Hell S Bottom Colorado

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Milkweed Editions
Page : 105 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2011-12-10
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781571318558

Get Book

Hell's Bottom, Colorado by Laura Pritchett Pdf

Winner of the PEN USA Award for Fiction. “An admirable, steely-eyed collection of stories and vignettes featuring a family of ranchers.”—Publishers Weekly On Hell’s Bottom Ranch, a section of land below the Front Range, there are women like Renny who prefer a “little Hell swirled with their Heaven” and men like Ben, her husband, who’s “gotten used to smoothing over Renny’s excesses.” There is a daughter who maybe plays it too safe and a daughter plagued by only “half-wanting” what life has to offer. The ranch has been the site of births and deaths of both cattle and children, as well as moments of amazing harmony and clear vision. “Set in the unpredictable West, these stories remind us that we cannot escape the messiness and obsessions of ordinary life.”—Patricia Henley, author of Hummingbird House “Displays the talent of a brilliant, new writer.”—The Rocky Mountain News “With the rugged beauty of the Rocky Mountains as backdrop, Pritchett’s spare yet richly evocative stories portray the stark reality of life on a Colorado cattle ranch, where three generations of one family tend the land and animals, devoting and losing themselves to an existence few would understand or choose to follow . . . Regardless of whether the songs she hears are sung by a meadowlark or a jailbird, Pritchett excels at juxtaposing the sensuous with the severe, the rapturous with the repugnant.”—Booklist “The stories jump back and forth in time, but their message is clear: this family’s ties are as quixotic, fierce, and enduring as the land that binds them together.”—School Library Journal

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Catapult
Page : 117 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2014-05-19
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781619023901

Get Book

Stars Go Blue by Laura Pritchett Pdf

Laura Pritchett is an award–winning author who has quickly become one of the west's defining literary voices. We first met hardscrabble ranchers Renny and Ben Cross in Laura's debut collection, and now in Stars Go Blue, they are estranged, elderly spouses living on opposite ends of their sprawling ranch, faced with the particular decline of a fading farm and Ben's struggle with Alzheimer's disease. He is just on the cusp of dementia, able to recognize he is sick but unable to do anything about it —the notes he leaves in his pockets and around the house to remind him of himself, his family, and his responsibilities are no longer as helpful as they used to be. Watching his estranged wife forced into care–taking and brought to her breaking point, Ben decides to leave his life with whatever dignity and grace remains. As Ben makes his decision, a new horrible truth comes to light: Ray, the abusive husband of their late daughter is being released from prison early. This opens old wounds in Ben, his wife, his surviving daughter, and four grandchildren. Branded with a need for justice, Ben must act before his mind leaves him, and sets off during a brutal snowstorm to confront the man who murdered his daughter. Renny, realizing he is missing, sets off to either stop or witness her husband's act of vengeance. Stars Go Blue is a triumphant novel of the American family, buffered by the workings of a ranch and the music offered by the landscape and animal life upon it.

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Catapult
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2018-02-27
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781619026049

Get Book

The Blue Hour by Laura Pritchett Pdf

Winner of the 2018 Colorado Book Award, "Pritchett writes with an evident love for the mountains and the people that call them home (Westword). The residents of Blue Moon Mountain form a tight–knit community of those living off the land, stunned by the beauty and isolation all around them. So when, at the onset of winter, the town veterinarian commits a violent act, the repercussions of that tragedy are felt all across the mountainside, upending their lives and causing their paths to twist and collide in unexpected ways. The housecleaner rediscovering her sexual appetite, the farrier who must take in his traumatized niece, the grocer and her daughter, the therapist and the teacher, reaching out to the world in new and surprising ways, and the ragged couple trapped in a cycle of addiction and violence. They will all rise and converge upon the blue hour—the l'heure bleu, a time of desire, lust, honesty—and learn to navigate the often confusing paths of mourning and love. Writing with passion for rural lives and the natural world, Laura Pritchett, who has been called ""one of the most accomplished writers of the American West,"" graces the land of desire in vivid prose, exploring the lengths these characters—some of whom we've met in Pritchett's previous work—will traverse to protect their own.

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Milkweed Editions
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2011-12-10
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781571318565

Get Book

Sky Bridge by Laura Pritchett Pdf

A young woman who offers to raise her teenage sister’s baby gets more than she bargained for in “a moving story about love, duty, and family” (Publishers Weekly). A supermarket clerk in a small dusty Colorado town, twenty-two-year-old Libby is full of dreams but lacks the means to pursue them. When her younger sister Tess becomes pregnant, Libby convinces her not to have an abortion by promising to raise the child herself. But then Tess takes off after the baby is born and Libby finds that her new role puts her dreams that much further away. Her already haphazard life becomes ever more chaotic. The baby’s father, a Christian rodeo rider, suddenly demands custody. Libby loses her job, her boyfriend abandons her, and her own mother harps on how stupid she was to make that promise to Tess. Worse, her sister’s reckless new life could put Libby herself in danger. Not just a story of a single mother overcoming obstacles, Sky Bridge is a complex novel from a PEN Award winner that leaves readers with a fresh understanding of what it means to inhabit a world in which dreams die, and are sometimes reborn. “In this spare yet haunting portrait of the American West, Pritchett’s powerful, poetic voice speaks with clarity, wisdom, and passion about country, family, and one young woman’s majestic spirit.” —Booklist “A superb writer.” —Library Journal

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Catapult
Page : 132 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2015-06-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781619026414

Get Book

Red Lightning by Laura Pritchett Pdf

Ten years ago, Tess Cross left her newborn daughter with her sister and hightailed it out of what she called NoWhere, Colorado. Now she returns to the eastern plains of Colorado, full of raw rage at herself and at the universe, yearning for the life she never lead and the daughter she left behind. As a levantona who has been running drugs and illegal immigrants once they're beyond the US–Mexico border, she's knowingly and even defiantly entered into a harsh and dangerous world. But suddenly her world has become darker than she can bear: The largest wildfire in Colorado history is blazing. Immigrants are dead. She's haunted by the memory of a Mexican woman she couldn't save and a lost Mexican girl she did. Traffickers – of both immigrants and drugs – are now hunting her down. But most of all, Tess is at the mercy of her own traumatized soul, and the weight of it is cracking her apart. In the act of coming home, Tess must now face her dying mother, her sister, and her daughter, and most importantly, herself. This book broaches timely topics essential in the West—immigration, rural poverty, wildfires—with suspense and gritty wisdom as well

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Torrey House Press
Page : 188 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2024-02-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781948814904

Get Book

Playing with Wildfire by Laura Pritchett Pdf

"An immersive story of a changing landscape, innovatively told." —KIRKUS When a wildfire bears down on a mountain community, residents are forced to gather for safety—resulting in a tangle of love and lust that pulls people from their isolation, friendships that form across political divides, and a new hope for rethinking the ways humans inhabit the burning planet. Playing with Wildfire is a literary landscape that is an experiment in form: an astrology report; a grant application-turned-love-story; a phone call from Mother Earth; an obituary for a wildfire; a burned mountain’s conversation with a lone woman and an injured bear. Every story captures how fire affects the human psyche and life, and how destruction can lead to renewal.

Author : Barbara Richardson
Publisher : University Press of New England
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2015-08-22
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781611688009

Get Book

Dirt by Barbara Richardson Pdf

Community farms. Mud spas. Mineral paints. Nematodes. The world is waking up to the beauty and mystery of dirt. This anthology celebrates the Earth's generous crust, bringing together essays by award-winning scientists, authors, artists, and dirt lovers to tell dirt's exuberant tales. Geographically broad and topically diverse, these essays reveal life as lived by dirt fanatics - admiring the first worm of spring, taking a childhood twirl across a dusty Kansas farm, calculating how soil breathes, or baking mud pies. Essayists build a dirt house, center a marriage around dirt, sink down into marshy heaven, and learn to read dirt's own language. Scientists usher us deep underground with the worms and mycorrhizae to explore the vast and largely ignored natural processes occurring beneath our feet. Whether taking a trek to Venezuela to touch the oldest dirt in the world or reveling in the blessings of our own native soils, these muscular essays answer the important question: How do you get down with dirt? A literary homage to dirt and its significance in our lives, this book will interest hikers, gardeners, teachers, urbanites, farmers, environmentalists, ecologists, and others intrigued by our planet's alluring skin. Essayists include Vandana Shiva, Peter Heller, Janisse Ray, Bernd Heinrich, Linda Hogan, Wes Jackson, BK Loren, David Montgomery, Laura Pritchett, and Deborah Koons Garcia.

Author : Gary Wockner,Gregory McNamee,SueEllen Campbell
Publisher : Big Earth Publishing
Page : 228 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1555663656

Get Book

Comeback Wolves by Gary Wockner,Gregory McNamee,SueEllen Campbell Pdf

Delves into the spirit of the wolf dilemma through a collection of essays and poems from some of the Rocky Mountain region's most prolific writers. Authors such as Susan J. Tweit, Craig Childs, Pam Houston, John Nichols, Kent Nelson, Rick Bass, Stephen Trimble, and Laura Pritchett have contributed works specifically written for this compilation, which creates a forum for writers to voice their opinions, hopes, and concerns for the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado. Forward by Mark Udall, U.S. Representative, Colorado's 2nd Congressional District.

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2012-11-13
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780806186221

Get Book

Going Green by Laura Pritchett Pdf

Never mind the Ph.D. and middle-class trappings—Laura Pritchett is a Dumpster diver and proud of it. Ever since she was old enough to navigate the contents of a metal bin, she has reveled in the treasures found in other people’s cast-offs. For Going Green, Pritchett has gathered the work of more than twenty writers to tell their personal stories of Dumpster diving, eating road kill, salvaging plastic from the beach, and forgoing another trip to the mall for the thrill of bargain hunting at yard sales and flea markets. These stories look not just at the many ways people glean but also at the larger, thornier issues dealing with what re-using—or not—says about our culture and priorities. The essayists speak to the joys of going beyond the norm to save old houses, old dishwater, old cultures, old Popsicle sticks, and old friendships—and turning them into something new. Some write about gleaning as a means of survival, while others see the practice as a rejection of consumerism or as a way of treading lightly on the earth. Brimming with practical and creative new ways to think about recycling, this collection invites you to dive in and find your own way of going green.

Author : Susan Reynolds
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2009-03-18
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 9781440520013

Get Book

My Dad Is My Hero by Susan Reynolds Pdf

Children often have trouble telling their father how much they love him. Fortunately, this book expresses those emotions for them. This endearing collection of stories about the everyday heroics of the contributorsÆ fathers, and father figures, will show Dad how much he means to his children. From the story of a fly fishing trip that bonded father and daughter to the one that saw a friendÆs imposing father turn into the contributorÆs own loving father-figure, this wonderful book brings together tales of heroic dads from all walks of life, and is a great way for his kids to show him how much they care. And it lets dads everywhere know that they donÆt need to be daring to be heroicùthat it can be the little things that mean the most to his kids.

Author : Laura Pritchett,Richard L. Knight,Jeff Lee
Publisher : Big Earth Publishing
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1555664008

Get Book

Home Land by Laura Pritchett,Richard L. Knight,Jeff Lee Pdf

essays on new approaches to ranching and preserving western lands

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2017-08-29
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 9781632280602

Get Book

Making Friends with Death by Laura Pritchett Pdf

Death is a great and grand mystery, and the actual act of dying is the last physical act of our lives. We can do it well, like a graceful well-rehearsed piano solo—or we can do it like that first awkward dance with a middle-school crush. But if anything deserves our full attention, some preparation, or some renewed clarity, death might be it. In this light-hearted, irreverent exploration of the one thing that is certain in all lives, Making Friends with Death offers a look at all the uncertainty that precedes this final act. A compelling mix of practical how-to advice and personal narrative, this book encapsulates our greatest quest—to make peace with death. Pritchett offers up wisdom she has gleaned from all sorts of places, including a decade of traditional research and a lifetime of other related, but less formal, pursuits (digging up a dead body, watching her dog be necropsied on the lawn, hosting Death Cafés, and confronting the grim reaper himself). Making Friends with Death broaches the sacred and the scary with warmth, research, and humor. Interspersed with a variety of workbook-like exercises, this book will prove to be the go-to companion for anyone who would rather be able to greet death as an old friend, rather than a spooky stranger.

Author : Gary Wockner,Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Big Earth Publishing
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Nature
ISBN : 1555663923

Get Book

Pulse of the River by Gary Wockner,Laura Pritchett Pdf

Dam and reservoir projects threaten the Poudre. Authors tell stories of why it is worth fighting for. Gary Wockner and Laura Pritchett

Author : Laura Pritchett
Publisher : Dell
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2024-07-16
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780593724200

Get Book

Three Keys by Laura Pritchett Pdf

Newly widowed and unemployed, a woman in her mid-fifties sets off on a journey of trespassing and adventure through the American West and beyond in this witty, thought-provoking novel from the PEN USA Award–winning writer. “Filled with award-winner Pritchett’s electric prose and love of the natural world, this book is irresistible.”—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Days of Wonder Becoming invisible is painful . . . unless you know how to work it. Ammalie Brinks has just lost the three keys of her life’s purpose—her husband, her job, and her role as a mom, after her son went off to college. She’s also mystified to find herself in middle age: How exactly had that happened? The terrifying idea of becoming irrelevant, invisible, of letting her life slip away Into obscurity, has her driving distracted through Nebraska with a broken plastic fork in her tangled hair. But what Ammalie has found are three literal keys, saved in a drawer for years, from her and her husband’s past. They are the keys to homes that she hopes will be empty—and plans on spending time in. Embarking on an international and increasingly complicated journey (criminal behavior turns out to be challenging!), she seeks to find a life truly her own. And that middle-age business? As someone breaking the law, Ammalie finds there's a real benefit to being invisible when you’re working on becoming the striking, bold, and very much manifested self you want to be. Laura Pritchett, winner of the PEN USA Award for Fiction and the Colorado Book Award, offers a delightful exploration of the very serious business of living a full and honest life. Filled with love, heartbreak, and misdemeanors, Three Keys tackles the unavoidable sorrows and joys experienced during a second coming of age with the zest and vigor that it deserves.

Author : John Lawson Stoddard
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1898
Category : Asia
ISBN : HARVARD:32044020431136

Get Book

Southern California. Grand Cañon of the Colorado River. Yellowstone National Park by John Lawson Stoddard Pdf