Julip

Daedalus favorite Jim Harrison was a poet, novelist, screenwriter, essayist, and master of the novella form, as evidenced in collections like Legends of the Fall and The Beast God Forgot to Invent. His deep sense of place and his gloriously imperfect characters shine—particularly the rascally Brown Dog, who shows up in most of Harrison's collections, skating through picaresque adventures around Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

The pull of nature links these novellas exploring tough questions about life and love. "Julip" follows a resourceful young woman trying to spring her brother from a Florida jail, after he shot three of her former lovers "below the belt." Brown Dog returns in "The Seven-Ounce Man," pursuing the better things in life—food, drink, and women—while sailing along in the bottom ten percent. "The Beige Dolorosa" is the tale of a middle-aged professor, ousted from academia for clinging to old male archetypes, who turns to the natural world for solace.