Mud City Press

Recent books by Dan Armstrong

QUICKSAND: When three young women at the same high school in Eugene, Oregon commit suicide in little over a year, many in the community connect the suicides with the stress of getting good grades for admission to elite colleges. While the local police department treats the suicides as individual cases of emotional breakdown, Travis Hardy and his friend Steve Kelly, both sophomores at the high school, discover evidence that the suicides are more than what they seem and are intimately connected. Instead of going directly to the police, Travis and Steve decide to investigate the three suicides themselves, hoping to find proof for what they believe is a triple murder. Read more about the novel.; Available from Mud City Press or at Amazon.com.

SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a novel based on the fourteenth century romantic poem by the same title. The poem is considered one of the gems of medieval English literature and tells one of the many stories that make up the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Sir Gawain, King Arthur's nephew, gets ensnared in a murderous game of life and death trying to defend the honor of his royal uncle. When it becomes clear that Gawain is the likely loser of this game, Gawain must weigh the meaning of death against the meaning of honor with his own life in the balance. Read more about the novel.; Available from Mud City Press or at Amazon.com.

THE JEWEL CASE: The Jewel Case is a historical novel based on the life of Ida Bauer (1882-1945), the young Austrian woman at the center of one of Sigmund Freud's most controversial works,Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. Ida is Dora. Sigmund Freud's analysis of Ida Bauer is a landmark case in this era of misunderstood women feeling the allure of a burgeoning women's movement. Oppressed by her philandering father and a neurotic mother, then placed under the microscope of Freud's consulting room, Ida provides a dark reflection of her times and an important commentary on the early days of psychoanalysis. Read more about the novel.; Available from Mud City Press or at Amazon.com.

BLAKE COLLEGE: It's Eugene, Oregon 1970. Anti-war demonstrations and violence at the University of Oregon share the headlines with the Oregon track team, led by their fabled coach Bill Bowerman and star runner Steve Prefontaine. At the same time, Eugene is becoming a magnet for a generation of young people headed west, seeking a new American dream in the blossoming counterculture of long hair, free love, and psycho-activating drugs. A small group of young visionaries decide to start an experimental college in an old Victorian house in north Eugene. William Blake College, school without walls, is dedicated to giving its students tools for living in the new world–meditation, yoga, organic gardening, and communal living. Two women, Rain Adams and Adrienne Stephens, provide the inspiration to get the school up and running, but before the completion of its first year, one of the students is accused of bombing two buildings at the U of O. Read more abou the novel.; Read review of BLAKE COLLEGE in December 12,2019 edition of Eugene Weekly.; Listen to interview of Dan Armstrong about BLAKE COLLEGE on KBOO radio's Between the Covers.; Available from Mud City Press, Amazon.com, or in Eugene at Tsunami Books.

THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES TRILOGY

BOOK ONE: THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE– A Novel by Dan Armstrong: Rome is deep into its second long war with Carthage. The Roman General Marcus Claudius Marcellus lays siege to the Carthaginian controlled city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily, home of the famous engineer and inventor Archimedes. Three times the Roman forces are turned away like toy soldiers by Archimedes' war machines. Unwilling to concede, Marcellus blockades the city determined to starve Syracuse into submission. Paperback or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.
BOOK TWO: THE DEATH OF MARCELLUS– A Novel by Dan Armstrong: Rome's second war with Carthage is in its eighth year. Hannibal's army, yet to know defeat, roams the Italian peninsula ravaging the farmland and pressuring Latin cities. Marcus Claudius Marcellus, just back from his siege of Syracuse, demands that the Roman Senate give him an army to confront Hannibal and force him out of Italy. Over the next two years, Marcellus and his two legions chase after Hannibal's army in a subtle game of cat and mouse. Three times the two armies clash with no decisive outcome. Facing recall in Rome for his inability to defeat Hannibal, Marcellus vows before the People's Assembly to destroy Hannibal's army in the coming spring. Paperback or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.
BOOK THREE: ZAMA– A Novel by Dan Armstrong: Thirteen years have passed since Hannibal's invasion of Italy, and he's still there, plundering the farmland and terrorizing the inhabitants. Publius Cornelius Scipio, recently back from casting the Carthaginians out of Spain, now wants a chance at Hannibal. Fighting strong resistance in the Roman Senate, Scipio demands an opportunity to invade Africa and besiege Carthage, promising this will force Hannibal to leave Italy and come to the rescue of his homeland. Paperback or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.

CORNELIA: THE FIRST WOMAN OF ROME: The written history of Rome is nearly devoid of exceptional women. Among the few who are mentioned, Cornelia Sciponis stands out. Born to one of Rome's most prestigious families, Cornelia is remembered as the first Roman woman intellectual of note and as the mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, both controversial populist politicians of the late Republic. Paperback and kindle are available. Read more about the novel.; See excellent review and interview of the author at John Henderson's blog from Rome THE DOG-EARED PASSPORT: John Henderson's Adventures in Travel and Food.; CORNELIA picked in top ten books about Italy.

NEW INTERVIEW OF DAN ARMSTRONG: Gerry Fialka of Probably Wrong About Everything interviews Dan Armtrong of Mud City Press on YouTube, January 20, 2023.
A CONVERSATION WITH KEN BABBS: Listen to audio file: Dan Armstrong, owner and webmaster of Mud City Press, talks with Ken Babbs, Merry Pranster and author, about his new book CRONIES: Adventures with Ken Kesey, Neal Cassady, the Merry Pranksters, and the Greatful Dead.
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL OF SPACESHIP EARTH: We enter the twenty-first century facing several critical global management issues. Concerns about carbon dioxide emissions, petroleum depletion, the extinction of plant and animal species, a growing human population, loss of arable land, water rights, and increasing quantities of toxins in the environment top the list. Asleep at the Wheel of Spaceship Earth addresses these issues through five perspectives, climate, energy, community, global food resources, and economics, providing an overview and several in depth articles on each.
PLASTIC: An Autobiography: "PLASTIC," writes Frank Kaminski, "is a beautifully written, intricate mosaic that weaves memoir, poetry, cultural and scientific history, chemistry, biography, etymology, journalistic reportage and self-reflection into a penetrating rumination on humanity's relationship with plastic."
POWER: Limits and Prospects for Human Survival: Frank Kaminski reviews Richard Heinberg's new book POWER.
THE UNTOLD STORY OF CATASTOPHIC FOREST FIRES: Catastrophic fires are raging through the American West. Joshua Smith offers insights and solutions to coping with and minimizing these fires. Read more.
BROKEN GLASS, BROKEN TRUST: "There is no way of knowing, only uncertainty as dark as our lawn at three in the morning."–Award-winning Oregon writer ROBERT LEO HEILMAN reflects on the recent acts of violence targeting him and his family in Douglas County.
MY OCTOPUS TEACHER: MY OCTOPUS TEACHER is both a gorgeous wildlife documentary and a moving tale of how a man in crisis found joy and purpose through his immersion in nature and a remarkable relationship with an octopus.
BREAKING BOUNDARIES: The Science of Our Planet: "BREAKING BOUNDARIES," writes Frank Kaminski, "is a well-intentioned but ill-conceived documentary about the ecological destruction currently being wrought by industrial humanity."
CONTAGION: "When the medical thriller movie Contagion came out in 2011," writes Frank Kaminski, "it was widely praised for its realistic portrayal of a global pandemic scenario. In recent weeks, as the real-life outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread around the world, there's been a surge of renewed interest in the film."
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence: Michael Pollan's latest book, HOW TO CHANGE YOUR MIND, reopens the discussion of psychedelic drugs, including commentary on Pollan's own experiences with mushrooms, LSD, and DMT. Dan Armstrong reviews this fascinating book by one of the world's most respected science writers.
CHASING CORAL: A Documentary Film Review: "By raising sea temperatures, climate change is eradicating the world's coral. Because coral reefs provide sustenance and protection to vast numbers of humans and marine organisms," writers reviewer Frank Kaminsky, "it would be a big deal for them to go extinct. The El Niño that lasted from 2014 to 2017 caused a global-scale mass coral bleaching event of unprecedented severity, which damaged a majority of coral reefs around the world. The makers of Chasing Coral managed to document this calamity. Their film is a love letter to an astonishing group of disappearing animals, an elegy to the scores of these animals that have vanished thus far and a wake-up call to humanity."
THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEAN AND GRAIN PROJECT (Index): We hear the slogan "eat local" over and over again, but what does it really mean? It's more than just eating fresher food. It's about preserving local food systems. It's about food security and common sense management of the pantry. Here in Oregon's Willamette Valley we have the agricultural potential to feed the valley residents twice over. And yet we grow rye grass and fescue for grass seed and ninety-five percent of what we eat in this fertile valley is imported. With the price of fossil fuels on the rise, this makes no agricultural or economic sense at all. Harry MacCormack of Sunbow Farm in Corvallis, Oregon has conceived a plan to turn this around. The Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project is a step by step strategy to rebuild a local food system, using organic beans and grains as the foundation.
THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEAN AND GRAIN PROJECT (Project Report Twenty-one: 2014-2015): This is the second Bean and Grain report on field trials designed to explore the potentioal of growing quinoa as a staple crop in the Willamette Valley.
DAN ARMSTRONG AND HARRY MACCORMACK INTERVIEWED ON PEAK MOMENT TV: The Yuba Girls came up to Corvallis a while back and did this great video interview with Dan Armstrong and Harry MacCormack. Dan talks about his novel PRAIRIE FIRE and Harry gives perspective on the Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project.
RELOCALIZING EDEN: A region's capacity to produce, process, and distribute some significant portion of its own food has always been a measure of social and economic stability, but as we face the unknowns of peak oil and climate change, securing local food resources will become one of our highest priorities. Oregon's Willamette Valley provides an excellent case-study for the relocalization to a food system.
BIG MELT MEETS BIG EMPTY: RETHINKING THE IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND PEAK OIL: This excellent article by Richard Heinberg provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship of climate change to peak oil and how various proposed plans to deal with one effect the other.
REVISITING THE LIMITS OF GROWTH: Could the Club of Rome have been correct, after all?: This is an energy policy white paper written in October of 2000 by Matthew R. Simmons. In the next year, Simmons would be a member of the Bush-Cheney Energy Transition Advisory Committee and the Independent Task Force on Strategic Energy Policy. Let there be no doubt that peak oil was a critical part of all energy discussions in the Cheney-Bush White House and a central factor behind the invasion of Iraq. Video Clip: Matthew Simmons on CNBC 3/7/2008
JOURNAL OF NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGES AND TEACHERS OF AGRICULTURE REVIEWS PRAIRIE FIRE: "PRAIRIE FIRE," writes Charles Francis of the Department of Agronomy at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, "is more than a totally engaging story that captivates the reader as if it were a Dan Brown suspense adventure. It reflects careful research and analysis of a modern-day systemic problem in the global food system, and provides a strong political statement that questions the organization of our most important industry as well as our basic values." Read this review or other reviews of Dan Armstrong's novels.
CALIFORNIA GRANGE REVIEWS PRAIRIE FIRE!: "What happens when enough grain farmers across America, especially the Midwest, decide that the convoluted structure of the economic system between the small, independent family farmer and the end-user is unfair?" asks Lanny Cotler in his review of Dan Armstrong's novel PRAIRIE FIRE in the California Grange's Newsletter. "That's the beginning of PRAIRIE FIRE," Cotler continues, "and while it takes you back to the thrilling days of yester-year–when farmers all across America rose up and formed, out of necessity, the National Grange of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry!–it also pulls you hard into the crisis felt by small and medium-sized farmers today." Read this review or other reviews of Dan Armstrong's novels.

LANE COUNTY LOCAL FOOD MARKET ANALYSIS: The Community Planning Workshop at the University of Oregon spent eight months in 2010 researching and writing a local food market analysis for Lane County. This work was funded by the City of Eugene, Lane County, and the Eugene Water and Electric Board and was made public in the fall of 2010. The Lane County Local Food Market Analysis now serves as Lane County's most complete evaluation of our local food system. The entire document is available here as a pdf.
THE HISTORY OF THE PARK BLOCKS IN DOWNTOWN EUGENE, OREGON: This webpage contains a collection of legal documents and maps pertaining to the Eugene Skinner and Charnel Mulligan land donations to Lane County in 1856 and the creation of the Park Blocks in downtown Eugene.
BUY A BOOK: Mud City Press currently has nine books for sale. These books, eight written by Dan Armstrong, represent the literary foundation of Mud City Press. We recommend buying a book as the best way to support this website. Click on title for synopsis. All books available in Kindle format. Note (R) rating for adult material.; CHAIN OF SOULS by Dan Armstrong: It's the first year of India's independence from England. The creation of two nations, India for the Hindus, Pakistan for the Muslims, has become a nightmare of ethnic clashes and terrorism. Just as the violence is showing signs of easing, Gandhi is assassinated. With the entire subcontinent teetering on the edge of chaos, Roger Taylor, an American working for the British intelligence service, is called on to defuse a series of death fasts protesting the partition of India. When Taylor arrives in the sacred city of Haridwar to confront the protesters, he encounters a woman who completely disarms him with her goodwill and depth of spirit. What begins as a political mission for Taylor unexpectedly becomes a life-changing glimpse into the workings of the wheel of life and death. Hardcopy or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.; THE OPEN SECRET AND TWELVE TALES OF THE UNKNOWN is a collection of short stories by Dan Armstrong. Hardcopy or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.; PRAIRIE FIRE by Dan Armstrong: The human and environmental costs of industrial farming have finally caught up with America's family farmers. Instead of throwing in the hoe, farmers across the Heartland rise up against the combine, threatening to burn their crops rather than continue the petrochemical assault on the land. Hardcopy or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.; PUDDLE OF LOVE by Dan Armstrong: At times comic, at times desperately serious, this psycho-thriller pushes the edge with a haunting grope into human sexuality. No holds barred pulp fiction with a dark Freudian twist. (R) Hardcopy or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.; BOTANICAL TREASURES by Josha Smith: Our task today is to reinvent society so that it is co-evolutionary with the rest of nature. Management of our natural resources in an efficient and sustainable manner is vital to this vision. Botanical Treasures lays the foundation for such a transformation by detailing a form of nature-based renewable economics that has been all but lost in this age of technology. The forty-five species of plants profiled in this book have the potential to produce a wide range of raw materials for a variety of products and uses. Some can be grown on marginal land where little else can grow. Some contribute valuable functions to agroecology, have medicinal properties, or act as important sources for food. Think of Botanical Treasures as a users' guide for planet Earth. Hard copy available. BUY A BOOK.; TAMING THE DRAGON by Dan Armstrong: When a warm winter cuts deeply into the Himalayan snowpack, water shortages stress all of Asia; but in no place is the situation more problematic than at China's Three Gorges Dam. Hardcopy or kindle available. BUY A BOOK.
MUD BLOG: Mud City Press adds more hot air to the blogosphere. Current blog: GEOENGINEERING: ONE RISK VERSUS ANOTHER
SHORT STORIES: In-house writer Dan Armstrong offers readers five pieces of short fiction.
BOOK REVIEWS: Our literary editor takes a look at books old and new, hoping to inspire a read or offer a new perspective.
THE WORK OF WILLIAM H. KÖTKE: Mud City Press provides access to the visionary work of William H. Kötke, including reviews of his books and several of his most recent articles.
MUD CITY PRESS ARCHIVES: Mud City Press's online magazine maintains this archive of past blogs.
CONTACT MUD CITY PRESS: Send us an e-mail. Pat us on the back. Straighten us out. Tells us your thoughts.
SPECIAL THANKS TO MARK HENSON AND SACRED LIGHT STUDIOS: Mud City Press has included six excellent paintings by Mark to enhance the ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL OF SPACESHIP EARTH section of this website.
SPECIAL THANKS TO MARTINA HOFFMAN: Mud City Press has used four of Martina's visionary paintings to illustrate THE FORTUNE TELLER'S FORTUNE, a short story by Dan Armstrong

About Mud City Press

Recent books by Dan Armstrong

THE EYES OF ARCHIMEDES TRILOGY

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