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By Ayanna Eckblad

This summer, Alden resident James McKenna released his first book, “An October’s Journey: Poe’s Final Gift.”

McKenna, originally hailing from New York, grew up an avid reader.

“Since I was a kid, all I wanted to do was have the sort of vocabulary that would take me through anything,” he said.

After living in Minnesota for about 20 years, McKenna decided that he wanted to pursue writing not just as a hobby, but as a new line of work.

The undertaking of writing a book began when McKenna’s wife bought him a new computer, and he decided to write it for her. What followed was four months of crafting his writing until it became a fully-fledged book. Throughout the process, McKenna made a point to not think of his writing as “work.”

“When I was writing, I was having fun with it,” said McKenna. “At my age, it’s just something to do, to have fun with.”

After the book’s completion, McKenna sent his manuscript to professional reviewers. In August, the book was available for the public to read.

According to the book’s official synopsis, “An October’s Journey: Poe’s Final Gift” tells the story of Jonathan Brandt, a “young, nineteenth century attorney who, for his 22nd birthday, receives an odd sort of gift from his friend, Edgar Allan Poe. As part of the gift, Poe convinces him to defend a woman and her two grown children who were arrested for practicing witchcraft. Unbeknownst to Jonathan, the trial will be held in a place that has somehow fallen out of time.”

McKenna knew that he wanted to write a book about writer Edgar Allan Poe.

“I wanted to present Poe in a different light,” he said. “No one’s totally dark, and no one’s totally light, so there’s this mixture that comprises a person’s personality, and I wanted to allow the reader to see both parts of Poe,” he said.

McKenna’s appreciation for Poe and his work has become almost second nature in his writing.

“I knew Poe,” he said. “I used to read Poe all the time.”

McKenna’s book differs from other modern-made historical fiction because of his unique writing style and more specifically, his virtuosity in crafting sentences through vocabulary.

“I favor the 19th century style of writing,” McKenna said. When I was writing the book, each line had to have a certain meter … a certain flow … and that’s the 19th century style of writing. You don’t find that today.”

To develop this parlance, McKenna drew upon the influences of authors like Jane Austen, the Brontës, William Makepeace Thackeray and Herman Melville. “They weren’t afraid to use their vocabulary,” he said.

McKenna hopes that readers will take notice of this work’s quality. “When [the readers] start to read, I want them to go ‘Wow, listen to that. Listen to how it flows.’”

Following his debut book, McKenna is currently writing a new series of novels about a 19th-century detective named Alden Wells and a book of poetry called “Poems for a Dark Stormy Night.”

An “October’s Journey: Poe’s Final Gift” is available for purchase on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, or ebook; at AJ’s Book Hideaway, the Albert Lea Art Center, Sweet Reads Books in Austin and the Weathered Wagon in Alden.