Published Writings

“First I write one sentence; then I write another.”— Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) describing his method as a writer

BOOKS AND PREFACES

THE BRIDE OF AMBROSE AND OTHER STORIES (New York: Soho Press, 1987) (Collection of 11 short stories, including those starred below)

 

Foreword, FENCES, GATES AND BRIDGES: A Practical Manual, by George A. Martin (Brattleboro, Vt.: Alan C. Hood & Co., 1992) (Foreword for book)

 

Foreword, EPITAPHS TO REMEMBER: Remarkable Inscriptions from New England Gravestones, by Janet Greene (Brattleboro, Vt.: Alan C. Hood & Co., 1993) (Foreword for book)

 

Foreword, BARNS, SHEDS & OUTBUILDINGS: Placement, Design and Construction (Brattleboro, Vt., Alan C. Hood & Co., 1994) (Foreword for book)

 

SPRING SNOW: THE SEASONS OF NEW ENGLAND FROM The Old Farmer’s Almanac (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1995) (Collection of short essays)

 

Introduction, RICHARD BROWN’S NEW ENGLAND, (Buffalo, N.Y., Firefly Books (U.S.), 1996) (Introduction to a book of photographs)

 

JUDGMENT HILL (Hanover, N.H.: Hardscrabble Books, an imprint of the University Press of New England, 1997) (A novel)

 

Foreword, THE AX BOOK: The Lore and Science of the Woodcutter, by D. Cook (Chambersburg, Pa., Alan C. Hood & Co., 1999)

 

Introduction, THE DIARY OF J. J. GREEN: A Daily Record of the Year 1885/ in and around/ Newfane, Vermont/describing events and conditions in/the community/by a stationmaster on/The West River Railroad, (Newfane, Vt., The Historical Society of Windham County, 1999) (Introduction to a book of local history)

 

Foreword, THE WOODBURNER’S COMPANION: Practical Ways of Heating with Wood, by Dirk Thomas (Chambersburg, Pa., Alan C. Hood & Co., 2000)

 

“James Urbaska Landscapes,” Brief catalogue essay for an exhibition of landscape paintings in oil, published by Gallery North Star, Grafton, Vermont, August 2002.

 

MY LIFE AND ADVENTURES (New York, St. Martin’s Press, 2002) (A novel)

 

A STITCH IN TIME: TOWNSHEND, VERMONT, 1753-2003 (Townshend, Vermont, Townshend Historical Society, 2003) (A town history)

 

GO WITH ME (Hanover, N.H., Steerforth Press, 2008) (A novel); paperback editions published in the United Kingdom by Duckworth Overlook Publishers, London, 2009; by Harper Perennial, New York, 2009; by Mondadori, Barcelona, as LA OREJA DE MURDOCK, 2009; by Marcos y Marcos, Milan, as VIA CON ME, 2011; by Nagel & Kimche, Zurich as MANNER MIT ERFAHRUNG, 2016; by Sonatine Editions, Paris, as VIENS AVEC MOI, 2016.

 

ALL THAT I HAVE (Hanover, N.H., Steerforth Press, 2009) (A novel); published in the United Kingdom by Duckworth Overlook Publishers, London, 2010.

 

ROUND MOUNTAIN: TWELVE STORIES (Concord, Mass., The Concord Free Press, 2012) (A collection of 12 stories, including those double-starred below, produced and published by The Concord Free Press in partnership with The Eastman Kodak Company. Also published as a downloadable electronic book by The Concord ePress, 2011).

 

THE DEVIL IN THE VALLEY (Overlook Press, New York, and Duckworth Publishers, London, 2015) (A novel)

 

LITERARY AWARDS

“Before He Went Out West” (story, 1985) was selected as one of the distinguished short stories to be published in 1985 by The Best American Short stories 1986, Raymond Carver, ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1986).

 

In 1993, I was awarded one of the annual grants for New England writers from the St. Botolph Club Foundation, Boston.

 

“Another Part of the Present” (story, 1998) was selected for the short list of candidates for publication in Prize Stories 1999: The O. Henry Awards, Larry Dark, ed. (New York, Random House Anchor, 1999).

 

A STITCH IN TIME received the 2004 Award of Excellence, Publication Achievement, from the League of Local Historical Societies.

 

The International Regional Magazine Association (IRMA) awarded a bronze medal in the Essay category to Vermont Life magazine’s Autumn 2007 issue for “Four Maples”; a silver medal in the Essay category to Vermont Life’s Autumn 2009 issue for “The Boundary Brook”; an Award of Merit to Vermont Life’s Summer 2009 issue for the “Vermont Observed” column “Brush Piling.”

 

The March “Farmer’s Calendar” essay in the 2008 Old Farmer’s Almanac was selected for inclusion in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009, (Dave Eggers, ed.) published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

 

“The Next Thing on Benefit” (story, 2010) was selected for The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology: Outstanding Stories from the Web 2009-2010, published in Cambridge, Mass. The same story received “Special Mention” in The Pushcart Prize Anthology XXXVI, Bill Henderson, ed., (New York, Pushcart, 2011).

 

“The Secret Sits in the Middle” (story, 2011) was selected as Notable Nonrequired Reading in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012, (Dave Eggers, ed.), published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

 

“Protection” (story, 2013) was selected as one of the distinguished short stories to be published in 2013 by The Best American Short Stories 2014, Jennifer Egan and Heidi Pitlor, eds., (Boston: Houghton Mifflin 2014).

 

SHORT STORIES

“Seven Prophecies of Egypt” fiction international, 1980*

 

“That Is No Country for Old Men” New England Review and Breadloaf Quarterly, Autumn 1983*

 

“My Life on the Snowplow” Massachusetts Review, Winter 1983*

 

“Dreaming of Africa” Iowa Review, Winter 1984*

 

“Before He Went Out West” Massachusetts Review, Summer/Autumn 1985*

 

“How to Survive Childhood” Massachusetts Review, Summer 1989

 

“Daisy Passing Through” Ontario Review, Spring/Summer 1993**

 

“Far from the Coast” Massachusetts Review, Autumn 1993

 

“No Good for the Mill” Southwest Review, Autumn 1993

 

“Charity Suffers Long” Massachusetts Review, Summer 1995**

 

“Something You Never Saw Before” Yankee, March 1996**

 

“Hector Protector and Two Hunters” Shenandoah, Autumn 1996

 

“Bandit Poker” Southwest Review, Winter 1997**

 

“The Women at Holiday’s” Ontario Review, Spring/Summer 1997**

 

“Round Mountain” American Short Fiction, Spring 1998**

 

“Where I Lived and How I Came There” Witness, Vol. XII, No. 1, 1998

 

“Say Something” Massachusetts Review Fall 1998**

 

“Another Part of the Present” New England Review, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Fall 1998)

 

“The Sister’s Tale” The American Voice No. 48 (March 1999)**

 

“Lord, Let Me Know My End” Ontario Review, (Spring/Summer 2000)

 

“How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land?” Southwest Review Volume 85, Number 4, Spring 2001

 

“Women in the Barn” Witness , Vol. XV, No. 1, 2001

 

“The Deer at the End of the Day” Ontario Review, (Spring/Summer 2003)**

 

“The Gift of Loneliness” Southwest Review, Volume 88, Numbers 2 & 3, 2003**

 

“Driving Around” New England Review Vol. 26, No. 4 (Fall 2005)**

 

“The Education of Henry Adams,” Michigan Quarterly Review, Vol. XLV, No. 3, Summer 2006

 

“Nothing Like That,” Southwest Review, Volume 93, Number 4, 2008

 

“The Next Thing on Benefit” New England Review Vol. 31, No. 1 (Spring 2010) Reprinted in Chamber Four Fiction Anthology, August 2010. (An online and e-book anthology published in Cambridge, Mass.)

 

“Tales of the Banana Belt,” The Hopkins Review New Series, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring 2011)

 

“The Drowned Man at Sanderlings,” New England Review Vol. 32, No. 1 (Spring 2011)

 

“The Secret Sits in the Middle,” Southwest Review, Volume 96, Number 3, 2011

 

“Free Kittens,” New Letters Vol. 78, No. 1 (2011-12)

 

“Plain Tales from the Hills,” New England Review  Vol. 33, No. 1 (Spring 2012)

 

“Christ of the Whim-Whams,” The Hopkins Review New Series Vol. 6, No. 1 (Winter 2013)

 

“The Disposition, the Estonian Girl, the Trainee Woodchuck, and the Smoke,” Idaho Review  2013

 

“Protection,” Alaska Quarterly Review Vol. 30, Nos. 3 & 4, Fall-Winter 2013

 

“Who’s Stopping You?” New England Review, Vol. 34, Nos. 3-4, 2014

 

“Squirrel Trouble at Uplands” New England Review, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2015

 

“Is All Good Structure in a Winding Stair?” AGNI 82, Fall 2015

 

“Belinda Gets a Raise” Seven Days Newspaper (Burlington, VT), December 23, 2015

 

“The Rod,” Alaska Quarterly Review Vol. 33, Nos. 1 & 2, Spring-Summer 2016

 

“September Morn (Cool on Her)” Southwest Review Vol. 101, No. 3, 2016

 

“Kids Today,” The Hopkins Review New Series Vol. 9, No. 3 (Summer 2016)

 

“Enough of Billy,” New England Review Vol. 38, No. 2, 2017

 

“It’s Not Forever,” Green Mountains Review Vol. 30, No. 1, 2018

 

 

 

ESSAYS AND JOURNALISM

 

“A Concise Guide to Practical Map Making” Blair & Ketchum’s Country Journal, Septem. 1976 (How-to)

 

“How to Hew Your Own White Pine Beams” Christian Science Monitor, 25 April 1977 (Profile/How-to)

 

“The Pumpkin Watcher” Blair & Ketchum’s Country Journal, Oct. 1980 (Essay)

 

“Trusts: More for Your Kids, Less for the Feds” Family Journal , Feb. 1981 (Personal finance)

 

“Guardianship” Family Journal, March 1981 (Personal finance)

 

“Cutting the Electric Cord” Blair & Ketchum’s Country Journal, June 1982 (Profile)

 

“Farmer’s Calendar” The Old Farmer’s Almanac 1982–2011(Essays)

 

“Shelburne Farms” Blair & Ketchum’s Country Journal, June 1983 (Places/History)

 

“Homemade Beer” Country Journal, March 1987 (How-to)

 

“Notes from the Banana Belt” Sunday Rutland Herald, 3 Novem. 1991 (Funny essay)

 

“Spring Burning” Country Journal, April 1992 (Funny essay)

 

“One Life, One Home” Harrowsmith Country Life (“A Place in the Country” column), July/Aug. 1992 (Essay)

 

“Beyond the Fence” Harrowsmith Country Life (“A Place in the Country” column), Septem./Oct. 1992 (Essay)

 

“The Steep Way” Harrowsmith Country Life (“A Place in the Country” column), Novem./Decem. 1992 (Essay)

 

“Snows of Yesteryear” Harrowsmith Country Life (“A Place in the Country” column), Jan./Feb. 1993 (Essay)

 

“Winter Light” Yankee, Feb. 1993 (Essay)

 

“Concerning Thomas Jefferson” The Old Farmer’s Almanac 1993 (History/Biography)

 

“Cellar Holes” Vermont Magazine, Jan./Feb. 1994 (Essay)

 

“Capturing the Snow” Yankee, Feb. 1994 (Essay)

 

“Duffer in the Woods” Harrowsmith Country Life, March./April 1994 (Essay)

 

“What Mean These Stones?” Yankee, March. 1994 (Essay)

 

“Good Air” Yankee, October 1994 (Essay)

 

“Two Cheers for Tire Chains” Yankee, January 1995 (Essay)

 

“The Matter of an Old House” Vermont Magazine, March/April 1995 (Essay)

 

“Red” Yankee, October 1995 (Essay)

 

“To Cut a Christmas Tree” Harrowsmith Country Life, December 1995 (Essay)

 

“Surviving Deer Season” The Atlantic Monthly, December 1995 (Essay)

 

“Stuck with Strangers” The Atlantic Monthly, January 1996 (Essay)

 

“The Butterfly’s Song” Yankee, June 1996 (Essay)

 

“William Hickling Prescott: Brief Life of a Dedicated Historian: 1796-1859″ Harvard Magazine, November-December 1996 (History/biography)

 

“Schools, Taxes, and Reality” Sunday Rutland Herald, 9 March 1997 (Political op-ed)

 

“The Rose Arch” Vermont Magazine, April 1997 (Essay)

 

“In Praise of Mud” Seven Days (Burlington, Vt., weekly), 16 April 1997 (Essay)

 

“The Summer Machine” Yankee, June 1997 (Essay)

 

“Down Leaf Time” Yankee, September 1997 (Essay)

 

“Cathedral in the Pines” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, December 1997 (Essay)

 

“Unimproved Roads” Yankee, March 1998 (Essay)

 

“Richard Henry Dana: Brief Life of a Versatile Lawyer: 1815-1882″ Harvard Magazine, March-April 1998 (History/biography)

 

“The Blackboard” Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, May 1998 (Essay)

 

“About a Cheer-and-a-Half for Act 60″ Sunday Rutland Herald , 10 May 1998 (Political op-ed)

 

“The Memory Tree” Yankee November 1998 (Essay)

 

“What Are Qualifications For A Senator?” Sunday Rutland Herald, 15 November 1998 (Political op-ed)

 

“Congress Makes Our Lawmakers Look Good” Sunday Rutland Herald, 23 May 1999 (Political op-ed)

 

“A Place in Mind” (regular department) on Green Mountain National Forest, Northern Woodlands, vol. 6, No. 4, Winter 1999 (Essay)

 

“TV Ads Threaten Nation’s Political Health” Sunday Rutland Herald, 9 April 2000 (Political op-ed)

 

“Roadwork” Country Journal January-February 2001 (Essay)

 

“John Jay Chapman: Brief Life of a Neglected Critic: 1862-1933″ Harvard Magazine, January-February 2001 (History/Biography)

 

“Not Spring” Yankee March 2001 (Essay)

 

“Treasures from the Attic” Yankee December 2001 (Essay)

 

“Owen Wister: Brief Life of a Western Mythmaker: 1860-1938″ Harvard Magazine, July-August 2002 (History/Biography)

 

“The Noblest Birds” (Wild Turkeys) Northern New England Journey, vol. 8, no. 6, November/December 2002 (Natural history)

 

“Trying Times” Rutland Daily Herald, 21 November 2002 (Political op-ed)

 

“Wars of Religion” Rutland Daily Herald, 6 February 2003 (Political op-ed)

 

Newfane Remembers: Residents recall West River trains” Brattleboro Reformer, 26 April 2003 (Local history)

 

“Backwoods Bears” Northern New England Journey, vol. 9, no. 3, May/June 2003 (Natural history)

 

“Democrats striving for big leagues” Rutland Daily Herald, 15 May 2003 (Political op-ed)

 

“A Land at Rest” Yankee Magazine’s Seasons: Special Collector’s Edition, September 2003 (Essay)

 

“Strange fruit on the Tree of Liberty” Sunday Rutland Herald, 5 October 2003 (Political op-ed)

 

Newfane Remembers: Home on the Grange” Brattleboro Reformer, 8-9 November 2003 (Local History)

 

“The Porcupine” Northern New England Journey, vol. 10, no. 1, January/February 2004 (Natural history)

 

“Road Closed” Vermont Life, Spring 2004 (Essay)

 

“A Complex Harvest” Northern New England Journey, vol. 10, no. 2, March/April 2004 (Essay)

 

“Return from Wonderland” Rutland Daily Herald, 25 February 2004

(Political op-ed)

 

“GOP overreach creates opportunity” Rutland Daily Herald, 22 July 2004 (Political op-ed)

 

“The Long Yellow Season” Yankee Magazine Seasons, Autumn 2004 (Essay)

 

“The Canada Goose” Northern New England Journey, vol. 10, no. 5, September/October 2004 (Essay)

 

“By swift boat to November” Rutland Daily Herald, 25 August 2004 (Political op-ed)

 

“October,” The Twelve Seasons of Vermont (A Vermont Life Book), 2004. (Essay)

 

“Long day’s journey to now” Rutland Daily Herald, 20 October 2004 (Political op-ed)

 

“Benning Wentworth: Brief Life of a Colonial Grandee: 1696-1770” Harvard Magazine, November/December 2004 (History/Biography)

 

Newfane Remembers: At home in the great outdoors” Brattleboro Reformer, February 2, 2005 (Local History)

 

“Flimflam about ‘ownership’” Rutland Daily Herald, 10 February 2005 (Political op-ed)

 

“The culture of life (your life)” Rutland Daily Herald, 30 March 2005 (Political op-ed)

 

Newfane Remembers: Williamsville’s stores” Brattleboro Reformer, August 1, 2005 (Local History)

 

“The Cat and the Community,” Vermont Life, Autumn 2005 (Essay)

 

‘How to defend the indefensible” Rutland Daily Herald, 19 July 2006 (Political op-ed)

 

“Walls in the Woods” Northern New England Journey vol. 12, no. 5, September/October 2006 (Essay)

 

“Class warfare for beginners,” Rutland Daily Herald, 23 November 2006 (Political op-ed)

 

“The Price of a View,” Yankee, March/April 2007 (Essay) Reprinted in IOU: New Writings on Money, (Ron Slate, ed., Concord, Mass., The Concord Free Press, 2010).

 

“Wendell Phillips: Brief Life of an Aristocratic Rebel: 1811-1884” Harvard Magazine, May/June 2007 (History/biography)

 

Newfane Remembers: Williamsville’s Old Basket Factory,” The Original Vermont Observer, May 11, 2007 (Local History)

 

“Four Maples,” Vermont Life, Autumn 2007 (Essay)

 

Book Review: Searching for Thoreau, by Tom Slayton, Northern New England Journey, vol. 14, no. 4, July/August 2008 (Brief review)

 

“The Matter of an Old Barn,” Yankee, January-February 2009 (Essay)

 

“Traces of Others” Vermont Life, Spring 2009 (“Vermont Observed” essay)

 

“Brush Piling” Vermont Life, Summer 2009 (“Vermont Observed” essay)

 

“Bright Bird” (the ruffed grouse), Northern New England Journey, Vol. 15, No. 4 (July/August 2009) (Essay)

 

“On the Supreme Court,” Vermont Public Radio Commentary, 29 June, 2009 (radio broadcast editorial)

 

“The Boundary Brook,” Vermont Life, Autumn 2009 (Essay)

 

“Simplicity Achieved,” Vermont Life, Autumn 2009 (“Vermont Observed” Essay)

 

“The civility wars,” Vermont Public Radio Commentary, 1 October 2009 (radio broadcast editorial)

 

“Capturing Mosby’s Pants” Vermont Public Radio Commentary, 24 November 2009 (radio broadcast for Thanksgiving series on family stories)

 

“In the Glass Workshop,” Simon Pearce Winter 2009 (Promotional piece and catalogue for Simon Pearce glassmakers, Quechee, Vermont)

 

“Wild Kingdom,” Vermont Life, Winter 2009-2010 (“Vermont Observed” essay)

 

“A Place in Mind” (regular department) on Central Park, New York, Northern Woodlands, vol. 16, No. 4, Winter 2009 (Essay)

 

“The Earth Belongs to the Living,” Vermont Life, Spring 2010 (“Vermont Observed” essay)

 

“Accidentals,” Northern New England Review, vol. 32. April 2010.

 

“Mark Twain Anniversary,” Vermont Public Radio Commentary, 19 April 2010 (Radio broadcast on Twain)

 

“The Lost Wardsboro Road,” Vermont Life, Summer 2010 (“Vermont Observed” essay)

 

“Gardener Emeritus,” Vermont Life, Autumn 2010 (“Vermont Observed” essay)

 

“On the Cuff” Vermont Public Radio Commentary, 20 August 2010 (radio broadcast)

 

“Trees and Presidents,” Vermont Life, Winter 2010-2011 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“Small World,” Vermont Life, Spring 2011 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“Home Improvement,” Vermont Life, Summer 2011 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“History Lost and Found,” Vermont Life, Autumn 2011 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“Low Tide in the Hills,” Yankee, November-December 2011 (Essay)

 

“Cold Comfort,” Vermont Life, Winter 2011-2012 (“Vermont Observed”).

 

“A Winter Storm Tells a Story to Remember,” Yankee, January-February 2012 (Essay)

 

“A Contradiction in the Mind,”  Vermont Life, Spring 2012 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“On Howard Frank Mosher,” New England Review Digital, 10 May 2012 (Brief appreciation of HFM’s 1977 novel, DISAPPEARANCES)

 

“Summer Visitors,” Vermont Life, Summer 2012 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“A is for Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple),” Yankee, September-October 2012 (Essay)

 

“Surrounded by Books,” Vermont Life, Autumn 2012 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“Heat and Warmth,” Vermont Life, Winter 2012-2013 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“Robert Frost and the Invention of Vermont,” Rutland Herald Vermont Sunday Magazine, February 2, 2013 (Essay)

 

“The Lord and the Landfill,” Vermont Life, Spring 2013 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“Attending to the Task,” Vermont Life, Summer 2013 (“Vermont Observed”)

 

“Edward Everett: Brief Life of a Statesman-Orator: 1794-1865,” Harvard Magazine November-December 2013 (History/Biography)

 

“Winter in the Village,” Yankee, January/February 2014 (Essay)

 

“Francis Parkman: Brief Life of America’s Epic Historian: 1823-1893,” Harvard Magazine September-October 2014 (History-Biography)

 

“The Single Soldier,” Yankee, February-March 2015

 

“Green Chunks, Long Thoughts,” Northern Woodlands, Vol. 23, No. 3 Autumn 2016 (Essay)

 

“Easy Wood,” Northern Woodlands, Vol. 24, No. 3, Autumn 2017