As James VanOosting returns to Carbondale for a book signing Saturday, he is expecting his readers to realize the uniqueness of every book he has written, particularly his latest, The Last Payback.

It (the book) comes from imagination, said VanOosting, a former SIUC faculty member for 15 years. It’s been getting good reviews, and I feel great about it.

VanOosting is the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. He was the chairman of the SIUC Speech Communications Department for seven years.

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His book signing for his eighth book will be at 7 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble, 1300 E. Main St.

The Last Payback is narrated by Dimple, a 12-year-old girl searching for her twin brother’s killer. It is VanOosting’s third novel for young readers and is on sale at Barnes & Noble for $14.95.

Other VanOosting novels include Maxie’s Ghost and Electing J.J. The latter was named the best book of 1990 by Parents Magazine.

Every authentic story is unique, VanOosting said. A story is an experience of an individual human being.

Joe Deeter, Barnes & Noble manager, said most book signings at the store are by Southern Illinois authors. He said having a former SIUC faculty member do a signing is valuable for the Carbondale community.

We try to promote ourselves as a community bookstore, so it was important to bring him here, Deeter said. We’ve been featuring it for a few weeks in anticipation of the book signing. The book he wrote is important to the children’s literature genre.

The bookstore has three to five book signings a month, but Deeter said VanOosting’s autograph session will be unlike those of visiting authors in the past.

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He’s actually going to sit down and discuss the book, Deeter said. It’s not just a presentation. So we get an interactive feel of it.

Receiving positive feedback since its midsummer release, the book may be quite an encounter for some of its readers, VanOosting said.

Although it is a young readers’ novel, VanOosting said people of all ages can relate to it.

A novel is a heightened experience of life, he said. That’s what she (Dimple) is going through a sort of thing that any of us might. I want them (readers) to feel both the rage and perseverance of a very strong and feisty 12-year-old girl.

After publishing his first book, a business communications textbook in 1983, VanOosting considers himself a writer in two separate sectors.

I do fiction for young readers, and scholarly writing, which is for communications studies, VanOosting said.

VanOosting has been writing since he was a child and said it is a natural ability.

Since I was a boy I loved stories, he said. I grew up in a family of great storytellers. So, it’s natural that I would head in that direction.