Joe Cottonwood

Clear Heart is a printed book, available with this link to Amazon, and an e-book available at this link, and an audiobook, which can be downloaded as a series of mp3 episodes.

The mp3 episodes are available as a free podcast at Podiobooks.com or you can get it from iTunes.

"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

"I LOVED this book. In fact, I couldn't put it down. It's about a 55 year old ex-hippy carpenter named Wally—and the interaction between true craftsmen, their good-natured joking, routines and habits (like sometimes getting too friendly with female clients). It's male bonding at its finest, filled with endearing characters and fast-paced, nail-biting mishaps. And it made me want to ask Wally: 'You hiring?'"—Kari Hesse, The Village Carpenter

"I just couldn’t put it down. It was a great read. Now I have met many of the people in Joe’s novel, quirky sub contractors, stupid clients and the like. I found myself (I believe for the first time) actually rooting for fictional characters. The book is gripping. It is a love story and so much more. I should also tell you that it is a book for adults. I wouldn’t have my (prude) sister read the book."—Stephen Shepherd, Full Chisel Blog

Read a sample of Clear Heart.

Learn more about Clear Heart.

Read a sample of Quake!

Based on true events: Franny, a fourteen-year-old living near the epicenter, experiences the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, also known as the World Series Quake. Houses collapse, Franny's next-door neighbor is trapped beneath a car, her parents are gone, gas tanks are exploding, her best friend is acting weird, and even her dog is missing. Has the world fallen apart?

"Fascinating detail . . . grippingly told." —Booklist

"Cottonwood spins his tale with great immediacy and power. Characters and relationships are multidimensional and convincing. Inspiring and thought-provoking." —School Library Journal

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

Read a sample of Babcock.

"Babcock's birth certificate has a blank space where his first name ought to be. His parents decided it would be up to him to choose his own name. But he can't, or won't, or doesn't bother. He has always been the sort of person who does his own thing, and he's a bit of a loner. His world is suddenly unstrung when he meets feisty Kirsten and is taken with her energy and directness. Little does he know that her mother will go to extreme lengths to sabotage their friendship, because Babcock is black and Kirsten is white. The boy's derelict Uncle Earl, a charming con-man, challenges his nephew's complacency and offers a new, fearless approach to life. This is a story about searching and changing. It is full of humor, hope, and bravery. The characters are richly drawn and the dialogue is fast paced, enticing, and downright witty. . . . Sure to be a hit." —School Library Journal

"Hilarious circumstances where you will laugh out loud and feel comfortable laughing because Babcock, his family, and friends are so likable. A very good novel with unforgettable characters." —Pick of the Lists

"My 12 year old son says this is the best book he ever read - and there's not one dragon or space alien - though there's a pretty scary salamander. Babcock explores the final frontier of boyhood - how to make friends with a girl. His family is real and engaging. As a grown-up I couldn't put it down."—Smashwords review

Read a sample of Danny Ain't.

I should've called it Danny Coyote because that's what the book is about: Danny, and a couple of coyotes who make friends with him. Danny's father blows a hole in the television with a rifle and then goes into a hospital for a while, leaving Danny to live alone in a trailer with no money and little food. That's when the coyotes start coming to visit. Coyotes are tricksters. Coyotes are clever survivors. So is Danny.

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.

Winner of BABRA award for Best Children's Book of 1992.

Summary: With the help of a couple of coyotes, Danny studies how to be proud not only of what he is, but also of what he ain't.

Instead of quoting reviews, here's the complete unedited text of a letter from a young man who lives in Iowa and had this to say about Danny:

Dear Mr. Cotten Wood,
I really like your book. I exspiecily like the way you explained It. I can't explain how you explained It. You explained It to good for words.
Sincerely,
Ian

Boone's soccer team is accused of thuggery and thrown out of the league. The town skinflint refuses to pay his pledge to the Trashathon. Boone's father is arrested on suspicion of burning down houses. The dogcatcher is after Boone's dog. The adult world doesn't seem fair, but Boone matches wits with it and tries to find answers that are neither black nor white but a satisfying shade of gray.

"Boone Barnaby, the narrator of this warmly engaging story, and his friends live in a run-down, near-coastal California town just across the mountain from the prosperous, Volvo-infested silicon valley where Boone's computer engineer father commutes to work. One of the book's most colorful characters is the soccer coach, who rides a Harley and fires his .44 magnum to start the team's trashathon fund raiser to clean up San Puerco. The town goose and a pack of dogs also play supporting roles, as does a redwood tree that looks over their small town and lends a helpful perspective. Hippies vs. yuppies, UFOs, discussions about the '60s draft, and drugs all enter into the mix as Boone and his friends struggle to find out what's fair - a theme that runs throughout the book. A book that is resplendent with humor, irony, thoughtful introspection, and well-paced plotting." —School Library Journal

"An engaging story with a lively, thoughtful-provoking cast." —Kirkus

"Like the smudged chrome of a truck-stop diner, Famous Potatoes is an element of a new American realism, and Cottonwood has made it an engaging trip." —Chicago Tribune

"Blessed with that wonderfully extravagant and original talent for telling tall tales, Joe Cottonwood weaves a whopper that catches you up and rockets you overland as Willy hitches himself on to one crazy adventure after another. . . Willy 'Crusoe' Middlebrook, anonymous fugitive, naive suburbanite, sexual suicide, husband on the run from Philadelphia and St. Louis to the sky-high Rockies of Idaho . . . " —Black Swan

"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

"Philadelphia may never be the same again." —Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Willie Middlebrook hitchhikes with all manner of 'potatoes'--truckers, salesmen, freaks: people hidden from the light of public notice like Willie himself, people with whom he really feels comfortable. Cottonwood [has] charm--wry, loping, never cute. And, even more crucial, there is Willie's (and Cottonwood's) genuine people-liking, which makes Willie's complications seem less dire; the troubled travels become just a nice excuse to meet more interesting folks. Laid-back--but not too much--and attractive." —Kirkus

"Mawkish . . . stupefying dullness and improbability." —New York Times (Yes, they really said that.)

Foreign editions: Germany (Amerika Querbeet), Holland (Een Ondergronds Bestaan), France (Les Tribulations de Willy Crusoe), Italy (Le Famose Patate), Sweden (Prima Potatisar), Great Britain (Famous Potatoes "by Joseph Cottonwood"), Israel, Japan.

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.

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

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

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

Mostly I write fiction, but all my life I've been a songwriter, too. Click on the picture for some samples.