Alberton High School junior publishes novel

ALBERTON – Alec Managhan, a junior at Alberton High School, recently joined the ranks of published authors as he made his first novel available to the public on Kindle.

The book came out on New Year’s Day and, since then, approximately 23 people had purchased it at the time of the interview.

Managhan’s book, The Life of Martin, tells the story of a man who awakes with no memory of his life before that moment. Martin goes on a quest to rediscover his life and identity. This takes him through trials and conflicts, as he must come to terms with the life he led.

“The whole book is pretty much a search for his past,” said Managhan. “It kind of evolves into not only who he was, but who he is going to become.”

A love of mystery novels inspired Managhan’s book. He could not think of a better mystery than a person who did not know his or her own past. How the book came about has been a story in itself.

Managhan began his book approximately three years ago.

According to Managhan, the book was a secret until a few months ago. He brought his laptop to school one day and did some work on the story during a free period. When he learned about the book, Managhan’s friend Jack Lehl, was surprised by how long it was.

At the time, the book was approximately 130 pages. As Lehl began to read, he got sucked in and insisted on having pages printed out so he could continue. Managhan felt Lehl was one of his biggest supporters. He also mentioned Olivia Taylen for her help with edits to the book.

“She read it very quickly and she did very good edits that were very helpful. [They were] crucial to the process of getting it published,” said Managhan. “I’m very thankful to both of them.”

People who read the book may recognize familiar names within the story’s cast. The story incorporates people from the Mineral County community. Managhan used the names of a number of people he knew from Alberton and the surrounding area. He described this as a cool way to include his friends.

“They’re all for it,” he said. “They really like that their names are in the book. They like to read it and [ask] ‘which character am I?’”

Most of the characters just use a person’s name. However, some characters did have similar personalities, which could lead to problems.

There was some concern people would take their character’s portrayal personally. Managhan said he tried to make it very clear the characters were not based off the real person and it was just a way to include them in the story. He also sought the blessings of everyone he included before he used their name. So far, the response has been positive.

“They’re pretty much all completely made up,” said Managhan. “I just give the name to the character on a random basis.”

So far, reviews from friends and family have been positive. While the readership started within the community, Managhan said word has been spread around the county and beyond. Facebook has also been a helpful tool.

The book was published with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, a free program that publishes stories digitally. Managhan plans to make the book available in print in the future, and hopes to do so in a few months. However, he could not give a time frame of when it would be out.

“Definitely by the end of the year, I’ll have it,” said Managhan. “Possibly by this summer.”

There have already been requests for hard copies. He said a friend of one of his teachers from outside the community wanted to do a book study on the novel. He hopes to arrange hard copies for this by the end of the semester.

He also hopes to get the attention of a big name publisher. However, he is unsure how to do so and does not mind the slow start.

While the program only published the book for Kindle, Managhan said there were e-reader apps able to mimic the system. These would allow people to read the book even if they did not have the product.

This is not likely the end of Managhan’s literary pursuits. In fact he hopes to be able to make some form of career around it.

Managhan expects to focus on some form of writing in college. He said his dream job would be to be an author, but added he did not know if he could actually make a living on it. However, he still plans to look into college writing classes.

Managhan is currently working on a sequel and said he is well under way with it. He said the sequel might be darker than its predecessor. He felt he had matured as a writer and wanted it to be more intellectual.

There may be less of a sense of mystery in the sequels, though they would keep to the mystery genre. The new books will also focus less on the character’s amnesia.

More information on the novel can be found through Amazon.