By Katie Ryan
Though his writing has spanned two continents and three decades, one Saskatchewan author is proud to be finally published.
And Llodyminster is proud to welcome the author – Douglas A. Schmeiser – whose novel “A Settling of Accounts” has been selected as Llodyminster Reads’ book of choice.
“It has a long genesis and a fairly romantic one,” said the Saskatoon writer and retired law professor of his first work of fiction.
Schmeiser first put pen to paper more than 30 years ago while working abroad in Paris for UNESCO.
“In the evenings I would sit at a bar on the Left Bank and do what many Americans have done, they go to Paris to write the ‘great American or Canadian novel,’” he said in an interview with the Source.
While Schmeiser has written nine legal texts and numerous articles, his foray into fiction began with a few ideas and a note-pad under the lights of the Eiffel Tower. Schmeiser didn’t complete his ‘great Canadian novel’ until years later after he retired from the University of Saskatchewan in 1995.
His ‘retirement project’ was kick started five years ago, bringing to life the story of Jeff Philips, who while defending a client charged with sexual assault, he commits an error of professional judgment which changes his life forever.
“I decided it was now or never and set out to work in earnest on it,” he said, adding writing fiction proved more challenging than legal texts.
Curiosity fueled Schmeiser’s drive to finish the novel, leaving him with a newfound respect for other fiction writers.
“I found since I have written this book so many people I have spoken to have said to me that they have always wanted to write a book, but didn’t know whether they could do it. Of course there was a great learning process in it. I felt that that was a very good thing, I came away with a much greater appreciation of the difficulty of writing fiction and writing other things,” he said.
“I found legal texts much easier to write than writing fiction because you are dealing with things that are less well defined. I found that when I try to write about emotions and feelings and reactions, that was really a very difficult effort to make it sound reasonable and sensible.”
In crafting his tale of human weakness and its consequences, Schmeiser drew on his rural roots, legal experience and concern for the environment.
He takes readers into not only the world of law, the functioning of the courts and legal education, but also the practice of medicine and the environmental impact of the oil industry.
“I have had authors tell me that often a book will write itself and so it was for me once I got into it, I realized there were all kinds of things that I wanted to say and to talk about,” Schmeiser said.
“I have been very involved in environmental issues and I am a birder as well, so I wanted to work that in and the vehicle I used for that was pollution in the oil industry. I also wanted to describe how a lay person looks at law and the legal process. I wanted to show how a person can through no fault of their own can still be caught in a legal turmoil, where he finds it difficult to function and to operate. I also wanted to deal with the problem of legal cause for the average person who gets caught up in a legal issue.”
Though “A Settling of Accounts” was published last year, Schmeiser said he hasn’t hit the road yet to promote it, save for a few book signings, but is looking forward to his visit to Llodyminster.
“What I have also learned is that you learn a lot about the reader when the reader tells you about his or her reaction to the book,” Schmeiser said, who will soon be learning much about Border City readers at the Arts Without Borders Lloydminster Reads event on June 11 at the Vic Juba Theatre
Schmeiser said he has no plans to work on his second work of fiction – yet.
“I think I need a rest,” he said. “I hope to do more with this one before I think about another, but the story is one that naturally leads to a sequel. I have been pleasantly surprised by people who have contacted me and told me what the sequel should deal with.”
A sequel for Schmeiser would indicate that the accounts aren’t settled after all.
Lloydminster Reads tickets are $15, for more information contact the Vic Juba box office.