Will December 21, 2012, mark the end of the world or an opportunity for transformation, as Bowen Island author Frank Kemble believes? The date has long held a special meaning for those familiar with Mayan prophesy. For Kemble, it served as a deadline for finishing his latest novel titled Father Donovan's Tree. "The impetus to complete this book before the solstice on December 21 was intense and I was very driven. I have a strong belief in the subject matter and in the illusory and otherworldly concepts that will take one on a very magical and special journey," Kemble said. He explained that Father Donovan's Tree is a love story, revolving around a connection between two people across four different time-lines, one of which is a future in a very different world.
"I think that the people who sense the changes with the apocryphal event of the end of the 'long count' looming close will resonate with my description of a future which I encountered during a very bizarre and intense lucid dream- almost a vision," Kemble said. "As most people know, the Mayans and worshippers of Venus had predicted a great spiritual transformation at the end of the 13th Baktun that has been interpreted as a prediction of impending global catastrophe." Kemble says that the Mayans were astonishing mathematicians who created a complex dating system which consisted of separate cycles that will all converge at the end of what has been referred to as the 'long count', this year's December 21.
"My own view of the matter is that the transformation is of a deeply spiritual nature. We are in a period of enormous change and of an accelerating and bewildering enhancement in our abilities to perceive but also to create," Kemble says. "I believe that there is a giddying array of possibilities, dependent upon one's perception and choices and this is the basis of the story."
Kemble has been writing for 15 years. He used to write magazine articles for publications like Back Street Heroes and Passport Magazine but grew frustrated about how his writing was edited. "When I wrote something, they would take out so much," he said, adding that he considers himself more of a novelist. "Writing a novel is my greatest passion," he says.
Kemble loves books by Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen, works that require time and have to be savoured. "Now, everyone wants to get stimulus on a plate people don't want to make an effort," he says. And movies partly feed into that. "I love movies but there is so much action that reeks of insincerity and nonsense, I don't want to take part in that," he said. But good storytelling draws the audience in, in books as well as movies. "If it's a good story, people will go to see the movie and then they'll buy book," Kemble says and mentions the example of the modern version of Sherlock Holmes that has rekindled the interest in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Kemble says that storytelling creates a resonance with the audience's brainwave patterns. "It almost creates an energy response because everyone is so involved," he adds.
Kemble came to Bowen Island in the summer of 1999. After living at Harding Road, the family then moved to Bluewater where he found a special spot at the end of a trail and set out to shape it to what now is called the stone circle.
"I had a huge fascination with neolithic science sites, especially since I've moved away from Britain to Canada. I used to walk the dogs there. Building the stone circle was a contemplative process."
"It happened in two phases," Kemble recalls. "In the first phase, I used little rocks. I started with elements from the fire pit to represent fire, from the water to represent water and then moved on to wind and earth." Kemble added more stones and often found that someone had changed it when he returned.
"At first, I thought that this is good but then I decided to redo it," he said. For some of the bigger stones, he had to use a winch to pull them into place. "There is something elemental in that place I felt that it's a nerve centre and I was inspired by the location." Kemble has also read up on Bowen Island's history and understands that the island was used at a ceremonial place. "The place name means 'fast-beating drum' and it's a place of manifestation," he says, adding with a laugh, "Be careful what you pray for as it may come true."
In addition to writing, Kemble worked as a communications engineer and homeopath. He also works in the movie industry where he creates special effects. "Special effects, in the right application, can be very interesting," he said. "Your mind has to be flexible so you can invent [things]."
On Bowen, Kemble also offers to repair motorcycles. "It's something I can do at my place and I quite enjoy the process," he says, mentioning his affinity to the book Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Kemble also rides and loves road trips, especially when he can take his time. "With a motorbike, you need to pack up all the bits and pieces. And you get to meet a lot of people," he says. "It's almost like becoming a gypsy - the more you become placeless, the happier you are in any location you are in."
Kemble enjoys that feeling of being untethered yet Bowen Island is the place he's been living in the longest. "I've lived almost everywhere," he says. "My father was in the forces and we moved around a lot when I was a child."
Kemble came to Canada because of a family connection his two uncles lived here. He remembers one of his uncles visiting England and bringing him kits for assembling toy cars. "They were amazing and had many different colours," he said. "[My uncle] brought that atmosphere of the New World and that stuck with me when I was little. When I left government employment [in Britain] after 20 years, I asked my family if they wanted to emigrate and we decided to come to Canada."
Kemble's new book, self-published and printed by Lulu Press, connects an oak tree with different timelines. The cover art was painted by Kemble's father.
Kemble's first book, Felim's Enigma, was also self-published in 2007. "It's a steep learning curve," Kemble says about self-publishing. "I see the first book more like an exercise and the results of [Father Donovan's Tree] are more satisfying." Kemble says that the story is very complex and switches back and forth between different timelines. It came to him "in drips and drabs."
"It's about people separated by the barrier of time," he said. "It starts with the planting of the tree and ends with a petrified tree in a dying world."
Copies of Father Donovan's Tree can be ordered directly from Kemble by emailing him at [email protected] or at Lulu: www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?type&keyWords=father+donovan%27s+tree&x=5&y=11&sitesearch=lulu.com&q. A reading and an opportunity to purchase signed copies will be advertised in the new year.
