Last month, Lawruk finally had his first full-length novel published, a book he had originally written in the late 1980s.

"I wrote it in the 1980s, but agents in New York and Los Angeles said it wouldn't be published (at the time) because it would be competing (for publication) with books written by author Tom Clancy and about for or five other authors who wrote books in that genre," Lawruk said. "I was told that the genre was too busy and that I should just let it go."

The book, which is titled A Spy Too Close, centres around the real-life U.S. presidential election that eventually saw George H. W. Bush voted into the White House. The description provided on the back of the novel, states that it's 1988 and the Russians have a plan to put a spy into the upper echelons of American politics. An FBI agent and a Canadian security intelligence officer from CSIS team up in pursuit through eastern Canada, through New York State and eventually to Washington D.C. Among the Canadian cities featured in the story are Ottawa and Halifax.

"It's a very intricate story with a lot of subplots," Lawruk said.

Disappointed in the fact that he could not get his work published, but not defeated, Lawruk submitted his book to the Brautigan Library in Burlington, Vermont.

"This library accepts unpublished works and allows people to read them at their own leisure," he said.

The book remained at the library in Vermont until ongoing pressure from friends and family members who had read and fell in love with the story, encouraged Lawruk to make another attempt at publishing it. He began re-writing the story in the spring and finally made it available to the public in October.

"This time, I received very good support from my editor and publisher," he said. "Then I had to figure out how to market the book. I had published two short story books (A Bark is Worse Than a Bite and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Puberty) in 2007 and 2008 and had figured out how to make them available at www.amazon.com, but with the novel, I decided to take it to the book stores and see how that would work. Last week, I signed a contract with Chapters and the book is now available there in the 'local authors' section."

The book is also available at Read's Book Shop in Carleton Place. It retails for $9.95.

RELEVANCE

Because of the book's fictional plotline that centres on the real-life presidential race involving George H. W. Bush in 1988, Lawruk said that the October release of his novel is relevant because of the recent U.S. presidential election that saw Barack Obama defeat John McCain.

"They (publisher) asked me to write a new opening based on Obama and McCain," Lawruk said.

As for feedback he has received from people who have already read the book, the author noted that it has all been positive in nature.

"Everyone who has read it say that it is very exciting," he said. "I have friends who read it back in the '80s and '90s who said they did not want to put it down. They wanted to keep reading it to find out what happens next."

BACKGROUND

A resident of Carleton Place for 10 years, Lawruk, 74, was born in Ottawa. He spent 32 years working for the Communications Security Establishment, which is a branch of the Department of National Defence. He also worked for the National Security Agency for three years, which provided much of the background and incentive for his novel.

"I wrote a lot of ideas down during flights to different conferences and such," Lawruk said. "I eventually pulled all of my ideas together."

Because one of the central characters in the story is female, Lawruk believes the story will appeal to women readers.

"I've also sent copies of the book to the New York Times and the Washington Post for them to review," Lawruk remarked. "Even if they don't review it, I hope they give it a read."

While Lawruk awaits the success of his first novel, he is busily preparing his second novel; another 1980s rewrite that he hopes will be available by next fall.

"It was written in the 1980s, but tells about a group of international terrorists who get together and decide to cause a number of incidents in the U.S.," he said. "Then, 9/11 came along and it was all very similar."

Lawruk's second novel is titled The Domino Alliance.