A trilogy has come to an end, but it is just the beginning for Noah's Raven.
The latest book by regional author Bruce Fraser brings to an end the saga of Noah Hanlon, the character whom readers met back in On Potato Mountain, then got to know better in The Jade Frog, and now, in his advancing age, we say good-bye to Hanlon in a flurry of political intrigue and multinational big business even though he's just a hardworking artist and now a respected elder from the Chilcotin.
Fraser applied his decades of local lawyering to the themes and characters of his three books, and also his decades of residing in the area, from the '60s in Prince George to his current ranch at Lac La Hache. In his legal profession he spotted an almost incessant river of human drama - all of it local. He saw no reason that fiction novels couldn't be thrilling, suspenseful, touching and ultimately a fun read based right here in our own backyard.
In fact, he saw potential to reverse that flow and show the rest of the world just what an epic landscape and intriguing people exist in his north-central stomping grounds.
In this book, the drama finds its way all the way to the fictional floor of the Republican leadership convention and corporate conversations of global petroleum super-companies, but still wend its threads through to the Chilcotin, his favourite setting of choice.
"The older he gets, the more and more Noah becomes a philosopher. That's the basis for my book: the land and philosophy. But I don't preach. I try to entertain," said Fraser, as he closed in on Prince George where he will host a book launch event at Artspace on Friday night.
It'll be a chance to get back in touch with people he knew in his early years as a lawyer.
"I was there in the Ben Ginter days. I acted for Ben, as every lawyer did, either for or against him," laughed Fraser, remembering one of Prince George's most colourful figures of that era.
Some of his other legal work at the start of his career fed his writing habit in his retirement years.
One can scarcely say the word Chilcotin without it triggering conversation about the landmark court decision of 2014, the William Case, that established aboriginal title over the area for the Tsilhqot'in First Nation and ergo all First Nations of Canada over their own traditional territories.
This case comes up in the Noah's Raven story.
"I was actually in law cases in my youth in which these issues of aboriginal rights came to the fore," Fraser remembered.
"I took the case up to the Court of Appeal. I was too young at the time, they didn't feel I could take it to the Supreme Court of Canada, but it was my arguments they were presenting. It was Regina v. Derrickson, from the Derrickson family of the Westbank First Nation, and it was fishing at Deep Creek just outside of Penticton. The (Department of Fisheries) were after them because they were fishing out of season. That case went to the Supreme Court of Canada. Now, we lost every part of the way, but that's part of the structure, the base, of how the cases built up to the one, the Roger William Case, in 1990. And I'm writing about that. The question is, and I write it, now that the Tsilqot'in have freedom, what are we going to do with it? It all comes down to the wherewithal to think and take your time and have the space to develop according to your own ways."
He assures readers that he doesn't fall into the trap of preaching, just because he takes up a theme. The characters are in love, in grave danger, in the act of pursuing great fortunes, in the act of defending great lands and the ways of life upon them, not validating the author's points of view.
Fraser said he had no solid answers for the issues of our day other than to notice that aboriginal people have been forced into certain positions by mainstream forces - forces that started out as colonial settlers and now have a different complexion in modern times, and it was cases like the William trial and developments like petroleum discoveries or staking mineral claims that force these different but intermingled cultures to come together.
These collisions and collaborations were seen up close and personal in his time as a defense lawyer, and that led him deep into the everyday lives of Tsilhqot'in people - so much so that it became his home and his muse.
"You cannot not write about the Tsilhqot'in (people) if you are writing about that place on earth," Fraser said.
"They are inextricably attached to the land, as well as non-aboriginals are (who live in the Chilcotin area). What I say is, the land shapes the peoples."
Even though his trilogy is done, Fraser is certainly not finished writing and he certainly isn't finished setting his stories in the Chilcotin. His next work is a period piece, a trip back to 17th century England but also still attached to this rare spot on the globe and on the human geography.
It was that new project, a novella, that was consuming his creative spaces when the summer's wildfires broke out across the Cariboo-Chilcotin. He didn't want to leave, even though he had a home safe in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver.
"I was not under a threat, but there was an evacuation order," he said.
"Myself and my neighbours kind of hunkered down and waited it out. I was doing some writing there (but) I had to leave early. My power was off and I was running out of food, and once you leave your place, you can't go back."
His ranch was never in real danger but his gratitude for the emergency response efforts runneth over like indelible writing fluid from an inkwell. From the proceeds of the sale of Noah's Raven he will make a donation to the Wildfire Recovery & Preparedness Program.
The book will be on sale, and Fraser there in person to read from the novel and answer the public's questions, on Friday at Artspace (upstairs at Books & Company).
His appearance runs 6-8 p.m., free of charge, and all welcome.
