A primer for newcomers, a haven for aficionados and a
baedeker for scholars. This book includes an in-depth interview
and critical discussion of Barry Lopez’s short fiction,
which is seldom given as much attention as his
award-winning nonfiction, yet is just as rewarding in
careful apprehension and close discussion.
“With balance and grace... sharp clarity and an elaborate
mandala of insight into Lopez’s life-work.” (Patrick Meanor,
author of John Cheever Revisited and The Wrath of Grapes)
"This book shows once again why many of us think of Barry Lopez
as a national treasure. He is doing the real work."
Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift and Trickster Makes This World.
Backgrounder
Working on seasonal wildfires in the 1970's and 1980's across Alaskan tundra and mountain ranges, wildland firefighter Mike Newell developed a deep appreciation for an arctic and subarctic landscape whose scale dwarfs all human effort. Returning each fire season, Newell found himself increasingly transfixed by the primal allure of the Alaskan bush. Years later, he paused in a bookshop and pulled Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams off the shelf. What he found there began to engender in Newell a sense of what one reader has described as "learned understanding of wild places." The chance encounter with Lopez's National Book Award winning non-fiction work began a pattern of inquiry for Newell that, over twenty years later, now culminates in the publication of No Bottom. Newell's book features an incisive interview with Barry Lopez accompanied by a careful literary examination of Lopez's short fiction books. Both the interview and the critical discussion serve well as a primer for those coming new to Barry Lopez's work and as a valuable source of insight for scholars.
About the Author
Mike Newell is the author of three books of poetry —uNderground Fires, The Unlived Life and Aestivation—and the newly-issued No Bottom. Following his early years as a wildland firefighter, Newell taught at-risk students in public schools and correctional facilities for over two decades, retiring in 2004. After a 19-year hiatus from firefighting in Alaska, he re-certified his fire qualifications in 2000 and went to work on western wildfires. Mike Newell lives and writes in upstate New York.
About the Press
XOXOX Press is an independent publisher of contemporary fiction, non-fiction, oral history and poetry. Among its offerings are short story collections from Fielding Dawson (The Land of Milk & Honey, The Dirty Blue Car) and a diverse set of other titles from other authors in fiction, non-fiction, oral history and poetry. XOXOX Press is based in Gambier, Ohio.
Availability
No Bottom is distributed to bookstores nationally by Small Press Distribution of Berkeley, CA (www.spdbooks.org) and is available at the XOXOX web store, at http://xoxoxpress.com and at Amazon.com and other web stores.
Please contact the publisher by e-mail with requests for review copies and interviews.