Novel has interesting Newfoundland twist
Justin Hodder of Paradise says he’s always had a creative mind
CORNER BROOK — On Canada Day 2019 Justin Hodder had an idea for what he thought would be a cool novel.
So, the Paradise man started writing.
“I ended up writing four or five pages to get the story going,” he said.
Then he started to wonder if what he had could be turned into something.
Hodder grew up in central Newfoundland, in Stoneville, and doesn’t have a background in writing.
In fact, his day job in sales of electrical items used in the offshore oil and gas industry couldn’t be further from being a writer.
But writing was no different than other things he’d done.
“I’ve always been a creative mind, always dabbling in anything that let me have an outlet, I guess.”
The content of the pages he wrote sounded good to him, but he wondered what others would think.
“So, I let a few friends read it. And they were looking at me like kind of baffled.”
It was in a good way, though, as they encouraged him to continue, and during the next four months he finished his recently selfpublished novel, “The Mists of Morne.”
“The Mists of Morne,” is geared toward an adult audience and features as its main character a young archeologist who does some unethical things to get ahead in the field.
When she takes on the search for an artifact — which Hodder won’t disclose, to keep it a surprise for readers — she finds out that some more sinister people are also looking for it.
“It’s dangerous people she’s dealing with.”
There’s a question of whether she should go on and stop them or give up.
About 80 per cent of the story takes place outside of Newfoundland, but it eventually makes its way to the province.
“The secret of it coming to Newfoundland is actually one of the twists in the end of the book,” said Hodder.
The trail of the artifact leads the archeologist first to Signal Hill in St. John’s and then to Gros Morne.
The title and the cover photo will draw people into the Newfoundland and west coast connection, but Hodder said morne in the title refers to mountainous regions, a term the archeologist learned while in Peru.
Once he completed the novel, Hodder thought about seeking a publisher, but again doubted himself a bit.
“I didn’t know if I had what it took for a publisher to want it. I guess it was a little bit of a hesitance or fear.”
He decided to publish it on his own, and his sales background has helped with that process and in promoting it.
He had 1,080 copies printed by Friesenpress and in the past four weeks has sold about 550 of them.
He plans to hold a book launch on the west coast, COVID-19 permitting, on June 18 at the Deer Lake Big Stop and on June 19 at the Merchant Tavern in Woody Point.
The entire process, from writing to publishing, took about a year and half, and Hodder said it has given him confidence to know he has what it takes to write, and he’s already working on a sequel.
In his hometown, there is at least one fan who’s hoping he gets that sequel out soon.
As a longtime friend, Megan Steele said she can vouch for his creativity.
“Really, Justin growing up, he was an interesting dude,” she said with a laugh. “Justin has always been a celebrity in Stoneville, so that won’t change.”
As a teen, Hodder was a rapper and wrote a bunch of songs, Steele said.
“He was the entertainer of the group.”
She said he was someone who was always open to trying anything.
Still, when he told her and others that he was going to write a novel, they were shocked, Steele said.
After reading it, she was pleasantly surprised with the result.
“It was really, really good, really engaging, really well put together, really intricate. I couldn’t put it down.”
She said she liked the action adventure and the love story, it was cool how Hodder incorporated Newfoundland into it.
“And even though it’s a fiction book, there’s a lot of great ties to world and Newfoundland history in it.”