When Alexander Rutherford was a freshman at Evander Childs High School, one of his classmates showed him a spiral bound notebook containing the manuscript for a novel she had written. Rutherford had never given much thought to writing a novel of his own, but he figured if a classmate could do it, why couldn’t he?
Rutherford, who lives in Parkchester, began conceptualizing his dream novel in high school. An in October, 2011, at age 34, he finally published it. The book, titled BFFs, is actually the first part in a trilogy about a group of friends that meet in high school growing up together and reaching adulthood.
“With all the hard work and dedication I put into it, it’s not only wanting to put it out, but put it out the right way,” Rutherford said. “Especially to reach mature teens and young adults.”
BFFs (which stands for Best Friends Forever) was published through Strategic Book Publishing. Rutherford paid the company to publish the book. It is sold on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, as well as other retailers.
Rutherford, who works full time as an accountant, previously published a book in 2004 but took it off the market shortly thereafter.
“I just didn’t have the right marketing and promotion and didn’t really do it properly,” he said.
Each book in the “Alex’s Dreams” trilogy will trace the group of friends through high school, college and wrap up with young adulthood.
“The first part is about dating, relationships and interactions of people with different backgrounds,” Rutherford said. “It deals mostly with the positive parts of life but some negatives as well. There is tragedy in the book as well. One of the main character’s love interests, who he was about to marry, is murdered in a gang crossfire type of situation.”
Despite having been raised in the Bronx, Rutherford chose to set the book in California, a state he has never visited, mainly to defy reader assumptions.
“I figured that most writers from New York talk about the urban areas and the streets and that’s what most readers expect. I didn’t want to do that,” he said.
The second installment in the trilogy has already been written, according to Rutherford, but he has not yet set a release date.
“I’m waiting to see what happens with this first one,” he said.
Bill Weisbrod can be reached via e-mail at bweisbrod@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 742-3394.
