Recent Publications

“Hades”  is a narrative of a foggy day canoeing and exploring along Lake Michigan’s northern shore.  It is also a meditation on death and life seen from the perspectives of the Greeks (Homer), the Romans (Virgil), modern Americans, and the classic Christian (Dante) in JuxtaProse Literary Magazine, vol. 15.  Here’s the link:    http://www.juxtaprosemagazine.org/

“Being Rash”  explores and contrasts physical courage (jumping off bridges, base jumping) with moral courage as seen in the lives of Russian dissidents in Shenandoah Review.  Link:    http://shenandoahliterary.org/642/

“Their Own Brand of Misery” is an essay about a small-town rodeo held in Circleville, Kansas. It focuses on the incredible violence and attraction of bull riding.  It appears in Southwest Review vol. 100.2

 “These Vanishing Hills” is about The Black Hills of South Dakota, a terrific hail storm, meditations on death and hope.  It appears in the Fall, 2014 issue of Fourth Genre.  This essay has been anthologized in Nan Narboe’s book:   Ageing: An Apprenticeship.

“Being Rash” and “These Vanishing Hills”  appear in different forms in my book Bitterroot.

Travels

I spent several weeks traveling and camping through New Mexico and Arizona, traveling in Alaska, and doing a book tour from St. Louis to the West Coast. This summer I plan to return to Idaho’s Clearwater River (see pic below) with son Alex and two of his friends. I have also begun research on a book that is taking me along the Gulf Coast in kayaks and motorboat, following the 1528 Narvaez Expedition. I kayaked 80 miles from Florida’s St. Mark’s River last summer and will motorboat to Texas and continue by land along the border to Arizona this fall.