Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Pursued by a mad assassin after their arrest for chaining themselves to a mining site gate, Luna Waxwing and Hip Hop Hopi seek refuge in the remote village of Stony Mesa. Immersed in the diverse cultures and conflicts of the contemporary West, the young couple struggles to understand the wild lands that surround them, while trying to understand one another.
There are many versions of how that Fourth of July celebration in Stony Mesa, now known as the Apple Days Riot, unraveled but all agree that it started when Otis Dooley hit Bo Hineyman square in the back with a fresh horse turd. Splat And the rest is history.
After living for four years in wilderness, Chip Ward moved to the edge of an environmental sacrifice zone, where he organized and led several campaigns to make polluters accountable. He co-founded HEAL Utah and served on the board of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance for several years. Starting as a bookmobile librarian, Ward ended his library career as the assistant director of the Salt Lake City Public Library. He is the author of two books, Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West and Hope's Horizon: Three Visions for Healing the American Land. He writes regularly for Tomdispatch.com. His essay about homelessness, "How the Public Library Became the Heartbreak Hotel," is the inspiration for the movie The Public, now in production.
Synopsis
"Now, good people, go eat up this novel and enjoy every bite, and every biting observation. Buckle your spurs; you're in for a wild ride." --REBECCA SOLNIT
Pursued by a mad assassin after their arrest for chaining themselves to a mining site gate, Luna Waxwing and Hip Hop Hopi seek refuge in the remote village of Stony Mesa. Immersed in the diverse cultures and conflicts of the contemporary West, the young couple struggles to understand the wild lands that surround them, while trying to understand one another.
After living for four years in wilderness, CHIP WARDmoved to the edge of an environmental sacrifice zone, where he organized and led several campaigns to make polluters accountable. He cofounded HEAL Utah and served on the board of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance for several years. Starting as a bookmobile librarian, Ward ended his library career as the assistant director of the Salt Lake City Public Library. He is the author of two books, Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West and Hope's Horizon: Three Visions for Healing the American Land. He writes regularly for Tomdispatch.com. His essay about homelessness, "How the Public Library Became the Heartbreak Hotel," is the inspiration for the movie The Public.
Synopsis
"Chip Ward is his own particular phenomenon, the funniest thing to happen to Utah, and one of the most acute environmental thinkers of our time."
--REBECCA SOLNIT
Pursued by a hired killer after they protested at a mining site gate, Luna Waxwing and Hip Hop Hopi seek refuge in the remote Southwest village of Stony Mesa where they start over as micro-farming restaurateurs with a dangerous secret. With their rodeo princess partner Kayla and a colorful cast of unlikely allies, they struggle to find common ground between coyote-killing cowboys and bird-watching retirees. Along the way they explore the nature of the energetic body, how the sins of the past echo into the present, and how to live lightly but joyously on the land. Can Luna and Hoppy keep their secret? Did Mayor Dooley strangle his rich nemesis? Will Bunny Cleaver's patriarchal prophecies come true? And what's the deal with that mystical coyote? Stony Mesa Sagas is a thought provoking and laugh-out-loud romp through the cultural conflicts of today's American West.