The doorbell rang on a cold windy day in the depths of midwinter covid-19 lockdown in 2021. No one from outside had been to our house, or rung the bell since before the plague began. I peeked through a window. A young man was carrying a large bag of something heavy. I opened the door a bit and he spoke.
“You probably don’t wanna buy a book, do you?” He sounded discouraged and was already turning to walk away. Sharp teeth of winter wind carried a heavily warned winter storm on this day. I didn’t see a car parked nearby, so he’d been carrying those books some distance.
“What kind of book?” I asked. I fully expected it to be religious or political propaganda. I wondered to which organization he gave such dedication to be out in defiance of the elements and the covid.
“It’s a mystery-suspense book set here in Weld County,” he said. “I wrote it.” My ears perked up. He said it was set in one of the old school buildings east of Greeley, with cast of international characters providing action, adventure and mystery. Sort of a spy thriller.
I knew exactly which school building he was talking about. I had been there to do an interview of an interesting character when I worked for a local newspaper in the area, years ago. I wondered if his characters were anywhere as weird as the guy I had interviewed out there.
With a $20 bill and a pen to sign the book, the deal was done. Twenty was more than the price he was asking, but I figured he deserved a tip for trudging his load of books up a cold winter street in the face of a Colorado blizzard AND a pandemic. Now, murder mysteries and spy thrillers normally aren’t my first choice of reading material, but I wanted to see what the local story was with the creepy old schoolhouse. He must have been either really dedicated to his book, or really desperate for the cash already sunk into publishing costs. I hoped it was not the latter.
The Midnight Oil Bookstore in Greeley describes the story, “A Weld County Confinement,” by Drew White.
In the early 1970s a covert experiment with six criminally insane subjects occurred. Can anyone survive the retribution? Will anyone receive redemption?
— Books at Midnight
The Greeley bookstore says this title is out of stock right now, but my search found it on Goodreads, Kindle, Amazon and a writer support page on Facebook. The Greeley Tribune reviews it here, and tells a bit more about the author, who was inspired by Stephen King.
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Speaking of pandemic lockdown and Stephen King, around that same time, I decided to find the uncut edition of Stephen King’s classic pandemic horror, “The Stand.” It was around about 1500 pages and took several months to read. That was not reading it straight through, but in bits and bites that worked around life and the challenges of surviving the reality of a pandemic. Amazon packages spent a week in quarantine on a table in the garage before coming in the house. Partway through that book, I put it down for several months just because the protagonist did something so INCREDIBLY stupid, I was furious at King for writing that! Eventually, I returned to finish it, but I don’t need to read it again. Much of “The Stand” was set in Boulder, the place to which survivors of the deadly disease outbreak migrated from all over the country. Since I went to graduate school and worked on research in Boulder, the science scenarios, the primitive traversing of rough country and timing of reading that through the worst winter of covid certainly made it one I will never forget. It was not an easy or fast read. It was passed on to a used bookstore. Whampus in Loveland is a great one. Check it out if you haven’t been there.
Another Stephen King book set in Colorado was “The Shining.” The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park features this story in many events and tours. After reading this book, I was inspired to attend one of their Halloween costume balls based on that story. My photos from that are mostly smudged and blurry colored lights in a dark ballroom, so I’ll spare you those. I have yet to take one of their ghost tours or stay in room 217. Intrepid visitors who are determined to stay in that particular room need to book it a couple of years in advance. Alas, no one in my family was willing to sign up for that adventure. Instead, we rented a cabin across from the hotel and commuted to and from the ballroom events. Rent and food were cheaper that way, and a solitary cabin was much quieter than the teeming crowds at the hotel. We had a full view of the Stanley from our cabin’s front porch, so it was the best of both worlds.
Who do you know in our state who has written a book? Which books set in Colorado are your favorites? What is your favorite Colorado bookstore? Give us the details, so we can enjoy them, too!