Former Kootenay resident Nowick Gray is releasing a new book this week, a short adventure novel set in the controversial wilderness area of Jumbo Pass.
Rendezvous is a fictionalized account of a real-life trek Gray and his family took to the area in 1987. Jumbo Pass has hit the news in recent months with provincial approval of a skiing resort complex near the pass, along with actions by local residents advocating its value as pristine wilderness.
“I am struck by the coincidence of this book’s release, after a long incubation, with the final approval of the resort and revival of long-standing public opposition,” says Gray. “I think this vision of Jumbo Pass, the way it was and is, will resonate.”
A longtime resident of Argenta, the author now lives in Victoria.
Rendezvous shows off the pass in all its wild glory and raw danger, with a plot turning on a paranormal twist. In the story, Will and a companion hike up from a treeplanting contract to meet Will’s wife and three-year-old daughter arriving from the other side.
When a storm wracks the cabin that night, Will faces a gauntlet of eerily repetitive choices conjured in a dreamed hallway: a gallery of doors each leading to a dangerous outcome. Finding that the way down has more routes than the way up, Will must summon the wisdom and strength to turn potential tragedy into survival.
With a release date of September 1, the book will be available in local libraries and bookstores, as well as online outlets such as Amazon in paper and eBook formats.
Readers can view a sample chapter and find order links from the author’s website, nowickgray.com.