UNION, NJ — Scott Mehno always knew he was going to be an author. For him, writing was a passion, even at an early age. It was only a question of what would be his muse, the topic for him to embrace and bring to life. It turned out it was Christmas, and a man named Charles Dickens.
“I’ve always liked Christmas,” said Mehno in an interview with LocalSource on Friday, Dec. 6. “I had a very big family, six brothers and sisters. I came from a small town. And when I came to New Jersey, I was happy to see that there were a lot of small towns here, too.”
Originally from western Pennsylvania, a town about 30 miles from Pittsburgh, and an unabashed Steelers fan, Mehno eventually moved to New York City, where he wrote for record companies and various artists, doing public relations work.
“Then I moved to Union about 20 years ago,” he said. “I continued to work in the entertainment industry. I would write on the side. I always kept writing.
“I always tell young people to keep writing.”
It was about this time that the idea for his first novel, “Shorte List,” first starting forming in his mind.
“I knew I wanted to write something about Christmas and I loved Charles Dickens,” said Mehno. “He was truly a larger-than-life personality, one of the first celebrities who knew how to capitalize on it. He visited Hoboken. In 1867-68, he did a big reading tour, and while he didn’t read in New Jersey, he passed through it. I wondered, what if he passed through Jersey and fell in love with a town?
“Dickens was a real showman, with the public works he did,” he continued. “He loved performing. He started to get ill after the performances in 1867-68, because he was knocking himself out. He basically invented public reading for contemporary authors.”
This love of Dickens led him to the next part of his novel: Santa Claus. Dickens’ success and the Americanization of Santa Claus both happened around the same time, in the mid-1800s, which led Mehno to speculate: What if the two legendary figures were connected somehow?
“The idea of Santa Claus transformed about the same time as Dickens’ popularity,” he said. “I got the idea, ‘What if Dickens had something to do with Santa Claus and no one knew about it?’ I wanted to keep the Santa character kind of old. He is keeping to tradition in a world of smart phones and texting.
“I had to do a lot of research on Dickens. I went to his letters and they preserved them and some writers have called him the first rock star. He was a character who always put his stamp on everything. Dickens used to take 10- or 12-mile walks.”
It’s not surprising that Mehno soon found himself taking similar long walks through the streets of Union, which figured in his creation of the town in which the novel takes place: Townlee.
“Townlee is a combination of towns that I have an affection for,” he said. “I don’t want to exclude any. We would go to Christmas tree lightings. It’s probably a composite of smalltown New Jersey. The world I created with Townlee is immediately identifiable. Everyone who reads it says ‘I know that town.’”
The next aspect of his book was to modernize it somewhat, or to at least put modern technology into it to appeal to younger readers as well.
“It took me 6 or 7 years to write the book,” he admitted. “I got the idea, what if we created an AI Dickens, someone so like Dickens, he would be passing a slice of pie at the dinner table. And 7 or 8 years later, AI has exploded.”
While technology has moved ahead a great deal since Mehno first dreamed up his novel, there are still aspects of it that are completely fantasy. But that’s all right. Who doesn’t love some fantasy around the Christmas holiday, especially when Santa is involved?
“Because the story is about a girl not believing in Santa Claus, I’ll always tell parents in the audience that this is a family book. I wanted to write a book where everyone could relate to the characters. If you want to be a writer, you have to get into the habit of writing all the time. Have the discipline, but do a lot of reading.”
Mehno has found other ways to strengthen his writing ability in, of all places, radio.
“I tell people to go back to old radio shows and listen to them,” he said. “Writing is superb for creating images, and that’s how these programs were.”
Now, he’s out selling his book at various locations throughout the state and beyond, and he admits he is having the time of his life.
“I’m touring all of New Jersey in December and, because it’s a seasonal book, I’m doing something in the spring with some other authors. That’s one advantage of seasonal books.
“I’m going to be doing a reading in Medford’s Dickens Festival tomorrow. Then I’m going to Clinton tomorrow for a book signing.”
And after that? There’s no rest for an author, once he’s had a little taste of success.
“I have another holiday book that I’ve finished,” confessed Mehno. “In 2025, I plan to promote this book.”
“Shorte List” can be found at Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and where fine books are sold.