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Bitch Creek
A novel by William G.Tapply
I was longing to meeting Stoney Calhoun, the character created by the American author William G.Tapply. His book was highly recommended by a good friend from Québec. So last year, I broke my piggy bank and bought the three stories in which Calhoun appears : Bitch Creek, Gray Ghost and Dark Tiger. Unfortunately, there won’t be anymore stories because William G.Tapply died from leukemia in 2009. He was very fond of fishing. His Dad actually wrote for the Field & Stream magazine about fly fishing.
Who is Stoney Calhoun? He is a survivor, so he says. Stoney lives by the day and does pretty much what he wants to. Struck by the lightning 5 years ago, Stoney woke up in a hospital in Virginia at the age of 33 years old and with almost no memory of his past. 18 months later, the man drives straight to Maine. Because, deep down, he’s sure he’s been there before and that he loves this place. A mysterious man wires him every month $25,000 and a man in a suit comes by every other month to check on him and make sure that Stoney doesn’t remember anything or tries to search into his past. Years have passed, and now Stoney is a happy fly fishing guide. He already knew how to fish and how to fabricate great fishing flies when he met a few years back Kate, the owner of a small fly fishing shop. They’re in love now. Stoney is a happy fellow : he’s bought a few acres of land, where the Bitch river runs and has fixed an old cabin. He lives there with his best pal : his dog, an English Spaniel named Ralph Emerson, given by his best friend, Lyle McMahan, a young student who also works as a guide for Kate. When an old Florida man shows up at the store, named Green to look for a fly fishing guide, Stoney doesn’t like him. The man pretends to have fished all over the world. Stoney backs out and asks Lyle to replace him. Green says he knows a secret fishing spot when they leave. But Lyle goes missing, as well as Green. Stoney feels guilty and the police has no lead. Stoney starts to investigate and soon enough, he finds out that he’s done that before : he thinks and acts like a cop. His past keeps coming back to him through nightmares and still images from his past. But he can’t make anything of it. Searching the last place Lyle was seen, Ralph tracks down a trail leading to a corpse buried beneath dead leaves but when Stoney comes back with the police, the body is gone. Has he dreamed it ? No, Ralph whined. Then someone tries to kill Stoney. Who are they ? Are they linked to his past ?
William G.Tapply’s talent resides in his ability to harpon his readers with the most beautiful fly you’ll ever seen, and to drag you slowly where he wants you to to go, no rushing. I love how Tapply puts the characters into the center of nature, beautiful, wild and dangerous (the 1947’s fire). Remember : Stoney can fish right in front of his home but he’d rather sit and watch the trouts fighting their way up. The American writer took me with him in this beautiful and gorgeous border State, where winters are tough but nature always generous : the Atlantic ocean, the wild forests and its nourishing rivers. A heavenly place for fly fishers.
I really enjoyed reading about these interludes in the novel, these moments of serenity before the tempest. Tapply makes Mother Nature the third character of his novel. For instance, when Stoney goes hiding into the woods behind his house during night, I could smell and feel the mossy trees, the sound of Ralph’s trout sniffing into the dead leaves. I could see the fish scales shining into the moonlight.
I got really close to Stoney, and I adored his way of life. The man lives by his rules, reads the encyclopedia of American literature and quotes Whitman. I also love the way he talks to his dog, Ralph. Their relationship is a major point in the novel. He goes everywhere with him and Stoney talks to him all the time. By the end of the novel, all I wanted to do was to fly straight to Maine, rent a car and drive to these amazing fishing spots to meet these incredible fly fishing guides, who, of course, keep to themselves the best spots. But isn’t it better this way ?
So let me make it clear, I now have got a huge crush for Stoney Calhoun and for the writing style of Tapply. And also for the State of Maine. My friends will probably say : another nature writing author – but what can I say ? With them, I’m always in good company, I’m never disappointed and I get to have the best American road trips of all time.
Bitch Creek is available in any good bookstore in your city (you can order it if they don’t have it in stock), or in a library or online through Barnes&Nobles. As for used books online (which I favor), there are over a dozen websites. I’ll start this time with BetterWorldBooks, I order a lot from them. The great thing about them is that with each book bought, one is given to someone in need. 13 millions so far ! And I just checked, you can get Bitch Creek at a great price.