King City youth has published his first book
By Bill Rea

King City's Connor Daoust has just published The Creepy Chronicles of Monsterain: The Quest for the Dark Diamond.

All the great novelists had to start by publishing their first book.

King City's Connor Daoust has just done that, at the age of 14.

The Creepy Chronicles of Monsterain: The Quest for the Dark Diamond, is now available through Xlibris.com, and he's hoping that it will soon be available at other on-line book sites.

The Grade 9 student at Country Day School said the 91-page book deals with a young girl named Alicia, who's mother brings her to a new home in an old, rundown house in creepy town. He said she is accidentally transported to a creepy world, "full of vampires, ghosts and monsters; that type of stuff."

The synopsis provided by Xlibris.com stated that Alicia learns her only way out is to find a wish-granting dark diamond, and that leads to dangers and bizarre encounters.

Beyond that, Connor wouldn't reveal any plot details. "You have to find out," he said.

Connor said he has always wanted to write books, figuring he would wait until he was a little older. But he decided it was time to get started, "so I started writing it."

He added he's always been interested in things like the supernatural and Halloween.

The story is loosely based on a little comic book he created some years ago, so he already had an idea of what it was going to look like when he sat down to write. But nothing was final by that point.

"It's changed a lot," he said, commenting the story was originally going to be set on an island, and then on another planet. Now the action takes place in a setting that's more like another dimension; something along the lines of Narnia, "only much more creepy."

The book took about three years to compose. He typed an original story and showed it to his parents and siblings, then realized there were changes he wanted to make. So he did, and more changes followed.

Computer problems got in the way of literary creativity too.

"One time, I lost it completely and I had to start from memory," he recalled. "It happens to the best of us."

Connor's father Dennis, a lawyer, did the illustrations for the book. "He's really goo d at drawing," he commented.

He added he tried to get the book out through a couple of publishers. One didn't accept it, and other was too expensive. It was his father who submitted it to Xlibris.com, and then told him it had been accepted.

The publishers did a bit of editing, but Connor said said it only amounted to "a few little changes here and there."

While Connor is basking a bit in the pride of authorship, he's not resting too much. In fact, he's already working on the next installment of what he plans will be a series of series.

Connor has lived in King City about eight years. He has a younger brother named Griffen, who has a character named after him in the book, and an older sister Paige. he said one of the characters in the second book will be based on her. As well, in the book, Alicia's mother Cindy is named after his mother, and her two dogs are named after his two dogs.