Coyote in the Mountains
Limberlost, 1989
“The people in his book of short stories... [are] damaged by life, but understand the wily ways of survival....Like all strong fiction, the Coyote stories can be taken on many levels. They are good yarns, they are sharp satire, they are fables with lessons Rember hopes Western natives will take to heart.”
—Judy McConnell Steele, The Idaho Statesman
John Rember’s debut collection of short stories has earned a cult-like following since it first appeared in book form in 1989, with readers in places as far away as Nepal. Comprised of nine stories that read sequentially, the book reads like a novel, a fable of the New West, with Coyote drifting through the lives of domesticated characters in a resort community in the Northern Rockies. The book is beautifully accented with illustrations by artist Julie Scott.
Reviews
Western American Literature
“The mundane setting of these stories becomes, in large part, their whole point. Coyote isn’t dead in the ‘Brave New World,’ not yet anyway, but the magic is leaking out very quickly. Rember pulls off a neat trick here, in that the mythological archetypes of his characters (Coyote hangs out with folks like Bear, a high-powered Big City attorney, and Rabbit, a former flower child who now works for a major defense contractor) provide a deep counterpoint to any convention of current minimalist fiction technique he may care to exploit…. Coyote himself might have written this book.”
Martin, on Amazon (5 stars)
“Rember's stories are inventive, his prose is athletic and graceful, and the overall book is definitely worth a read. I’m from the west, and I found that Rember captures the land, the people, and the spirit perfectly—if you’re from the west, you’ll be grateful, if you’re not, you’ll be impressed.”