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GONE
240 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2024
3 people want to read
About the author
Steven Law
20 books25 followersSteven Law comes from a family of story tellers that inspired him with both folklore and the written word, all which derived from their pioneer days to the novels of Mark Twain and Laura Ingalls Wilder. During college Steven felt inspired to write his first novel, which a constant busy schedule forced him to put on hold. After receiving a bachelors degree in business administration Steven spent several years in corporate America, and he also nearly completed a master's degree in business education. Increasingly disenchanted with his career and course work, he dropped out of graduate school to devote his life to writing. While struggling to make a name for himself Steven has worked as a community newspaper reporter, a columnist, and a freelance Web publicist for writers and writing organizations. For over twelve years he has worked with several acclaimed authors, such as New York Times best-seller Stephen Harrigan, New York Times columnist Peter Applebome, award-winning novelist, singer, songwriter, Mike Blakely, and the late Elmer Kelton. He also works as a Web publicist for Western Writers of America and The Alamo Society.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 2, 2025
To enter the wild’s waters, deserts and trails of Gone, by Steven Law, is to undertake a journey into reverence and awe, a passage into the lands that Law loves and holds sacred. Law is a poet and his lyric language is captivating: snow is a parchment where coyote, rabbit and elk leave signatures of tracks. Ice has the crust of a crème brulee. Beetles make tracks across dunes that resemble zippers. Readers are instructed on the geology and botany of deserts, mountains and rivers in the American southwest, as well as in British Columbia’s wild waters where Law embarks on a kayaking adventure through pods of orcas, storms and mountain islands that appear as Japanese watercolors.
Law was a river guide on the Colorado river for years through the Grand Canyon, where his account of catapulting over Lava Falls to the edge of a deadly abyss called Ledgehole is rendered in terrifying detail. In the canyon we are also gifted with full sensory experiences: the soft sighs and blood-rush hisses of the magnificent Colorado and the sight of the constellation Orion traversing the sky with the seasons. He takes us to Rooms in the Sky among giant sandstone hoodoos in the Utah desert, a snowshoeing adventure in Yellowstone and to the Pacific coast, where he learns to surf by watching experienced surfers catch a wave, starting to anticipate those break points and standing up in stages on a wobbling board.
Steven Law is a pilgrim of the practice of mindfulness in the outdoors. He presents the reader with a series of epic journeys, both inside the soul and mind of the journeyer and through his physical exploration of the magnificent wild outdoors. Recognizing the transient nature of life, Law decides early that:
I wanted a life of maps and compasses, trails and rivers, snow and mud, flowery meadows and snowy fields. I wanted a Zippo and pocketknife, a pencil and notebook in my pockets. A hiking staff in my hand and a backpack on my back. Desert clarity and jungle vapor. Tents and campfires. Jeeps and Labradors. Frost-covered axe handles and dust-covered boots. And most of all, I wanted to achieve the ability to express those experiences in words.
Gone is the masterpiece he has achieved toward this goal. I have not felt this fed, calmed, thrilled or gratified by a memoir in a long time. Thank you, Steven Law, for the journeys, sacraments and revelations in this wonderful book.
by Tina Carlson
Author of A Guide To Tongue Tie Surgery
Winner of the NM/AZ 2024 book award for poetry
Law was a river guide on the Colorado river for years through the Grand Canyon, where his account of catapulting over Lava Falls to the edge of a deadly abyss called Ledgehole is rendered in terrifying detail. In the canyon we are also gifted with full sensory experiences: the soft sighs and blood-rush hisses of the magnificent Colorado and the sight of the constellation Orion traversing the sky with the seasons. He takes us to Rooms in the Sky among giant sandstone hoodoos in the Utah desert, a snowshoeing adventure in Yellowstone and to the Pacific coast, where he learns to surf by watching experienced surfers catch a wave, starting to anticipate those break points and standing up in stages on a wobbling board.
Steven Law is a pilgrim of the practice of mindfulness in the outdoors. He presents the reader with a series of epic journeys, both inside the soul and mind of the journeyer and through his physical exploration of the magnificent wild outdoors. Recognizing the transient nature of life, Law decides early that:
I wanted a life of maps and compasses, trails and rivers, snow and mud, flowery meadows and snowy fields. I wanted a Zippo and pocketknife, a pencil and notebook in my pockets. A hiking staff in my hand and a backpack on my back. Desert clarity and jungle vapor. Tents and campfires. Jeeps and Labradors. Frost-covered axe handles and dust-covered boots. And most of all, I wanted to achieve the ability to express those experiences in words.
Gone is the masterpiece he has achieved toward this goal. I have not felt this fed, calmed, thrilled or gratified by a memoir in a long time. Thank you, Steven Law, for the journeys, sacraments and revelations in this wonderful book.
by Tina Carlson
Author of A Guide To Tongue Tie Surgery
Winner of the NM/AZ 2024 book award for poetry
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