King of the Mountain

by Pete Fromm

Eighteen stories deal with people's relationship to nature, including a first-time hunter, a hunting accident, a fisherman and his deaf brother, and a college boy's difficult relationship with his alcoholic father

2 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1994

About the author

Pete Fromm is a five time winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Literary Award for his novels IF NOT FOR THIS, AS COOL AS I AM and HOW ALL THIS STARTED, a story collection, DRY RAIN, and the memoir, INDIAN CREEK CHRONICLES. The film of AS COOL AS I AM, starring Claire Danes, James Marsden, and Sarah Bolger was released in 2013. He is the author of four other short story collections and has published over two hundred stories in magazines. He is on the faculty of Oregon’s Pacific University’s Low-Residency MFA Program, and lives in Montana with his family.

http://www.petefromm.com

Reviews

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories, published in 1992, are all based on various hunting and fishing adventures. The best ones were the ones where the adventure allowed insight into the main character. Examples include "Mixed Shot where a hunter accidentally kills another hunter, successfully leaves the area without being detected and creates an alibi only to get home and face his personal responsibility."Flyways"is about a middle aged son who moved to California with his mom after a divorce and reconnects with his Montana dad during a hunting trip."Megadethed" is about a father convincing his rebellious son to join him on a turkey hunt which is a backdrop to their changing relationship. "Harper" is a testament to one hunter's perception of "real hunting" vs weekend beer drinking,sitting in a blind hunting, with the clear analogies to similar differences in life

There were also stories that were just plain fun. "First Time Out" recounts a hunter's wife joining her husband on a duck hunting trip with hilarious results that ensure that it will be her only trip. That woman's experience though is countered by other stories where the woman's hunting/fishing's passion and skills surpasses her husbands such as "Residents"

While Fromm is a great writer and many of the stories are more than simply hunting and fishing stories, reading all of them in the same collection did tend to become somewhat repititive. I think Fromm is better read when reading the diverse nature of his range of stories

[Kalena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction; short-story/2nd book read by this author. First, I feel compelled to disclose that I do not like short stories in general. There were a handful of stories that really made me think and there were those that really just passed the time. Having said that, I loved Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness and look forward to reading The Names of the Stars: A Life in the Wilds. I would also like to mention that went to a book reading by the author in Great Falls this past November and he is even funnier in person.