The Banff Springs Hotel has its share of secrets, what with walled-off rooms, service tunnels and famous ghosts; some of these secrets are real and some of them are a figment of the imagination, but either way, it all plays nicely into the hands of authors Mike Lauchlan and Jerry Auld in their co-written novel A Jazz Guide to Banff (and the Universe).
Published by Imaginary Mountain Surveyors, a Canmore-based publishing company operated by Auld and Dustin Lynx, A Jazz Guide to Banff (and the Universe) is set in Banff during the annual Banff Mountain Jazz Festival.
The story begins with Ravi, a former-B.C. jazz-loving trumpet player, who makes his home in a cabin off Muskrat Street and makes his way by teaching at The Banff Centre and playing gigs in town. After a night of music making and partying, Ravi sits down on a bench in Central Park to wait for his friend Tyde for their 5 a.m. sunrise walk.
As Ravi waits, he meets Sherri, who tells him she wants to show him their path. Holding out a leaf, she says to him, “See how the leaf is born here, at the stem where it’s thick and singular, and branches and spreads out and keeps branching to the edges?” she says. “That’s like life, as you’ve always believed it to be, a living map of possibilities.”
Sherri’s living map of possibilities quickly sets off a battle-royale-free-for-all cage match between fate and self-determination as the past, present and future collide.
As Ravi races time and the impending future, he’s forced deep into the bowels of the hotel, in its secret passageways and service tunnels, before returning to the light to face his destiny with some fun and surreal results.
He has a beer with Wild Bill Peyto after the Banff legend releases a live lynx in a Banff Springs lounge to clear out the joint; receives some sage advice from Sam McCauley, the Springs’ famous ghostly bellhop, and even plays alongside the great Louis Armstrong in the convention centre.
Mixed into this past-present-future collision populated with ghosts is a good measure of physics, philosophy, history, the universe and the key to all of this madness is a beaver-shaped stainless steel park pass that contains a startling power.
And if all this sounds like an offbeat book for IMS, which was founded in 2012 to give mountain fiction a home, it’s not. Based on the titles IMS has published so far, it’d be easy to assume that mountain fiction is only comprised of stories about climbing and mountaineering.
But A Jazz Guide to Banff (and the Universe) is indeed a mountain story. It couldn’t work in Calgary, Regina, Toronto or even New York City. It’s inexplicably tied to Banff’s landscape, history and identity
It’s as Ravi says when he states that he doesn’t believe in fate.
“I prefer to think that life has guidelines, not rules,” he says, “a head chart, a map of our physical environment and social circumstance, a form that we’re free to riff over – the more engaging and beautiful the head chart and the more complex the changes, the sweeter the riff.
“And what sweet music a man can make in Banff. One of the reasons I stay in the mountains is because everything in nature, it has been said, is either necessary or impossible. These mountains are necessary. For me, they make this crazy life of mine work.”
Those same mountains and all they are make this crazy novel with its uniquely Banff characters, plot and narrative work too. The writing is tight, music-like in form, and smooth and the transition between Lauchlan’s words and Auld’s is imperceptible.
Along with the fun narrative and great writing, it’s gratifying to see IMS, which already has a strong line of well-written, engaging books, take its definition of mountain fiction beyond rock climbing and mountaineering. Not everyone drawn to the mountains climbs, or even hikes for that matter. People come to this region for many reasons and a book such as A Jazz Guide to Banff (and the Universe), broadening the idea of mountain fiction, taps beautifully into that notion.
But Auld and Lynx chose their titles carefully and none of them are so specific that they can’t be enjoyed by an audience with a wide range of interests. The climbing stories are really more than just stories about climbing. The same can be said with A Jazz Guide to Banff. It’s much more than just jazz, Banff and the universe.
In keeping with the themes in this story, namely jazz, signature Banff buildings and tunnels, IMS will host a book launch at the Banff YWCA (the old Banff Mineral Springs Hospital) in the Great Room on Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets for the launch are $25 each and that includes a signed copy of the novel, live jazz, author readings and tours of subterranean tunnels that connect the YWCA to the Banff Springs Hotel. Go to the IMS website at www.imaginarymountains.com for tickets.
