Tales from Hidden Basin

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
the co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British Views
of Canada, 1880–1914.

Come to Hidden Basin—an idyllic bit of God’s country along the
Sunshine Coast of British Columbia not far from Jarvis Inlet. Let’s go
back to the first decades of this century when settlers were few and far
between, when life was simpler, self-reliance was the key to success,
and the imagination was attuned to the unexpected. Meet Dick Hammond’s
immediate ancestors—his grandfather Jack, his father Hal (who told him
most of the stories), and his uncle Cliff—and listen to the tales of
their adventures (and accidents), the stories of their boats, their
schemes

to make money, their recollections of friend-ships (normal and
eccentric), and their yarns about the seemingly supernatural (or just
the unusually natural). The experience is immensely enjoyable.

For what Hammond does very well is tell a good story, all the while
investing it with it folkloric, even mythic significance. Take his
friendship with Charlie, for example; Charlie teaches the boys so much
yet seems compelled to play the part of “the old Indian,” as if,
quite playfully, he senses the ‘white’ boys’ need to have their
fictional stereotypes verified in real life. The “Fish Story” in
which he is the central figure is humorous and yet somehow slightly
painful perhaps because old Charlie sometimes needs to “play” the
Indian.

There is that undercurrent of seriousness. But, mainly, Hammond revels
in nostalgia, delights in his fictional encounters (through his
father’s stories) with all kinds of weird and wonderful people, and
regales us with the kinds of tales we used to hear around the old wood
stove on a winter’s evening. And, since he is so obviously retelling
his father’s stories, he does so with an affection that is not
maudlin, and in a style that is wholly commendable; in a first effort at
writing that must only be praised. This reviewer looks forward to
reading more.