You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave. Author Dennis Ryan Elmergreen.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, axiom is defined as “a statement or proposition that is regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true.” So, circles are round and squares have corners. But is it always that simple? Dennis Ryan Elmergreen, a fifth year student at UW-Eau Claire, explores the undeniable truths of the human mind in his new novel, Axiom of Mind.

As a legacy psychology major (Elmergreen’s mother, father, sister, and brother-in-law are all psychologists) and business minor, he isn’t the type of person you might typically expect to be writing novels, especially while still in school. Usually that is left to the creative writers or journalists, but Elmergreen says his interest in writing started from composing songs, playing guitar and piano, and singing. He is even in a local band with his friends Ryan Young, Alison Arneber, and Nathaniel Cooper under the name Shitz N’ Gigs.

Axiom of Mind is Elmergreen’s first published written work. The story follows Norman Baker, ideal citizen and narcotics cop, who participated in a drug bust in the summer of 1975. During the bust, he was exposed to thousands of times the amount of a single hit of LSD. The story continues two years after, where he is a full-time patient at the Richmond Institute of Mental Health. The novel follows his seemingly randomly triggered psychedelic episodes, as he moves between what is reality and what is not.

Elmergreen started writing Axiom of Mind over two and a half years ago. He didn’t just sit down to write a novel with the intent of getting it published. In fact, it didn’t even start out as a full story. “The book originally started as just a short piece of creative writing,” Elmergreen said. “Small ideas combined with small ideas to create bigger ideas and so on.” He also said that he used it as a way to unwind and get away from the standard routines of life. Most of the novel was written in UWEC’s library during study breaks or his free time between and after classes (especially in the late hours of the night). After it was written, there was a prolonged editing process, with help from friends, family, and various teachers. His close friend Amy Blair, a graphic design student who graduated from UWEC, designed and created the cover art.

The novel itself is extremely creative and inventive, and allowed Elmergreen to explore various topics. He said that an overall theme –LSD and the mind – shaped how he wrote the novel. “The topic is an extraordinary creative writing topic if one can figure out how to engage the reader,” Elmergreen said. He successfully does this by using both the story and the writing itself to show the LSD-driven rollercoaster ride that is Baker’s life.

More than just the story is what Elmergreen personally got from the writing experience and what he hopes readers will take away as well. During the summer months of 2012, Elmergreen helped out with Bon Iver’s music video for “Beth/Rest.” During this time, he started a conversation with Justin Vernon about the last line of the song which ends with the word “axiom” (this word also appears on the video at the very end). To Vernon, this word was extremely important, and during the conversation Elmergreen determined that axiom meant a self-evident truth. He took that idea and ran with it, applying it to his own life. The title reflects that decision. But what he really hopes readers will take away is that life is all about forming your own personal creations and realities. He also hopes that anyone who reads his book who is experimenting with drugs will understand that overdoses ruin lives (and not just the drug users’ own) and to be careful.

Elmergreen wants these messages to be heard, because life is something great to him. It is an opportunity he plans to use to his fullest ability. “I plan to create for the rest of my life,” he said. “It could be music, literature, or a form of art I haven’t pursued yet. I hope that people who know me will see this book as an example of how any goal or dream can be wrought into existence.”

Axiom of Mind is available through online retailers, including Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, and at The Local Store, 205 N. Dewey St., Eau Claire.