High Country News

'The music of men's lives'

In his new novel, Work Song, Ivan Doig describes the struggle between mine owners and union activists in post-WWI Butte, Mont.

by Kathleen Yale, Oct 10, 2010
A deadly fastball in Denver: A review of The Ringer

In her debut novel, The Ringer, Jenny Shank brings to life two troubled families haunted by violence in Denver.

by Matthew Irwin, Apr 17, 2011
A forbidden road trip: A review of Lamb

Lamb, Bonnie Nadzam's crisp, startling and psychologically intense debut novel, follows two troubled characters on a quest for redemption in the West.

by Jenny Shank, Feb 05, 2012
A life of words and wilderness

Rick Bass’ memoir, Why I Came West, describes how his 20-year struggle to save Montana’s Yaak Valley held him hostage, preventing him from concentrating on writing the short fiction that he loves.

by Eric Peterson, Apr 14, 2008
A life unwound

In Michelle Huneven's novel Blame, a woman tries to deal with her guilt after a drunken-driving accident.

by Hillary Rosner, Sep 13, 2009
A poet’s novel of the San Luis Valley

In Rise, Do Not Be Afraid, poet Aaron Abeyta explores the lives of the people who lived and loved in the long-lost town of Santa Rita in Colorado’s remote San Luis Valley

by Annie Dawid, May 28, 2007
A search for meaning in the Pacific Northwest

Jon Raymond's short-story collection, Livability, is compassionate and quietly devastating.

by Lawrence Lanahan, Dec 20, 2009
A second chance at love: A review of Liberty Lanes

Liberty Lanes, Robin Troy's second novel, tracks the lives of a group of senior citizens in a small Montana town.

by Phyllis Barber, Jan 22, 2012
A Western mystery with an environmental twist: a review of Buried by the Roan

In Mark Stevens' second novel, Allison Coil, a tequila-drinking hunting guide, investigates a mysterious death in a remote landscape much sought after by oil and gas developers.

by Erica Olsen, Aug 07, 2011
A Western state of mind

The short story anthology Best of the West 2009 is filled with memorable characters and muscular prose.

by Tania Casselle, Apr 25, 2010