Fall books, from steampunk to conservation science
Here on Colorado's Western Slope, the nights have become crisper, the days shorter. As summer wanes, there's finally less hoeing and mowing and weeding to do, and more time to read. A slew of new books await, by Western authors both famous and less well-known. We've listed some recent and upcoming picks below, alphabetically by the writer's last name. (Publication months are noted for books not available yet.)
We're especially excited about some of the more intriguing titles on the list -- like Felix Gilman's The Half-Made World, a sci-fi reimagining of the Wild West described by author Eric Van Lustbader as "the love-child of (Cormac) McCarthy's The Road and (Ursula K.) Le Guin's The Dispossessed." From Mary Zeiss Stange, rancher, hunter and professor, comes Hard Grass: Life on the Crazy Woman Bison Ranch, a memoir of two decades in a life divided -- raising bison in southeastern Montana while teaching women's studies and religion in upstate New York. Northwestern writer (and HCN contributor) Brian Doyle's debut novel, Mink River, tells a bardic tale of a coastal town in Oregon. "In its sights, settings, insinuations, flora and fauna, (Doyle's) tale is quintessential North Coast," writes David James Duncan, author of The River Why, "but in its sensibility and lilt this story is as Irish as tin whistles."
Also be sure to see pages 32-34 of this issue, which contain reviews of six terrific new books, including memoirs from Annie Proulx and Leslie Marmon Silko, and fiction by Thomas McGuane.
FICTION
Tears of the Mountain John Addiego, Unbridled Books
Panopticon David Bajo, Unbridled Books, October
Burn Nevada Barr, Minotaur
The Petting Zoo Jim Carroll, Viking Adult, November
Quiet as They Come Angie Chau, Ig Publishing
The Spider's Web: A Wind River Reservation Mystery Margaret Coel, Penguin
Mink River Brian Doyle, Oregon State University Press, October
Heartbroke Bay: A Novel of Alaska Lynn D'Urso, Berkley Trade, November
West of Here Jonathan Evison, Algonquin, February 2011
What I Didn't See: Stories Karen Joy Fowler, Small Beer Press, October
Extra Indians Eric Gansworth, Milkweed, November
Bliss and Other Short Stories Ted Gilley, Bison Books
The Half-Made World Felix Gilman, Tor Books, October
Nahoonkara Peter Grandbois, Etruscan Press, February 2011
First of State Robert Greer, North Atlantic Books, October
Bound: A Novel Antonya Nelson, Bloomsbury USA, September
Stolen Horses Dan O'Brien, Bison Books
Ocotillo Dreams Melinda Palacio, ASU Bilingual Review Press, November
My Hollywood Mona Simpson, Knopf
The Sacred White Turkey Frances Washburn, Bison Books, September
NONFICTION, MEMOIR, BIOGRAPHY
The Charles Bowden Reader Erin Almeranti and Mary Martha Miles, editors, University of Texas Press
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean Susan Casey, Doubleday
Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession Craig Childs, Little, Brown and Company
Wyoming Folklore: Reminiscences, Folktales, Beliefs, Customs and Folk Speech James Dow, Roger Welsch, Susan Dow, editors, Bison Books, December
Breaking into the Backcountry Steve Edwards, Bison Books, October
The Pastoral Clinic: Addiction and Dispossession Along the Rio Grande Angela Garcia, University of California Press
Bring Down the Little Birds: On Mothering, Art, Work, and Everything Else Carmen Giménez-Smith, University of Arizona Press, October
Lost Homelands: Ruin and Reconstruction in the 20th Century Southwest Audrey Goodman, University of Arizona Press
The Hard Way Home: Alaska Stories of Adventure, Friendship and the Hunt Steve Kahn, University of Nebraska Press, October
Pukka: The Pup After Merle Ted Kerasote, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October
A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life Steven Kotler, Bloomsbury USA, September
River House: A Memoir Sarahlee Lawrence, Tin House Books, October
California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It Joe Mathews and Mark Paul, University of California Press
Bound like Grass: A Memoir from the Western High Plains Ruth McLaughlin, University of Oklahoma Press, October
Hollywood: A Third Memoir Larry McMurtry, Simon & Schuster
The Death and Life of Monterey Bay Stephen Palumbi and Carolyn Sotka, Island Press, December
Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed Judy Pasternak, Simon & Schuster, September
Turned Round in My Boots: A Memoir Bruce Patterson, Heyday Books, October
Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year Robert Michael Pyle, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September
The Colorado Plateau IV: Shaping Conservation Through Science and Management Charles van Riper III, Brian F. Wakeling, Thomas D. Sisk, editors, University of Arizona Press
Growing a Garden City Jeremy N. Smith, Skyhorse Publishing, October
Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas Rebecca Solnit, University of California Press, November
Hard Grass: Life on the Crazy Woman Bison Ranch Mary Zeiss Stange, University of New Mexico Press
No Communication with the Sea: Searching for an Urban Future in the Great Basin Tim Sullivan, University of Arizona Press, October
The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon Charles Wilkinson, University of Washington Press, November
