by R.F. Vincent
This is an absurd story about a man who hears about a fabled settlement in northern Vancouver Island, a land cut off when there was an earthquake which modified the landscape.
He makes his way to the area and is welcomed into the settlement which is centred around a lake surrounded by steep cliffs. Some of the locals belief and ogopogo type monster lives in the lake and one man has a home in a tree at the edge of the cliff so he can watch for it.
The settlement has several queer characters who live in strange dwellings designed by a local eccentric architect. The architect has an assistant, he will not let the assistant into his house but invites the guest. He explais that the assistant cannot enter until the house is finished, however he admits it is indeed finished. It has a huge exterior and a small room inside in which he dwells. Another house is shaped like a book, you enter through the spine of the book. The characters and the description of the houses were very creative.
The community is fed by a local couple who won a lottery years before. They bring in supplies periodically.
The book introduces us to the various eccentric people who live there include a man who writes a local newsletter which he circulates out into the world on occasion.
The book is interesting in its description of the characters and their housing options. In the end the narrator of the story decides to stay there. I guess that is no surprise but it seemed somewhat anticlimatic.
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