Victoria novelist Jack Hodgins is renowned for his vivid, often mystical descriptions of Vancouver Island.

In his new novel, The Master of Happy Endings, he powerfully conjures up an isolated, rain-splashed island off the coast of British Columbia. At the same time, perhaps surprisingly, he takes a romp into Hollywood. His novel is partly about a teen actor who journeys to Los Angeles with his tutor -- a retired school teacher-- to shoot a television series.

Can it be that Hodgins -- author of such Can-Lit classics as Spit Delaney's Island, The Invention of the World and The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne -- has gone show-biz?

Nah.

It is true, though, that Hodgins has already sold a film option on The Master of Happy Endings to a Toronto/New York-based movie company. Some of his other novels had similar nibbles, however, this is the furthest it's gone to date.

We met at his Cadboro Bay-area home. It's on a wooded rural street; deer like to congregate at the cul-de-sac. (The writer complains they munch his garden.) Hodgins was my English teacher at Nanaimo District Senior Secondary, back in the 1970s. My most vivid memory of high school is the day he showed The Swimmer, a film adaptation of the John Cheever story starring Burt Lancaster. It was fantastic. Later, because of this, I sought out Cheever's writing.

Hodgins still remembers hauling out a portable TV for that event. It was a pretty tough high school. The idea, he says, was to get students interested in literature ... by any means.

The Master of Happy Endings marks the first time the 71-year-old author has written about his teaching experiences. He has avoided the subject in the past, although teaching was a big part of his life. Hodgins says he wanted to get some distance on the subject. He taught at NDSS for 18 years, later teaching creative writing at the University of Victoria until 2002.

In his novel, retired school teacher Axel Thorstad describes once trying to film a recluse. Axel wanted to make a home movie for his students to illustrate the Earle Birney poem, Bushed. Unfortuantely, the hermit chased him off with an axe.

The same thing happened to Hodgins when he was a teacher in Nanaimo. He parked his car (containing his young children) down the road and approached, armed with a video camera. The hermit had erected signs saying "Keep out or I'll shoot you!" Still, the teacher bravely approached ... until the geezer emerged bearing an axe.

Hodgins fled. His kids, witnessing the scene, were relieved to see their father survived.

"They told me later they figured out, between the three of them, how to drive the car if I was killed," he said, laughing.

The narrative core of The Master of Happy Endings is also based on a real story. About five years ago, Hodgins read a news item about a retired teacher in Italy who'd become a hillside recluse. One day, the ex-teacher decided to reconnect with the world. Taking out an ad, he found a job with a family as a tutor in exchange for room and board.

This, essentially, is what Axel Horstad does, although the locale is not Italy but the B.C. coast.

"It was just a tiny [news item] but it triggered something," said Hodgins, a tall, lanky fellow with a halo of curly white-grey hair. "I thought a little island on the coast of Vancouver Island would be perfect."

Once he'd had this idea, the writer thought about juxtaposing island life with Tinseltown. It wasn't such a big stretch. For years, Hodgins has been friends with Hart Hanson, creator and executive producer of the TV crime series, Bones.

The pair are such close pals, Hanson named one of the recurring characters, Dr. Jack Hodgins, after his friend. Hanson also has a habit of tossing in the names of other Hodgins family members as minor characters.

"It's sort of like his way of keeping in touch, saying hi," the novelist said.

Hodgins had previously visited Hanson several times in Los Angeles. While writing The Master of Happy Endings, he returned to bone up in earnest. Thanks to Hanson, the novelist -- who does scrupulous research -- was able to talk to the director, actors and observe shoots and readings first-hand.

One of his novel's themes is society's attitudes toward the aged. At home on his island, Axel is regularly dismissed as a kooky old eccentric. Neighbours complain when he plays his cello; they're quick to proffer unsolicited advice on how to live his life.

Hodgins, too, is becoming older. Happily, even though he no longer teaches, he's still able to passionately pursue his favourite vocation: writing fiction.

"I don't feel I'm retired. From anything," he said with a broad smile.