Joe Cottonwood

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Selected Works

Books for grown-ups

Clear Heart
Working with your hands, you can clear your heart... "It's funny, very tender, and enormously, tremendously human. In fact, Clear Heart just might be one of the most human books I've read in a long time." —Colleen Mondor, Bookslut

Famous Potatoes
"An engaging picaresque novel of a young man on the run. A warm, well-told story of a likable character with a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time." —Publisher's Weekly

Short stories
Since no commercial publisher in a right mind will put out a book of short stories, I'm making mine available as PDF files that you can download to view on your screen or print out so you ...

Books for children

Quake!
"Cottonwood presents a terrifying geological phenomenon in accessible you-are-there terms." —Publishers Weekly

Babcock
Babcock, for reasons he can't explain, wants to be friends with a girl who is his complete opposite, as different as black and white.

Danny Ain't
If it is possible to have a cult book for young readers, this may be it. Based on the mail I receive, Danny hits certain boys in a big, big way.

The Adventures of Boone Barnaby
"A book that is resplendent with humor, irony, thoughtful introspection, and well-paced plotting." —School Library Journal

Songs

Some songs I've written
Mostly I write fiction, but all my life I've been a songwriter, too.

Short stories

Since no commercial publisher in a right mind will put out a book of short stories, I'm making mine available as PDF files that you can download to view on your screen or print out so you can enjoy in your favorite reading spot, which for me is the bathtub.

Here's a set of 3 stories about, of all things, my brief career Changing Light Bulbs.

Changing Light Bulbs (179.2KB)

And here's a story about my summer job on a farm called Eeden, Eureka, 1969.

Eeden, Eureka, 1969 (73.1KB)

Next, here's a set of 3 stories about my short career in crafting furniture while living on Cooley Avenue in East Palo Alto.

Cooley Avenue (154.6KB)

Print them out, draw a hot bath, relax, and read...