about themselves, while trying to outrun a horde of elderly zombies (who still have perfectly functional digestive tracts). “Hopefully you’ll get a laugh out of it,” Leduc said.
After graduating from Cambrian College’s fine arts program, Leduc began working at Espanola’s paper mill. “I’m not an author,” he said with a laugh. “I just wrote a book.”
Leduc said depending on the response to Happy Place, he may consider using his computer “productively” again. He said he learned a lot during the process of writing and publishing the book.
So far, his mom has reviewed the finished product. “She said it was ‘cute,’” Leduc said with a laugh. Not a terrible response, considering how seriously Leduc took the writing process, and how seriously he takes himself.
Happy Place is available at Chapters, Coles and online at barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.
- Posted by Jenny Jelen
