Chiggers L. Stokes is a retired park ranger, and he has written a wild and perhaps quasi-autobiographical novel set in his beloved Olympic National Park titled, Between Forks and Alpha Centauri. Buckle your seat belt before delving into this book, it’s a wild ride to be sure.The setting is the idyllic forests of western Washington state, a region with arguably the most astounding forests on earth. Since nearly a million acres are protected as National Park, extensive stands of this primeval forest remain intact, but step an inch outside the park’s boundary and you’re into the land of clearcuts and Spotted Owl hatred. This land of biological contrast and human conflict is where Mossy Stone, the books protagonist, is born and raised. Her life is shaped by mishaps. Her father, an intellectual logger eager to perform his craft in more ecologically sensitive ways than do his colleagues, dies in a logging accident before Mossy is born. As a young school child, Mossy herself nearly perishes after her school bus careens off the road. Her mother loses a battle to cancer. As a young adult, Mossy loses her lover, an environmental activist, to a villainous opponent, a logger who loathes conservation.
Through it all, Mossy Stone is a child of nature, a child of the Olympic rain forest, symbolizing nature itself. She has allies, but her adversaries are more numerous, more powerful, and certainly better funded. If you are in love with nature, you will fall in love with Mossy Stone, and wish you knew a dozen people as virtuous as she. It would be a better world with more Mossy Stones. You can guess how the parable ends, but I’m not telling here. Suffice it to say that the threats to nature and an intact environment are relentless.
Each section of Between Forks and Alpha Centauri is dated – the story runs from the 1970s to the year 2020. The narrative jumps back and forth through time, so the dates are necessary to keep track of where you are in the story. More than once the author addresses the reader directly in a rather awkward literary device, yet part of the joy of Between Forks and Alpha Centauri is that the book is constantly throwing surprises at the reader. The best parts of the story are the descriptions of some wild and remote corners of Olympic National Park; if this doesn’t make you want to head out into an old growth forest to experience its magnificence, well, then perhaps you’re not in the Mossy Stone camp. Chiggers Stokes clearly knows his way around the park he served for much of his career, and it’s a delight to follow him into the woods. Skip over the long asides into cellular biology and particle physics (really, these are in the text), and get lost in the story. Like any good novel, this one will take you to a different place and time. It’s a roller coaster to be sure, but one with a great view from its high points. Lots of fun.
Stokes, Chiggers L. Between Forks and Alpha Centauri. Forks, WA, Flying S Press, 1997, reprinted 2006. 282 pages, $12.95 paper. ISBN: 0-9786941-1-2.