Loren Halloran, a self-published author living in the qathet region, released his second novel, Dream Mountain: The Mysterious Ledge, earlier this year. He wrote the first of the young reader series, The Mysterious Ledge, in 2017.
Halloran, 66, was born in Duncan and grew up in Lake Cowichan, among Ts’uubaa-asatx Nation (formerly known as Lake Cowichan First Nation) members. His childhood and growing up close to an Indigenous community inspired his two published novels.
The author said he was in awe of the Indigenous canoe and totem pole carvings, as well as mask and jewellery making. He remembers spending a lot of time in the mountains looking for arrowheads during his youth.
He said his first book, The Mysterious Ledge, had been knocking around his head for more than 20 years before he put it on paper. It’s about a young boy named Georgy who falls asleep and dreams of climbing a mountain so he can touch the clouds and be closer to the eagles.
“I wrote it like The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy falls asleep and dreams,” said Halloran.
In the dream, Georgy befriends an Indigenous chief who teaches him about nature and ecological issues in the area. Inspiration for the book came from Halloran’s youth when his dad, who was an off-road logger, would load his trailer with trees so large he might only fit four or five logs per trip.
He said his father witnessed logging protests during this time, which inspired Halloran to think about the human impact on the environment.
After moving to the qathet region in October 2020, he wrote the sequel, last March, by the sea walk. He made his daily escape from his one-bedroom apartment to the parking lot or to Willingdon Beach to write while he watched eagles soar above the shoreline.
In the second novel, the same protagonist, now 20 years older, makes his dreams come true. Georgy becomes a conservation officer, and town councillor, gathering the town folk to work together to accomplish goals such as cleaning the local water supply.
“It’s like a basket,” said Halloran, “and the fine weaving is all of us folks together making the weaving.”
He said his dream for the books is to see them adapted for television by a big streaming service or pay television network such as Netflix or HBO. He is also working to make the series into a trilogy.
Halloran will be sharing his story of being a songwriter, poet, memoir writer, and now author of two young reader novels during a Zoom event hosted by Powell River Public Library on January 14.
The Dream Mountain: The Mysterious Ledge and The Mysterious Ledge can be purchased at amazon.ca.
