Terry Fallis, winner of last year's Stephen Leacock Award for Humour, will be reading from his novel, The Best Laid Plans, at the L.E. Shore Memorial Library on Sunday, October 18 at 2 p.m.  If he speaks half as well as he writes, it is sure to be an entertaining afternoon.

The Best Laid Plans is a comedy about life on Parliament Hill. Daniel Addison, a speech writer for the Liberal Leader of the Opposition, is tired of his life.  He's seen enough backroom politicking to erode any sense of idealism he might once have had-and it doesn't help that his girlfriend has been cheating on him with his boss.  So he quits and accepts a job teaching English at the University of Ottawa.  His Party, facing an election, sees this as a betrayal, and exacts a promise: he can leave, provided he can find a Liberal candidate for the riding of Cumberland-Prescott, a riding that has been a Tory stronghold since before Confederation.

Enter Angus McLintock, an irascible recently-widowed professor of English, who is approaching retirement.  Angus agrees to run for office, provided he's not actually expected to do anything. In return, he expects Daniel to teach his dreaded "English for Engineers" course.  No one expects Angus to win. They just need a warm body to put on the ballot. But then the unexpected happens: a sex scandal ruins the reputation of the Tory incumbent, and it looks like maybe, just maybe, Daniel's forlorn hope might have a chance.  It's a chance for Daniel, too-a chance for a new life, a new love, and a new found faith in the political process.

Fallis is no stranger to the inner workings of the federal government. He spent four years as a Liberal staffer in both the federal and Ontario provincial governments, and then eight years as a public relations consultant for both government and business.  What is surprising, given the excellence of the story, is that he had trouble finding a publisher-so much trouble, in fact, that he decided to self-publish. Within a week of winning the Leacock Award, however, McClelland and Stewart came knocking on his door, and his book went on to become a Canadian bestseller.  This past year has been a busy one for Fallis, with constant appearances at writer's conferences and readings.

"One year later," he wrote in the Globe and Mail, "I still feel like the luckiest rookie writer in the world."

Please join us on Sunday afternoon at the L.E. Shore Library for a comic view of Canadian politics with one of Canada's funniest writers.