Cover photo by Guy Tal
CROOKED CREEK
by Maximilian Werner
July 2011 | Historical Fiction | 978-1-937226-00-8 | 186 pp | $14.95
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sara and Preston, along with Sara’s clairvoyant brother Jasper, flee Arizona when they run afoul of American Indian artifact hunters. They arrive in Utah’s Heber Valley seeking shelter with Sara’s uncle, but they soon learn that they cannot escape the burden of memory or the crimes of the past. Set in the late 19th century, this rich, layered story resonates with the work of such authors as Cormac McCarthy and Wallace Stegner.
MAXIMILIAN WERNER is the author of Black River Dreams, a collection of literary fly fishing essays that won the 2008 Utah Arts Council’s Original Writing Competition for Nonfiction Mr. Werner’s poems, fiction, creative nonfiction, and essays have appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including Matter Journal: Edward Abbey Edition, Bright Lights Film Journal, The North American Review, ISLE, Weber Studies, Fly Rod and Reel, and Columbia. He lives in Salt Lake City with his wife and two children and teaches writing at the University of Utah.
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PRAISE FOR CROOKED CREEK
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2012 Eric Hoffer Book Awards Honorable Mention
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2011 Utah Book Award Finalist
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“Maximilian Werner is a fresh and grounded writer, a welcome and original new voice.”
—THOMAS MCGUANE, author of Driving on the Rim
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“Here in the deep measured prose of Max Werner is a western story, harsh and lush as the old world it depicts. Crooked Creek shows again that one of the natural laws of the wilderness–along with wind and stone and animals and family — is violence. Just as wind and water shaped the stone, trouble shaped these men. With its compelling, layered story, this rich book is a reader’s pleasure.”
—RON CARLSON, author of The Signal
“Max Werner’s Crooked Creek offers a haunting voyage into the past and into living landscapes sharpened by western light, resonating with the work of such authors as Cormac McCarthy and Wallace Stegner.”
—GEORGE HANDLEY, author of Home Waters: A Year of Recompenses on the Provo River
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