How a young P.E.I. author's book took on new meaning after his father died

Corey Lund began writing his first novel, Strength, when he was 13 years old. He picked away atit, and five years later, when he was putting the finishing touches on it, he proudly showed it to his mother and father.

"They were both really happy with it, said I did a great job."

But when his father, Gerard, died suddenly last July, Lund, now 18, knew he wasn't finished with the book quite yet.

"After he passed away I revisited it and made a lot more edits, like I put so much more emotion into it because I fully understood what the main character is going through."

'Sort of based on myself'

Strength is a science-fiction novel about a 16-year-old boy, also named Corey, who recently lost his fatherin a freak accident. His father's death causes him to become more isolated at school, where he gets bullied. He worries about his mother, who is working hard to provide for them.

Yes, Lund said, the story is "sort of based off myself," but he didn't want it to seem like it was directly about him so he decided to use a different name for the author, C.J. Rey.

"My original intention for Strength was to make it a fun, adventure story that would mainly appeal to young adults," he said. "However, since my final changes, I believe the book may also be of some help to people who are going through the same situation that I went through."

Just when the main character is at his lowest, another freak accident changes everything again but this time, Lund said, it grants him the strength that he so desperately needs while also taking his life in a very weird direction.

He said the book took awhile, but was worth the time.

"The feeling that I had was just overwhelming joy and excitement. It was really cool to have it in my hands."

Lund dedicated the book to his father "the strongest man I've ever known."

"If it gets successful then I'm kind of keeping his name around and people can see it and say, 'Oh he wrote this in honour of his father he must have been a very special man.'"

Book launch Saturday

Lund is planning sequels to the book, and is enrolling at UPEI to learn about the business side of publishing.

He's launching the book Saturday from 1-3 p.m. at Indigo in Charlottetown. His father, no doubt, will be on his mind.

"I think he'd be pretty proud. He always had an interest in this. It wasn't something he understood well, he was more hockey and stuff like that, but he was pretty damn proud whenever I was working on it."

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