A pump provides a supply of morphine to Larrey Anderson's spine, injured in a bizarre accident more than 20 years ago.

Anderson takes, he is quick and pleased to say, one-three hundredth of his old dosage. The morphine does not eliminate the pain, but eases it enough to allow the former state senator to write. To sign copies of his new novel.

And to talk. The other day, we spent more than hour talking about writing, about national politics, about philosophy, about his recovery. The only topic off limits was local politics; "I'd really rather not talk about it." Which, after three weeks of endorsement interviews with legislative and county candidates, was fine by me.

Anderson has a colorful biography — he attended Harvard, was a one-time aide to controversial U.S. Rep. George Hansen and pursued a rock music career while serving six years in the Legislature. His novel, "The Order of the Beloved," weaves through the past two decades of his life story.

But first, you need to know about the injury that changed Anderson's life.

In December 1987, Anderson was serving his second term in the state Senate, a Republican representing a sprawling Magic Valley legislative district, He arrived in Ketchum for a Chamber of Commerce function. He parked his pickup truck on an icy parking lot. When his stepped out, his cowboy boots lost traction. He landed in an awkward split, fracturing his tailbone. He served through the 1990 session, then retired.

Still, by 1993 he had written an 800-page version of his novel. Anderson's self-critique: "It was a really cool idea, with lots of extra words." He said he had a couple of agents who were interested. He fired one along the way, he says now, but has no recollection of the conversation.

Anderson spent much of his life in a haze brought on by excruciating pain. At one point, a doctor asked Anderson what he was doing in his office — since most patients, suffering from the kind of pain Anderson endured, usually succumb to suicide. Anderson underwent two major surgeries to repair his spine. For years, he could only climb stairs by crawling up them.

Anderson broke into tears several times during our interview — when describing the pain and his recovery, and when recalling his wife's support during the ordeal.

About five or six years ago, doctors put Anderson on a morphine pump, which reduced his pain level and allowed him to resume some of his old routines. He polished and shortened his novel. Two years ago, he went looking for a buyer in a tightening fiction market, and found no takers. He ultimately opted to self-publish "The Order if the Beloved" with a publisher with distribution ties with Barnes and Noble's bookstores.

Anderson says he's contemplated just writing from his home near the Magic Valley's famed Shoshone Falls, and living as a recluse. It's difficult for him to travel from Twin Falls to Boise; he has to stop a couple of times on the two-hour drive to stretch. He is uncomfortable talking about his health problems.

But he's making the circuit of book signings and small talk. He said he sold out his supply of books at a recent Twin Falls signing. He ran into some people who remembered his days in the Senate and, he says, "a couple of old girlfriends." He will sign books Tuesday at Boise Book and Gift Co. in Downtown Boise. Gov. Butch Otter — who, as lieutenant governor, presided over the Senate during much of Anderson's legislative career — is expected to make an appearance.

At 54, Anderson says he is "jaded" by politics at the national level. "The Republicans make me really mad — the Democrats just disgust me." Anderson says he isn't as confrontational as he was in his maverick legislative days. Yet he's still contrarian enough to think, however wistfully, about how much a rogue one-term U.S. senator could accomplish just by using the Senate's arcane procedural rules to block runaway spending and bad programs.

Anderson is more focused on his next book, due out in the summer: a non-fiction examination of the black market in the Soviet Union, based on his travels behind the Iron Curtain in the early 1980s. He says he has no interest in running again for office. "It's more fun to write."

For any would-be author, writing a novel embodies a life journey of sorts. Anderson's journey is more circuitous than most.

Larrey Anderson, a former state senator, will sign copies of his novel, "The Order of the Beloved," from 2 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at Boise Book and Gift Co., 906 W. Main, Boise.