By the time I'd sold my second novel, I had it down to a science: grab
the check and put it work. The advance from Incident at Muc Wa
went to the down payment on a cottage on the shore of a salt-water bay
in New Hampshire. I promptly rented it out, put my skis in the Volkswagen
Beetle, and drove West, sleeping betimes in the car. Just before Thanksgiving,
I drove up Colorado Route 82 to the mountain town of Aspen. It was ritzy
even then, though much more hospitable than now to the ski-bums who flocked
there every winter. I rented a room in the Garret at 222 West Hopkins for
$70 a month, which happened to be the same rental I was getting for my house
at home: I just endorsed the check over to the innkeepers every month.
That was a great winter, and I did learn to ski, after a fashion. Indeed,
by April I believed that I'd mastered the art, though in truth I was merely
strong enough to ski almost anything, so I had to start all over again the
following winter in New Hampshire. By that time I was married and had a
little girl coming along. Sally and I each worked half a day--at the same
job, actually--and I spent my free time writing The High Country
Illuminator in an effort to catch the manic life of Aspen toward the
end of the 1960s, a time of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, marijuana, and disgust at
a government that would send its young men to fight other young men in
Vietnam. It was, I think, the closest this country came to revolution,
apart from the years 1775-1783 and 1861-1865. The death toll was much
smaller, of course, but it was not inconsiderable.
Go here for an excerpt.
What the critics said
"A light, allegorical shorty of a book that swings along in tempo with the hip sub-culture" -- Denver Post
"Extremely bizarre and delightfully humorous ... stirs up the ski resort with professional ability and a touch of magic -- Oregon Journal
"The writing is adept, the plot bewildering, the pace dizzy, and the skiing scenes are out of sight" -- Skier magazine
"Vivid and effortless" -- Library Journal
Buy the print edition
The High Country Illuminator is a 6x9 inch paperback, 178 pages,
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