Photo by Carol B. Hagen.
I spent my early life in Klamath, California and attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. My work has been supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, MacDowell, Monson Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. I live in Flagstaff, Arizona.
My debut novel, Damnation Spring, is published by Scribner in the U.S., Tinder Press in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, Actes Sud in France, and AST in Russia.
It took me a while to get here (I spent 10 years writing Damnation Spring), so if you’re walking a long road right now, please keep going.
If you’re looking for someone to read and offer feedback on your manuscript, three people I trust who offer those services are Christa Fraser, Allison Pick, and Marja van der Loo: marjavanderloo[at]gmail.
A practical craft talk I often return to is Charles Baxter on plot at Hugo House.
Our old cabin in Klamath, above Wilson Creek. It was knocked down in the mid-1980s. The land is now part of the state park system.
My dad did carpentry work, chopped a lot of firewood, and fixed up the cabin, jacking up the whole structure to repour the foundation.
My mom grew a garden and taught at Margaret Keating Elementary School in Klamath and Joe Hamilton Elementary in Crescent City.
Forests around Klamath were being actively logged, and logging trucks like the one in the background here were common sights.
Splitting and stacking firewood was serious business. (Some of us enjoyed it more than others.) We left Klamath when I was three.
My dad's parents with my mom in front of the Tall Tree. Surveyed in 1963, it measured over 367 feet tall and 44 feet in circumference.
Review Damnation Spring
For a debut author like me, word-of-mouth really matters. If you enjoyed Damnation Spring, I would so appreciate you telling a friend and/or rating and reviewing on the platform of your choice. Thank you.
Get a copy of Damnation Spring
You can order at your local independent bookstore through Bookshop.org, or through the retailer of your choice. Independent booksellers are some of the best book-loving people on Earth. Please support them if you can. Thank you.
If you’d like a signed, personalized copy, my local Bright Side Bookshop can help. Please include a note in the “order comments” that you’d like the book signed.