Brittlebush Valley

   A place where the New West meets the Old amid a natural world that cares
   nothing for either
 
 

     Patsons Printing, 2005
 
 

        A self-published work of fiction.  Sample chapters available through links, below. 

        To purchase: Send $10 in cash or check (payable to Steve Pyne) to:
             Brittlebush Valley
             15221 North 61st Ave
             Glendale, AZ 85306
 
           Price includes shipping.
 
 
 

    A Ridge Too Far
       In which Brittlebush Valley is located on the map of imagination, as a destination rarely reached or if arrived at, seldom settled
    The Falling of Dr. Duff
        In which the Valley's resident academic fells a tree and deconstructs his life.
    Dream Catchers
        In which the basic economy of Brittlebush Valley becomes apparent, of merchandising aspirations into land
    Bucky Goes Bust
        In which Wally becomes Bucky again, sort of, an awkward hybrid, and is welcomed to Brittlebush Valley with near-thunderous silence
    Lonnie's Place
        In which the larger community seeks to move its past into the future, if they could only convince an inarticulate Job, stubborn as an old snag, to see reason
    Mount Cabeza
        In which is described the Valley's most prominent landscape feature, which was also its most hidden.

Getting Around
    Buffalo Wallow Estates
       In which Flake and Sleaze scheme to swap specific land for unspecified development, demonstrating the fundamental calculus of the Valley,
       by which subdivision leads to multiplication.
    Emerson and the Elk
       In which two Valley residents, the hominid and the bovid, championed respectively by a Dr Duff desperate for redemption and a herd of elk
       eager for fodder, do battle over white-boned fields of aspen.
    Uncle Rheebitt's Story
       In which Bucky finds a niche and gives Brittlebush Valley a voice it didn't want, a croak heard round the world
    Norma's Bridge Group
       In which the hunter becomes the hunted, as a couple from the Big City trade one wilderness for another
    AVE Marie
       In which an old new resident builds a house, and transforms a solitary dream into a communal nightmare.
    The Horseman, Passed By
       In which one of Brittlebush Valley's own tells the story of the western cavalier, riding - or hobbling, or maybe staggering -
       into a New West sunset.
    Deet and Sherrie
       In which a literary romance, of a sort, flourishes, aftr a fashion, once flames cool and passion kindles.
    Axel's Auto-Suggestion
       In which Brittlebush Valley's mechanic ponders loss and redemption amid a geography of gears and a theology of carburetors.
    Kurt Krauzkutt: A Canto
       In which the axe meets the word, and a timber beast finds himself reborn a philosopher.
    Hill and Dale
       In which Kieffer realizes, without much conscious thought, that the crummy road he travels daily resembles the Valley he lives in.
    Bucky Gets Listed
       In which Brittlebush Valley's most famous, and hated, hybrid gets the attention it might deserve.
    Adam Grizzly
       In which visions become more vivid than reality, and the monkeywrenching of a born-again prankster turns lethal.
    Doc's Karma
       In which the community begins the rehabilitation of Doc's car, and Doc, unknowingly, begins the reconstruction of his literary life.
    The Longhorn, and the Short of It
       In which home and range separate, trampled beneath the lowing hoofs and horns of an exurban stampede.
    The Legend of Locusteater
       In which the Native Blanks find fortune, and a kind of fame, and a slot for their way of life.
    The Road to Ruins
       In which a park ranger, to entice visitors, has a dream, to build within the Blanks, a road.
    Lacuna
       In which Brittlebush Valley is contrasted with its Sierra sister, as remembered by the region's resident genealogist.
    Becky and Phil
       In which, through sun and shadow, the Campbells continue to make their peace in the Valley.
    Maggie's Return
       In which a Valley visitor from the season of childhood becomes a grown-up resident.
    Trail's End
       In which Dr. Duff and Pete the Packer do literary battle for the soul of a Brittlebush Valley intent on buying a restored transmission.

Getting On
    Little Verde
       In which Emerson Paine Kieffer (aka Dr Duff, alias Doc), after the long summer of his discontents, searches for the source
       of the Valley's stream