Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 Review

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(More customer reviews)I greatly enjoyed Proulx' Close Range collection of short stories,
and Bad Dirt (subtitled "Wyoming Stories 2") is a very worthy
encore. The Close Range stories gave a wonderful flavor to the
rural areas of the state, the people, the land, the warm and the
rough sides, both past and present. Some of the stories were
humorous, others were harrowing, some were a whimsical mix. You'll
find just the same mix (and a bit more) in Bad Dirt. You start off
with a 12-page story about Game & Fish Warden Creel Zmundzinski (who
turns up again in a couple of more stories) that begins in a nice
straightforward fashion, and then takes off into a kind of
humorous Proulx-Stephen King joint venture (or perhaps
Proulx-King-Carl Hiaassen).
Several stories center on the residents and the 3 bars in the tiny
town of Elk City: I very much like reading another of Proulx'
short stories when I feel that I already know the characters well
(one of these is a kind of Proulx-Hiaassen mix involving rental
alligators--it sounds bizarre, but the story works in a truly
delightful way).
The best of the stories is The Wamsutter Wolf, and runs about 35
pages. Buddy Millar lives in a $40/month rental housetrailer
5 miles out from the center of a small boomtown (almost all
trailers). You don't get much for your $40 a month. His only
neighbors live close by in an even grungier trailer--a bully who
beat him up in high school, his wife and passel of grungy young
kids, one of whom is a 4-year-old alcoholic (his father believes
that learning to drink young avoids the problems that come with
learning later). This is a horrifying and harrowing story--
stronger than anything I remember in Close Range. It's very
tough, utterly realistic, and it left me wanting to see it
expanded to about 300 pages as a novel.
Annie Proulx and William Gay (I Hate To See The Evening Sun Go
Down) are the two best short-story writers I've read in many
years--and both write excellent novels as well.

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One Step Over the Border: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)If you don't pay close attention, you might just slide over some of the subtle witticisms that make this book stand out. The banter between two good friends is worthy of old western movies when the language and plots were still clean. Stephen Bly doesn't hit you over the head with theology either, but if you miss God in this book, you must have your eyes closed. I finished this book ten minutes ago, and wish I had another three or four chapters to go, because I just wasn't ready to leave these wonderful characters.

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Award-winning author Stephen Bly weaves the tale of a pair of contemporary cowboys on a quest across the West. As a boy in Wyoming, Hap Bowmanfell in love with a girl namedJuanita. Ever since, he's experiencednothing but failure and misfortune.Laramie Majors--quiet,reserved, and patient to a fault--hasn't left Hap's side since theybecame rodeo partners right out ofcollege. Now, after spending mostof his adult life looking for Juanita,Hap wants to do one last bigsearch that will take them all overthe Southwest before he admits defeat.Together these two cowpokesfind themselves reluctant heroes ina series of misadventures as theytravel the West, all the while thinkingthat Hap's--or Laramie's--true love may be in thenext town.

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Rambling Review

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(More customer reviews)My husband, usually stoic, expressed bold enthusiasm for "Rambling."
After leafing through the books he recently received, my husband set Clancy and Cussler aside. It was the writing of Edd Voss that captured his attention and deservedly so. I merely looked at a page out of curiosity and, likewise, was instantly drawn in. Edd Voss writes in a manner that is bold and direct, yet his sentences convey an unexpected sense of grace. This grace transforms what is harshly stated into a dimension of beauty. An immediacy that brings you deep into the action hits. You feel the air and grasp the moments layered emotion. It is difficult to describe what it is exactly that makes each short story so compelling ... there is stark honesty, pain and exaltation, all in clear light. It may be that amid the sharpest of details, a vastness exists that reflects to the reader the complexity of their own being. In "Rambling," Edd Voss brings to you stories that your mind will linger over. These are stories that matter. Don't miss them.

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Thirteen short stories including tales of early American history, of American soldiers and the effects of war, along with stories of nature and the wild ... all memorable stories stemming from the experiences and imagination of a man who lives in the great northwest and travels the USA in an eighteen wheeler. Edd Voss is a family man who loves horses and photography. A man who writes from the heart. Story Titles:WELCOME HOMETHEIR FIRST HUNTCHRISTMAS ON THE MESAJO ANNAAIRBORNE: ONE MAN'S JOURNEYAPACHE TEARSTHE GHOST OF HI JOLLYBLIND?SHADESTORMDREAMING OF A WARM PLACETYLER'S COURAGEGOING HOME

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