A classic in contemporary Oklahoma literature, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s Red Dirt unearths the joys and ordeals of growing up poor during the 1940s and 1950s. In this exquisite rendering of her childhood in rural Oklahoma, from the Dust Bowl days to the end of the Eisenhower era, the author bears witness to a family and community that still cling to the dream of America as a republic of landowners.
A group of young Irish migrants leave a man called Hopper for dead on an outback road in Australia. They barely know him; no-one will miss him in their world of hostels, wild nights on cheap wine and grinding work on isolated farms. In this powerful novel about the discovery of responsibility, three young people – Fiona, Murph and Hopper – flee the collapse of their country's economy. In the heat and endless spaces of Australia they try to escape their past, but impulsive cruelty, shame and guilt drag them down, and it is easy to make terrible choices.
(McManus) is a son of the red-clay country, and he gives us that country vividly with all its hard work, pain, loss, and sharp-edged humor. These are truth-telling poems that remind us to pay attention.--Ellen Bass, author of "Mules of Love" and "The Human Line."
Before the "new journalism" of Wolfe, Talese, and Kubrick, before the Brave Gonzo World of Hunter S. Thompson, there was legendary cult writer Terry Southern. This widely recognized underground classic is a collection of Southern's short pieces--two dozen hilarious, well-observed sketches which expose the hypocrisy of American social mores.
"Red Dirt Memories is a tribute to a way of life that has almost disappeared as quickly as it began, taking you beyond pastures dotted with herds of cattle, past the hatchery, the feed mill, and then to the foot of Swift Hill, where a red dirt road winds down then up again for two miles. Then as now, a car raises a cloud of red dust to signal a visitor, where only a clearing is left of the pine shack it once held, with the smokehouse and the outhouse beyond long decayed and torn down. Wild honeysuckle has taken over the chimney remnants, and all the ghosts simply wait for the right moment to conjure their old memories in this timeless collection that reminds us of our similarities, rather than the differences that divide us."--Distributor's website
Blood on Red Dirt is the true story of Marine Corporal Gary Cowart. The book encompasses the time before enlistment, Boot Camp, Infantry Training Regiment, Artillery School, and his time in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive of 1968. Incorporated with actual pictures from the times and places remembered in this book, it gives the reader a mix of emotions felt during the good times and bad, of combat and of non-combat, with the intent of giving the lay person a more complete picture of the Vietnam experience. After serving in Vietnam, Dr. Cowart earned a B.A. degree in Zoology from the University of Washington, and a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from the UW School of Dentistry He currently lives, writes, and maintains a general dental practice in Kent, Washington.
'Nobody does rural fiction quite like Fleur McDonald.' The Weekly Times Returning to Perth after a near-fatal undercover case in outback Queensland, Dave Burrows, now a Detective Senior Constable in the stock squad, receives an ultimatum from his deeply unhappy wife, Melinda. Before Dave and Mel's problems can be resolved, Dave is sent to the far north of Australia on a stock theft investigation. He finds two cattle stations deep in a complex underbelly of racial divide, family secrets, long-repeated lies, kidnapping and murder. Facing one of the biggest challenges of his policing life and the heartbreaking prospect of losing his family, Dave can't imagine things getting worse. But there's a hidden danger, intent on revenge, coming right for him. Praise for Without A Doubt 'Engaging and well-paced . . . devoured quicker than my Easter chocolate. Fleur McDonald has a wealth of farming experience and she employs that knowledge to pen a tale of small communities, mustering and stock losses.' Beauty and Lace 'McDonald writes a riveting rural crime story.' The Burgeoning Bookshelf
Moving from a Texas ranch to an Australian Outback station was a life changing decision for Travis Craig. Though it wasn't really a decision at all. Something in his bones told him to go, though he had no clue as to why. Until he met Sutton Station's owner, Charlie. Loving Charlie shouldn't have been easy. The man was stubborn, and riddled with crippling self-doubt. No, it shouldn't have been easy at all. Yet somehow, falling in love with Charlie was the easiest thing in the world. Loving him was easy. Living with him, teaching him how to love in return and, more importantly, how to love himself, was not. But Travis knew all along it'd be worth it. He knew the man with the red dirt heart was destined to be his. Just like he knew the red dirt that surrounded him was where he was supposed to be. In the final instalment of the Red Dirt Series, we see Charlie through Travis' eyes. We see how much he's grown and how much he loves. We go back to Texas with them, and we see Charlie get everything he truly thought he never deserved. Red Dirt Heart 4 is Travis' story. And this is the story of not just one red dirt heart, but two
From the New York Times columnist, a portrait of a family and the cycles of joy and grief that mark the natural world: “Has the makings of an American classic.” —Ann Patchett Growing up in Alabama, Margaret Renkl was a devoted reader, an explorer of riverbeds and red-dirt roads, and a fiercely loved daughter. Here, in brief essays, she traces a tender and honest portrait of her complicated parents—her exuberant, creative mother; her steady, supportive father—and of the bittersweet moments that accompany a child’s transition to caregiver. And here, braided into the overall narrative, Renkl offers observations on the world surrounding her suburban Nashville home. Ringing with rapture and heartache, these essays convey the dignity of bluebirds and rat snakes, monarch butterflies and native bees. As these two threads haunt and harmonize with each other, Renkl suggests that there is astonishment to be found in common things: in what seems ordinary, in what we all share. For in both worlds—the natural one and our own—“the shadow side of love is always loss, and grief is only love’s own twin.” Gorgeously illustrated by the author’s brother, Billy Renkl, Late Migrations is an assured and memorable debut. “Magnificent . . . Readers will savor each page and the many gems of wisdom they contain.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
