Books by Herb Curtis

An invasion? For teenagers Dryfly Ramsey and Shadrack Nash, poor and ignorant in the world's terms but rich in the lore of the magical Miramichi, the annual influx of American anglers, with their money, fishing gear, and thirst for salmon seems like one. A cast of quirky, unforgettable characters -- Nutbeam, a large-nosed, floppy-eared hermit; Shirley, Brennan Siding's toothless postmistress and Ramsey family matriarch; and Buck, who appears once a year to sire another child -- conspire to capture the imagination in Herb Curtis's now classic novel. In The Americans Are Coming, the voices of Brennan Siding ring out in the rich vernacular of New Brunswick's Miramichi region, a world immersed in myth, folklore, and the sulpherous belch of a nearby pulp mill -- where ghosts and demons are as real as the Lone Ranger or the spring run of gaspereaux.

Brennen Siding, a hamlet on a tributary of the famous Miramichi River, is home to an unforgettable crew -- teenagers Shadrack Nash and Dryfly Ramsey and their families, friends, and neighbours. Hilda Porter, Shad's elderly employer, treasures the story of Trucanini, the last Tasmanian, while the invasion of TV, Elvis, and rich American salmon fishermen influences everything, including Shad and Dry's escapades. Are they, like Hilda and Trucanini, the last of their kind? The Last Tasmanian is the second volume in the humorous yet poignant Brennen Siding Trilogy.

Luther Corhern's boss at the Salmon Camp, an angler's paradise on the Miramichi River, decides that his sports would enjoy a log: a fishing record embellished with yarns. Lute's the natural choice to man the old Remington. Lute is a dreamer. Especially off-season, his mind ranges in all directions: a computer that sends letters from the future, the curative power of salt herring tied to the feet, golf, and Christmas. But every topic leads back to the salmon and the mystical river that's home to man and fish alike.

In The Silent Partner, Herb Curtis stakes out new fictional territory: Silver Rapids, a twenty-minute drive from Brennen Siding and twenty years after the famous Brennen Siding trilogy. One bitter winter day, motherless young Corry Quinn loses half of his tongue on a railway spike; he will never speak clearly again. Then his Toronto-bound father deposits him with his Uncle Kid, a greying hippie. Strange to say, these disasters improve Corry's life. Kindred spirits, he and Kid grow up together, sharing tragicomic adventures involving girls, fish, and the perhaps extinct eastern cougar. Finally, inspired by Sally Nutbeam -- now a strapping beauty -- Corry abandons the last shred of self-pity to become a man with a voice.

Brennen Siding, a hamlet near the famous Miramichi River, is home to an unforgettable crew -- Dryfly and Palidin Ramsey and Dry's friend Shadrack Nash; Shirley Ramsey, Dry and Pal's homely, destitute mother; Nutbeam, the floppy-eared hermit she marries; the American sports visiting the Cabbage Island Salmon Club; and the "lads" who guide them. Dry, Shad, and Pal, young teenagers in The Americans Are Coming, make some headway into maturity in The Last Tasmanian. By the end of The Lone Angler, Palidin realizes what will happen to his beloved Atlantic salmon if he sells his secret of catching a fish on every cast, and all three boys have launched themselves into adulthood. Running through the trilogy are the magical river, the legendary salmon, and the feelings they evoke about the nature of humans and the place of humans in nature.