Suffer in silence no more.
This was the motivation behind Cochrane author Fred Stenson’s new novel, Who by Fire, a fictional, yet very personal account of a family living in rural Alberta in the late ‘50s-early-‘60s next to a sour gas processing plant.
Though the novel is a work of fiction, for Stenson, the story could not be more real, as it was his own family’s experience that was the inspiration behind the book.
“I believe a lot of families have suffered in silence,” said Stenson, whose family was involved in a lawsuit with an oil and gas company, which was eventually settled.
With Who by Fire Stenson wanted to shine a light on those who he feels have suffered at the hands of abundant and rapid oil and gas production on and around their land, and to explore what this practice does to families and communities.
To tell this story, Stenson not only dug deep into government and industry issues surrounding the oil and gas boom in Alberta, but also into his own family’s past.
Revisiting his parent’s old diary – called the ‘stink diary’ – memories of Stenson’s past began to resurface, and he began to ask himself what his mother and father had gone through.
“You’d feel guilty every day,” said Stenson of how his father must have felt living next to a plant that was putting his family’s health at risk. “This is a story I can write with considerable confidence.”
In the novel, the Ryder family must deal with not only living next to a sour gas plant, but deal with the ramifications when it malfunctions, spewing gas into the surrounding land and water. Farmers must cope with the loss of livestock, corroding equipment, and worse, sick children.
Stenson said families in this situation are reluctant to leave their land because it is the only place they have called home, as it has been in their families for generations.
Though Stenson’s novel is set 50 years ago, he believes it still rings true today.
“I wouldn’t have bothered with the story if there wasn’t a very powerful echo,” said Stenson, pointing to what he feels are negative effects from hydraulic fracturing and the Alberta oil sands.
“I think the industry is really starting to slip backwards. It’s stupendous what they’re doing up there,” he said of the oil sands near Fort McMurray.
Stenson said other than his desire to write a good book, if he had one purpose for Who by Fire it would be to highlight the fact that he believes nothing has changed when it comes to oil and gas exploration in Alberta since the late ‘50s, other than more money being thrown at affected landowners.
“Things didn’t get better,” said Stenson, who has worked in the oil and gas industry. “Let’s live up to the standard we pretend to have.”
Stenson said he believes government must play a more prominent role when it comes to the oil and gas industry, and not simply hand out land leases then step away, leaving landowners and oil and gas companies to battle out their issues.
“There’s something we’ve forgotten here,” affirms Stenson. “A lot of people got a raw deal.”
Stenson said it serves the industry well when people’s complaints are questioned by the public and made out to be exaggerated or unreasonable.
“These people are not crazy,” he said.
Stenson said one of the culprits to what he sees as an ongoing clash between landowners and industry is the ‘team player’ attitude, which he feels leads people to defend matters they normally would find morally wrong.
“Team play obligates moral distinction,” he said.
Stenson said Albertans simply want to protect their land, air and water and establish their land-rights.
He questions why people who voice their concerns are often labeled as ‘left-wing,’ when the very idea to defend one’s land and safeguard land-rights is a long-time ‘right-wing’ (conservative) platform and a traditional value of Albertans.
Who by Fire is Stenson’s sixth novel; he has also written three short story collections and numerous non-fiction books.
He was nominated for the 2000 Giller Prize and won the City of Edmonton Book Prize, the Charles Bugnet Novel Award and the inaugural Grant MacEwan Author’s Prize.
Who by Fire will be released Sept. 23 and can be purchased at Chapters as well as independent bookstores in Calgary – Shelf Life Books, Pages on Kensington and Owl’s Nest Books.
Stenson will be at Shelf Life Books Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. for a book launch and signing.
