NORWICH – Local author Tom Mody hopes to present readers with a sense of what it was like to live in the late 1970s through a dog’s perspective with the publication of his first book, “The Dogs of Sherburne.”
This fictional novel depicts some serious adult issues through the eyes of dogs, said Mody, in a time prior to the information age and modern leash laws. The story centers the experiences of a dog named Dallas – Mody’s real life boyhood dog – who has died and reflects on his life when he enters Doggie Heaven, giving him insight and revelations about human and animal conflicts. Though Mody writes himself as a background character in the book, he said that he also incorporated an autobiographical feel.
“It’s my story, even though I’m just in the background. It’s a story of my era,” Mody said.
Inspired by his wife, First Edition Book Store owner Lisa Mody, and the childhood dog stories of local Sherburne residents, Mody began to write his novel in 2002. When he completed his writing nearly two years later, he was unsure what he wanted to do with his work.
“I sat on it for a while,” said Mody. “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to a publisher.” In the end, Mody decided to self-publish his novel and put in nearly three months of effort to make the final touches. His book finally reached bookstore shelves in mid November.
Mody describes his book as “comical satire,” but warns that the dog characters in his novel do not reflect the characteristics of a children’s book.
“It’s very much PG-13,” said Mody. He described scenarios of the book that contain violence and explicit material that give the book some serious adult themes.
“Locally, people of Sherburne will relate to the book because it’s about their area,” Mody said, adding that people “outside the area will relate because it catches common dog behavior and how a dog would express itself if they could.”
“The Dogs of Sherburne” is Mody’s first attempt at writing a book. As a musician, Mody said that he has written the lyrics to a large compilation of songs – between 50 and 70 songs, he said – but he explained that this was a different experience. Pending on how well his book is received, Mody said that he has considered writing additional books in the future and possibly making his first novel the first part of three book series. The downfall of doing so, he said, is that the stories “would lose the autobiographical feel” that is present in “The Dogs of Sherburne.”
Currently, “The Dogs of Sherburne” is available at the First Edition Book Store on 13 S. Broad St. Mody plans to have a book signing at First Edition from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10. More information regarding the novel can be found on his website www.dogsofsherburne.com.