Q: In The Haunting of Modesto O’Brien, the setting seems very important to the story, seems very grounded in a particular place. Why set it in the real-life town of Cobalt?

A: It is maybe odd to only write about where I live — all four of my novels are set in and around Cobalt, and most of my musings & reflections are also generated from this landscape. Odd maybe, but I feel a sense of the imperative to pay attention to the land I inhabit. Scrappy and used up as it is, and still showing the scars of short-lived but hyper-industrial activity, it is a place worth seeing, as in discovering the minutiae, the magic, the vulnerabilities, and the joy, in and of and around this place that I inhabit. It seems to me now obvious, though I wish I had seen it sooner in my life, that any hope we have of being better, of finding a way of being in the world that is non-destructive, lies in seeking atonement from the land we inhabit, its creatures and beings, wherever that happens to find us.

Because it seems to me that the land teaches us things that we have forgotten. But what happens when we are dislocated, removed, moved, from the place that was the homeland of our people — when a person is severed from their connection to their homeland? If this tracery of wisdom and old knowledge comes from a relationship with the land, from understanding and being guided by these age-old traditions and stories and lore, how does one get their moral bearings without them? That is what I was trying to think about in The Haunting of Modesto O’Brien.

For most of us in this country, we are not in our homelands. Where I live is the traditional territory of Timiskaming First Nation, an Algonquin community who have been here for thousands of years. This is their homeland. Their stories and their wisdoms travel through the treetops, glide through the deep waters, live in the rocks. They are not mine. I can learn from, and be respectful, yes, but they are not mine to browse and select from, to pick and choose from. So even as I live here, even as I nurture my ability to know and respect this place, there is a foreignness to it all, an outofplaceness that I try to understand through in my writing. Forge a hybrid? Start from scratch? Not sure, but I keep thinking and writing, because to me it is one of the most important, what? Quests? Maybe, sounds old, fairy tale borne. Maybe that is the word. A quest for atonement across the real/imagined/blurred landscape that I travel every day.

*The Haunting of Modesto O’Brien* by Brit Griffin, published by Latitude 46 Publishing.

About The Haunting of Modesto O’Brien:

A gothic tale from deep within the boreal forest…

Violence and greed have intruded into a wild and remote land. It’s 1907, and silver fever has drawn thousands of men into a fledgling mining camp in the heart of the wilderness. Modesto O’Brien, fortune-teller and detective, is there too - but he isn’t looking for riches. He’s seeking revenge.

O’Brien soon finds himself entangled with the mysterious Nail sisters, Lucy and Lily. On the run from their past and headed for trouble, Lily turns to O’Brien when Lucy goes missing. But what should have been a straightforward case of kidnapping pulls O’Brien into a world of ancient myths, magic, and male violence.

As he searches for Lucy, O’Brien fears that dark forces are emerging from the ravaged landscape. Mesmerized by a nightmarish creature stalking the wilderness, and haunted by his past, O’Brien struggles to maintain his grip on reality as he faces hard choices about loyalty, sacrifice, and revenge.

About Brit Griffin:

Brit Griffin is the author of the climate-fiction Wintermen trilogy (Latitude 46) and has written essays, musings, and articles for various publications. Griffin spent many years as a researcher for the Timiskaming First Nation, an Algonquin community in northern Quebec. She lives in Cobalt, northern Ontario, where she is the mother of three grown daughters. These days, she divides her time between writing and caring for her unruly yard.