Faulkner said, "The only subject matter for the narrative writer is the human heart and its conflict with itself."

Hemingway said, "Writers shouldn't have to write endings because stories don't end."

Atkinson said, "The most important thing for a narrative writer is to entertain yourself."

Yes the name is Atkinson, Jay Atkinson of Methuen. He's a local author with three respectably selling books to his credit, and he likes to quote literary heavy-hitters when talking about his own work.

Will someone quote him someday? Decide after the reception of his latest book "City in Amber," about the birth and growing pains of Lawrence. Atkinson will unveil the piece locally at several signings before its November release. He describes it as a Southern gothic-Russian novel hybrid - set here in the Immigrant City.

"There is not a lot of happiness and light," said the 50-year-old, who teaches writing at Salem State in Salem, Mass.

Atkinson spent about two years at the Lawrence History Center, the Lawrence Public Library and Methuen's Nevins Memorial Library researching the novel - which sprang from an early-'90s conversation with a Lawrence police officer about a wave of arsons.

"When I thought about the historical buildings of Lawrence going up in flames, I couldn't think of anything better to write about," said Atkinson, who spent 12 years working on the book.

"Once these historical buildings are gone, once these memories are burned up, they're gone forever," he said.

Atkinson grew up in Methuen on the Lawrence border and always spent time in the city, playing at the Hayden-Schofield Playstead and riding his bike on Lawrence streets.

"It was a huge presence in my life," he said of city.

In his earlier books, "Legends of Winter Hill" and "Ice Time" and "Caveman Politics," Atkinson tackles cops, hockey and politics in a small town.

In his fourth and latest, "City in Amber," he fictionally recreates Lawrence, beginning with the its birth from portions of Andover and Methuen in the 1840s. The story weaves in and out of chapters detailing events from the past and the present, from Lawrence's start as a manufacturing utopia where alcohol was forbidden to a crime-infested city on the verge of collapse.

Atkinson used historical records to revive real and fictional people from Lawrence's past, and found inspiration among Lawrence's movers and shakers to tell the tale, which he likens to "an adventure story of a city."

"Real life Lawrence of long ago and real life Lawrence of today is filled with so many memorable people, you don't have to go far to look for characters," Atkinson said.

He did, however, have a little trouble selling a book so focused on the inner workings and characters in one city in Massachusetts. The University of West Alabama's Livingston Press picked up the book soon after he submitted it.

Atkinson, who went to college in Florida and reads a lot of southern authors, believes the publisher is a good home for his book, picking up on its southern flavor.

"It's an academic press, they got the book right away," he said.

Atkinson's view of Lawrence and some of its inhabitants aren't always flattering - he doesn't mind if a little controversy accompanies his book.

"I want the book to spark debate and discussion," he said.

Plot summary

"City in Amber" by Jay Atkinson

Livingston Press

Publication: November 2007

$17.95

Set in Lawrence, "City in Amber" explores the themes of family, place, love and revenge. It makes clear connections to the ideas that shaped Lawrence - like the virtues of temperance, work and profit - the rough state the city found itself in during the '90s and the path its finding to its own revival today.



Local signings of Jay Atkinson's 'City of Amber'

Today: 5:30 p.m., Lawrence History Center, 6 Essex St.

Tomorrow: 7:30 p.m., Nevins Memorial Library, 305 Broadway, Methuen.

Oct 25.: 7 p.m., Andover Bookstore, 89 Main St.

Nov. 2: 7 p.m., Cornerstone Books, 45 Lafayette St., Salem, Mass.

Nov. 7: 7 p.m., Manchester-by-the-Sea Library, 15 Union St.

Nov. 8: 7 p.m., Borders Books & Music, 90 Pleasant Valley St., Methuen

Nov. 15: 7 p.m., Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St., Lowell