Charles Harper Webb

Description:

In the fast-paced, sexy, and very scary literary thriller Ursula Lake, a husband and wife trying to save their marriage and a rock musician trying to get his career back on track find big trouble, natural and possibly supernatural, in the spellbinding wilds of British Columbia.

Former best friends Scott and Errol meet unexpectedly at Oso Lake, a remote Canadian fly-fishing paradise where, five years before, fresh out of college, they had the time of their lives. Their situations, though, have changed, their high hopes quashed by workaday realities and, in Errol’s case, marriage to Claire, who has come with him trying to stave off divorce. But Oso Lake has changed. The fall before, a woman’s severed head was left in a campfire pit beside the lake. The shadow cast by her murder is darkened further by a fire-scarred white truck driver who claims to be a long-dead Native shaman and has plans to eradicate not only Scott, Errol, and Claire, but all of Western civilization. The beauty of the wilderness becomes, every day, more threatening and perverse. But the worst danger the vacationers face may be themselves.

ADVANCE PRAISE

“Nobody handles language like a poet. So whenever I see a novel written by a poet I admire, I know I’m in for a treat. Charles Harper Webb’s Ursula Lake is scary, emotionally wrenching, sexy, tender, and full of natural beauty. It’s also lively, fast-paced, and fun to read as it rips into the comforting lies that prop civilization up. In this novel, Webb shows why he’s won so many writing awards. Take my advice and plunge head-first into Ursula Lake.”
—Ron Koertge, author of Olympusville

“Ursula Lake is a rare novel that is equal parts lyrical and suspenseful. Charles Webb uses his poet’s voice to weave a haunting tale that marries the latent horrors of the natural world to the dark hearts of the humans who inhabit it.”
—Ivy Pochoda, author of These Women

Description:

A Million MFAs Are Not Enough takes aim at the dullness that has cost poetry its general audience, and scores a direct hit. This collection of essays by Charles Harper Webb, the man called “Southern California’s most inventive and accessible poet” shows how American poetry has betrayed the general reader, and how poets can win those readers back with poems that, like the best fiction, grab the reader and hold on.

Something is rotten in the state of American poetry. With respect to audience and artistry, poetry has shot itself in many portions of its anatomy, and keeps blasting. The fact that vast numbers of poems are published every year, and a large number of Creative Writing students and graduates combine to read a few of them, does not mean that poetry is on the right track. As an acclaimed poet and veteran teacher of poetry, Charles Harper Webb knows what it takes for a poem to grab a reader’s attention and hold on. As a former rock singer/guitarist and a licensed psychotherapist, he understands how to connect with an audience. A Million MFAs Are Not Enough shows–with concrete tips that working writers can use–how poetry can return to cultural relevance again. He champions poems that enlighten as they entertain–as these extraordinary essays do.

Description:

Charles Harper Webb’s eccentric and distinct writing style makes this collection of poetry a funny and charmingly memorable read. A melting pot of pop culture, historical references, and everyday life, Webb’s poems are refreshingly candid and straightforward.