Out West Books offers some upcoming titles to spice up spring

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Out West Books in Grand Junction recommends three soon-to-be-released books on the Grand Canyon, once-extinct animals and the American West.

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From the publisher: Fewer people have completed a through-hike of the Grand Canyon (one single hike) than have walked on the moon. It’s that challenging and that dangerous. Fedarko and his band of expert guides did the more than 800-mile hike in four sections, with Kevin Fedarko and photographer Pete McBride both nearing death once and in mortal peril innumerable times. There are many ways to die in the Grand Canyon — heart attack, heat stroke, loose rock, mudslide, rope and equipment failure, dangerous falls from great heights, drowning, snake bite, etc. This is not just an epic adventure but a survival tale with great scenes and characters.

From Marya Johnston, owner: Kevin Fedarko’s “The Emerald Mile” is one of my all-time-favorite books. When I was ordering from Scribner’s spring titles and saw a new book by Fedarko on the list, my heart rate went up and I could hardly contain my excitement.  It’s been 10+ years since “The Emerald Mile” and this book was well worth the wait! This story of Fedarko’s and McBride’s multiple attempts at the canyon that “will kill you” (and there are many books on this subject, including: “Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon” by Myers and Ghiglieri), as people like to say, is like sitting down in camp after a long day hiking, or on the river, and listening to one of the best raconteurs ever.  

Fedarko just writes that way….like you could be right next to him while he tells you about his bleeding feet that he decided duct-tape would be a good fix for, or the searing heat, or hiking in and out of the hundreds of side canyons that made their hike at least twice as many miles as the river’s path. All of it…his descriptions of the flora, the sandstone ledges, the shale poking through his deflated air mattress into his back, hiking until he throws up…you’re right there for it.  Kenton Grua, from “The Emerald Mile,” shows up in this book, too, as his barefoot through-hike of the Grand Canyon was the inspiration for Fedarko’s & McBride’s endeavor.  As an added bonus, the book is sprinkled with McBride’s photos that just make you stop reading and stare, and maps….yes, maps!  Put this on your reading list for spring. You won’t be disappointed.  If you are inspired to hike the canyon though, please do your homework first.  Lots of it!

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From the publisher: Erebus Resort, occupying a magnificent, hundred-thousand acre valley deep in the Colorado Rockies, offers guests the experience of viewing wooly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire’s son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country by what is assumed to be a gang of eco-terrorists, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.

As killings mount and the valley is evacuated, Cash and Colcord must confront an ancient, intelligent, and malevolent presence at Erebus, bent not on resurrection—but extinction.

From Marya Johnston, owner: I am particularly fond of Douglas Preston’s non-fiction, but once in a while he writes a novel outside the series he authors with Lee Child that I can hardly put down. This book is exciting from the get-go, as two rich honeymooners disappear from their campsite at the exclusive resort that has cleared an area of all predators in the Colorado mountains for the “de-extinction” and “re-wilding” of prehistoric animals.  

We are led to believe that this young couple disappeared at the hands of eco-terrorists who are against this resurrection biology. But could it have been something else?  Something more sinister? A secret project?  CBI Investigator Cash and the County Sheriff Colcord are great characters, both of a certain age and plain-Jane, but whip smart.   In the last chapter, Preston points out that this “de-extinction” science, using CRISPR, is closer than we think. Yipes.  There are comparisons being made with “Jurassic Park” and that’s OK with me.  We need more exciting topical science fiction like this.  This is a “just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should”  tale. It is a great read!

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From the publisher: A young midwife travels west to the New Mexico Territory to care for women in need and faces dangers more harrowing than the ones she’s fleeing in this epic tale of survival, redemption, and love from Sara Donati, the international bestselling author of the Wilderness series.

1857: In a bid to outrun her past, Carrie Ballentyne accepts a nursing position with a doctor in the New Mexico Territory. She knows the journey from New York to Santa Fe will not be easy, but she relishes the adventure. However, nothing could have prepared her for the wilderness she encounters. Its vastness and power are awe-inspiring, stunning in both beauty and brutality. To endure, she must learn to rely on her fellow travelers — and one enigmatic man in particular. As the small, tight-knit group tackles challenge after challenge, she feels her heart opening to this rugged land — and the people willing to risk so much for one another.

From Didi Herald, bookseller: Carrie Ballantyne, a New York City nurse and midwife, is undaunted when the opportunity to use her skills to make a difference comes up when she is offered a job in the New Mexico Territory. The rigors of traveling cross country in 1857 are fascinating. Clothing and grooming of the era added to the ordeal, and of course, a young woman required chaperonage. Even traveling by rail, the journey entailed stopping and finding overnight lodging.

But that was only the beginning as heading westward required switching to riverboat, then stagecoach, to horseback. Along the way and after arriving in Santa Fe, Carrie observes the effects of how the conflict between individuals from slave and free states has moved westward following the annexation of half of Mexico after the Mexican-American War. The unique society of the 250-year-old city with Indigenous, Spanish, Mexican, Basque, European, and American residents is in a state of flux with the huge migration from the East. 

Could we be experiencing a renaissance of the Western? Last year’s “Lone Women” by Victor LaValle and “Vampires of el Norté” by Isabel Cañas were horror but also Westerns.

Type of Story: Review

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