ESTEVAN — A ruptured bicep tendon, the COVID-19 pandemic and a "really bad" case of writer's block couldn't stop Rhonda Leanne Stock from releasing Riot and Retribution, which is book No. 5 in her Dust and Devils series.
A book reading was held July 8 at the Estevan Public Library for the Estevan-area author. Stock said she was really happy with the turnout. She read from Riot and Retribution, and the audience had lots of questions for her.
"I put out Book 4 in 2019, and then I planned on having Book 5 out in 2021-ish, but then with everything that happened in 2020, and then I actually ended up rupturing my bicep tendon … so I couldn't type for a while, and I ended up with really bad writer's block," she said with a laugh.
She believes writer's block should be added to the list of guarantees in life for authors, along with death and taxes.
"I struggled for a few years there with having any motivation to write, and it wasn't until 2024 that I finally got through that and got my writing mojo back and was able to finish the book," said Stock.
The first Dust and Devils book was released in 2014, and subsequent books came out in 2015, 2017 and 2019. The original plan was for a seven-book series, but as the project has developed, the plan has shifted to six, so one novel remains.
Riot and Retribution takes place a couple of years after the fourth book. Set in 1935, she said it follows the protagonist Jake as he becomes involved with the Regina Riot and the On to Ottawa Trek; in the latter, unemployed men journeyed by train to Ottawa to demand better work and wages.
"It was a really interesting time in history, and I had fun putting a character into that setting," she said. "There was a lot of turmoil in the country at that point, so it made for some interesting writing."
Other characters from the previous books show up again in the novel, and she said a lot of loose ends were wrapped up in this book.
Despite the writer's block, Stock said she knew she would eventually finish the Dust and Devils series. Still, it was scary for her because she has been writing since she was about six years old and never had a reprieve of more than a few months.
"Feeling like I couldn't write there for a couple of years was really hard. I was kind of worried for a little while, but I knew that it would eventually come back, and it did," she said.
It also made this book a little more meaningful.
"It was actually a good thing that it took a little longer for this one, because I feel like if I had written this one right after I finished Book 4, I wouldn't have gotten the same feel to it because it takes place a couple of years later, and my main character has grown a bit and changed a bit," she said.
"I don't think I would have been able to capture that right away if I hadn't gone through what I did. So, I think it actually worked out for the best in the end, and this is actually my favourite of the books that I've written so far."
She had the idea for the fifth book in her head from when she started working on the series, so she believes it was ironic that it was harder to write.
"I always planned on having that little bit of time in there to give the character a break, too, because he's gone through a lot of stuff in the first four books, so you need to give them a little bit of time to grow and process things as well before more stuff starts to happen," she said.
People who have read Riot and Retribution enjoyed it and are happy it is available, she said. Readers are encouraging her to finish Book 6 so they can find out the series' conclusion.
Book 6 will hopefully be released next year or 2027, she said. Stock added she has about 10,000 words thus far, and the tales in her series usually wind up around 100,000 words.
"I have a lot of work to do, but it's flowing pretty good right now," she said.
