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You are here: Home / Authors In Our Midst / Laura Koerber – Survival!

Laura Koerber – Survival!

by WaterGirl|  July 23, 20234:00 pm| 27 Comments

This post is in: Authors In Our Midst

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Our featured writer today is Laura Koerber.  Let’s give her a warm welcome!

If you would like your talent featured in the Artists in Our Midst series or Authors in Our Midst series, send me an email message.  Don’t be shy!  I have no more Artists posts in the queue, so please get in touch if you would like to be featured.

Three Novels:  Old Coyote and Other Spirits

by Laura Koerber

Thank you to WaterGirl and the Balloon community for this opportunity to blow my horn about my books. I do think BJ readers will like my novellas; in fact, I think this community is my target audience. I’ve had trouble selling my books through most ad outlets because my novels don’t resonate broadly. I get reactions from WTF? to outright hostility. On the other hand, I get love from the right readers.

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So what do I write about? I write magical realism stories set in an apocalyptic near-future that’s getting nearer every day. The three books I’m presenting here all have a main character who is a nature spirit. My nature spirits are a mash up of European fairies, Greek genius loci, and Coyote and Hare from Native American spirituality—plus some shapeshifting. All three books present the nature spirit against the background of climate disaster.

I write what I know, and what I know is life as a spectator while everything outside my personal experience is going completely to hell. I learned about climate change way back in the seventies, so the catastrophes crashing down on the world aren’t a surprise to me. I’ve been expecting this all of my life. Nature is the closest thing I have to a religion, so I’m watching my deepest values be crushed beneath the weight of human failings.

I’m watching nature be murdered, but I think I’m also watching a transition to a future where most people in most places will be trapped into stunted lives, crushed by circumstances they can’t reasonably be expected to surmount. We are living in an apocalyptic sci fi novel come true.

If I let full awareness impact me, I’d be crying all the time. So what to do?

My stories are about emotional and spiritual survival. Escapist literature for doom freaks.  The three books listed below are cautiously optimistic about the possibility that individuals might be able to salvage their higher Maslow needs out of the wreckage we are making of this planet.

Wild Hare is a call to fight back. Coyote’s Road Trip is about finding connectedness and community. Encounter with Old Coyote is a mostly humorous discussion of the innate spirituality of the universe.

Maybe brief descriptions and reader reviews for the three books would be helpful?

I’ll start with Coyote’s Road Trip  Goodreads

Opening line: “Two customers, one staffer, and one guy at the hookup. I didn’t like those odds, so I strolled outside and around to the back for a long piss in the weeds.”

Synopsis: Coyote, the shapeshifting spirit of a valley in Nevada, is forced by climate change to hit the road and find a new home.

Reader review: “You are now reading one of the best fantasy/magic realism stories I’ve encountered in a while. Consider the “Two customers, one staffer, and one guy at the hookup” opening line. Characterization, setting, voice, and tone in ten words. Genius. Add in the “I didn’t like those odds, so I strolled outside and around to the back for a long piss in the weeds” second line and character, voice, setting, tone, and narrator are locked. Double genius.
And sorry, I can’t stop there. Koerber does brilliantly something few other modern writers can do at all – character-based exposition and narration. The amount of world-building in the first chapter is astounding and so refreshingly done other writers should use this as a textbook for good writing.”

Reader review: “Looking at the long, desolate valley depicted on the cover, and reading the description of the main character as a “guardian spirit of a desert valley in Nevada”, I expected this book to be insubstantial, mystical, and wistful. I was very surprised to find out that it was very human, full of well-constructed, concrete scenes, and absolutely easy to relate to. The book is great. A very fast read. Yes, it is wistful, and in several places, it is very sad, but it’s varied and it’s always interesting.”

Next up, Encounters with Old Coyote Goodreads

Opening line: “After Andrea died, she found herself in the condition of being a ghost. This was a surprise to her because, as an atheist, she’d assumed that death was the end.”

Synopsis: Andrea travels to Basin and Range National Monument to commit suicide under the stars—but she doesn’t completely die. To her surprise, she finds herself still in existence as a ghost. To her further surprise, she’s not alone; the desert is home to Coyote, Miss Vulture, and other spirits. Andrea is startled by the spirits, so she asks, “Is there a god that answers prayers?”

Coyote responds, “I don’t think so. Personally, I’d sooner bet on a poker hand than a prayer.” What follows is a collection of stories shared by Andrea, Coyote, and the other spirits as they chat around the campfire—stories about spiders in the bathroom, how Andrea lost her bra at a truck stop in Yukon Territory, stealing a dog, adventures in vomit, and more of what Coyote calls  “the sublime and the ridiculous.” In the end, Andrea’s question is answered.

I only have one review so far: “What a delightful surprise on an otherwise horrible day. Amazon sent me a message that Laura Koerber had a new book and was I interested? You bet! I love her quirky writing style that manages to sneak in some serious social commentary along the way. She’s done it again. This is Coyote the Trickster 2.0. He uses a cell phone to check Wikipedia and discusses particle colliders. What I didn’t expect was the truly beautiful ending. This was the book I needed today and I’m grateful for it.”

And finally, Wild Hare Goodreads

Listed in Kirkus Review as one of the one hundred best indy novels of 2019.

Opening line: “The world is ending, but my personal life is okay, I guess.”

Synopsis: Bobby Fallon, half-human and half nature spirit of the Wild Hare Clan, tries to raise the money to get his friend Arne out of jail through any means necessary. He lives by the code, “Feed, fuck, and fight.”

From Kirkus Review: “The story manages to weave together a complex tapestry of themes, from climate change to poverty to what qualifies as morality in a world that’s facing catastrophe. The prose is clear and concise throughout, giving readers a sense of each scene and character through the protagonist’s eyes.
A wrenching, complex novel that any fantasy fan would do well to pick up.”

Review from a reader: “Every once in a while a book comes along that is just a pleasure to read. Wild Hare ranks among these. The story line caught me from the very beginning, gradually unveiling truths about the protagonist, like a dance of the seven veils, that rendered him more appealing with each turning of the page. But this characterization doesn’t form the limits of what made this book so appealing. Within it teems an abundance of sardonic, ironic and humorous one-liners that left this reader laughing out loud.”

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to share my books. I’ve been a lurker on BJ since back when John was a Republican and have found this community to be a source of comfort and support many times. Last fall, I stopped lurking and asked for help finding homes for some kittens—and BJ came through! The kittens are all in homes! Now I hope some folks will enjoy a book or two, so thank you all again.  Meanwhile, as the Wild Hare says: Feed, fuck and fight. And as Coyote says, “I gave up on humans a long time ago. Tell me a story. I like the funny ones best.”

 

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Reader Interactions

27Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    July 23, 2023 at 4:28 pm

    Meanwhile, as the Wild Hare says: Feed, fuck and fight

    Wild Hare is Wise Hare.

  2. 2.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 4:31 pm

    Hi everyone! Thank you again to Watergirl. BTW my laptop is on its last legs, and the “e” only works hit and miss.  (When I typed “Watrgirl” autocorrect fixed it as “Bargirl’.)

  3. 3.

    Scout211

    July 23, 2023 at 4:36 pm

    Interesting set of books. I checked out your Amazon Author page and your catalog of books all sound interesting. And most of them are Kindle Unlimited (my favorite kind).

    Can you share a little about Murder in a Gated Community? That one looks like it could really appeal to this jackal (and others here).

    A short, darkly funny novella about an upscale gated community where the drama of daily life revolves around secrets, community garden politics, dogs, drones, golfers, and the Oxford comma.

  4. 4.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 4:47 pm

    @Scout211: Oh sure! That’s the book I don’t dare share with my neighbors! I live in an HOA, and I wrote the book for fun as a satire of life here. It isn’t a mystery because the reader will know whodunit by the end of the first chapter: Hazel, in the garden, with a frying pan. Hence the success of her tomatoes.  The story wanders amongst several women and their absurd/tragic adventures. I will keep adding on to the story as my neighbors give me inspiration. I’m working on a chapter now about gate nazis.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    July 23, 2023 at 5:07 pm

    Those are some amazing reader reviews.

  6. 6.

    Scout211

    July 23, 2023 at 5:08 pm

    @wonkie: Thanks.  That sounds fun.

  7. 7.

    Yarrow

    July 23, 2023 at 5:10 pm

    @wonkie:

    I’m working on a chapter now about gate nazis.

    Gate nazis? What do you mean by that?

  8. 8.

    oatler

    July 23, 2023 at 5:11 pm

    @Baud:

    “If it moved fast, we fought it; if it moved slow we fucked it; if it didn’t move at all we shot it into our arms.”

  9. 9.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 5:17 pm

    @Yarrow: The gate has to be opened with a gate card. The gate nazis are people who are convinced that the barbarian hordes are lurking outside, poised to tailgate their way into the HOA.  They can get nasty with people who aren’t tailgating and who have–and used!–gate cards to get in.

  10. 10.

    Yarrow

    July 23, 2023 at 5:20 pm

    @wonkie:  I thought you meant something like that. They can be fierce! A friend lives in a gated townhome community where residents never close the gate. It’s a point of…discussion.

  11. 11.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 5:33 pm

    @Yarrow:  FIPs with time on their hands. (Formerly Important People.)

  12. 12.

    Alison Rose

    July 23, 2023 at 5:37 pm

    @wonkie: Are you planning to use that exact term?

  13. 13.

    Dangerman

    July 23, 2023 at 5:39 pm

    I’ll definitely have to look you up. My reading pile is appallingly long (c’mon, Mega Millions) but I can add a little more without regret.

    You remind me VERY much of an artist I met in WA (I think I met her in Leavenworth, but home is, or at least was, Bellingham). Bergsma was the last name. I have many of her prints with Native American themes.

    It sounds like you and her would have a lot to talk over; maybe a networking opportunity?

    My computer says her domain is messed up but I’ll link to her images so you get an idea how much alike you are  (I hope she is still in business):

    Bergsma

    Also, thanks for the fond memories of Fallon, NV, which I have never visited, but I knew one of the Fallon descendants a long time ago in a place … not that far away. He is surely passed by now.

  14. 14.

    Dangerman

    July 23, 2023 at 5:44 pm

    More images from Ms. Bergsma with Native American themes. I have a couple of those; I hope there is a networking opportunity in their someplace!

  15. 15.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 23, 2023 at 5:46 pm

    @wonkie: I like your attitude!

  16. 16.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 5:49 pm

    @Alison Rose:  Uh…I’d like to, but I have concerns.

  17. 17.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 5:53 pm

    @Dangerman:  I have uneasiness about using Native themes since I am not Native. Am I appropriating or appreciating? I think I am appreciating, but all of my books start out with disclaimers where I tell readers to find authentic information about Native spirituality by consulting Native sources.  My coyote is tricky and a force of chaos and change but he is also a shapeshifter who takes human form most of the time. That makes him more like the Celtic puca.

  18. 18.

    Alison Rose

    July 23, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    @wonkie: I’d urge you not to. My two cents.

  19. 19.

    cintibud

    July 23, 2023 at 6:54 pm

    Looks very interesting!

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    July 23, 2023 at 7:05 pm

    My sincere apologies to Laura!  I will run this again when I return from my trip.

  21. 21.

    Morfydd

    July 23, 2023 at 7:10 pm

    @wonkie Thank you so much for introducing yourself and your books!  I just finished Wild Hare (I read too fast) and now need to ponder over it a bit.

  22. 22.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 7:13 pm

    @Morfydd: Wow! That was fast! I would like to know what you think.

  23. 23.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 7:14 pm

    @WaterGirl: Oh, is there a problem? I thought this was the scheduled time. No worries!

  24. 24.

    LivinginExile

    July 23, 2023 at 7:36 pm

    It sounds somewhat Carlos Castenada-ish.  When Genaro shits the mountains tremble.

  25. 25.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 7:45 pm

    @LivinginExile: Oh, nowhere near that mystical! I’ve read most of his books and I never thought of mine as similar.

  26. 26.

    Morfydd

    July 23, 2023 at 7:53 pm

    @wonkie: I liked it a lot!  I want to say I enjoyed it but the protagonist‘s vibrating anger runs too close to mine for comfort for most of the story.  I’m reminded of Charles deLint‘s stories, and maybe Ursula K. LeGuin‘s Buffalo Gals book, both of whom are very non-native writers exploring native archetypes.

    I‘m looking forward to reading more, but it’s super late here.  Thank you again for your introduction and your stories!

  27. 27.

    wonkie

    July 23, 2023 at 8:00 pm

    @Morfydd: Thank you for reading it and commenting. It is an angry book.  I think I got the anger out in that book. Coyote’s Road Trip isn’t angry. It’s about finding community. And Encounters isn’t angry at all.

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