“The Grizzle Peninsula…remains as uninviting as ever, and the question becomes, who will make it and who won’t?”
“ This is a book with a big bleating heart at the center of this frigid, fearful world.”
“Frank Haberle’s lively storytelling and vibrant language highlight this unlikely quest into the wilderness you won’t soon forget.”
About Downlanders
Welcome to Grizzletown, off the grid on the end of the Grizzle Peninsula, Alaska. Once a fishing village with a packing plant or two, by the 1980s it has been cut off to the world by a volcano and indifference.
For disconnected young people living “downland,” the Grizzle Peninsula exerts a powerful pull for people looking to commune with nature, escape a dicey situation, or simply leave civilization behind.
Ernie is one such young person, and with his sort of girlfriend Eva, off they go to the wilderness. Soon their relationship is more than strained: Eva seeming stays around for lack of a better plan while Ernie dreams of more than a few ice cold beers.
Chief runs out of luck in the city and needs to get away. Far away. But Chief is the architect of his own problems, and the farther he goes, the more trouble seems to be catching up.
On a whim, Danny follows a woman to the Grizzle Peninsula. Theoretically she’s doing some surveying work, but that turns out to be a bust. Luckily, he lands on his feet with a job as a forest service park attendant.
Fiona Gallagher is similarly lost. A crash course in being a game warden seems to offer her direction. Unfortunately, that direction points her to teaming up with Danny and chasing Chief across the Grizzle Peninsula.
All five of their fates will be decided in Grizzletown.
About the author
Downlanders is Frank Haberle’s second book; his first novel, Shufflers, is about minimum wage transients during the Reagan era. Over the last 20 years Frank’s short stories have been featured in multiple collections and they have won awards from Pen Parentis (2011), Beautiful Loser Magazine (2017) the Sustainable Arts Foundation (2013) and the Rose Warner Prize for Fiction (2021). Frank is a volunteer workshop leader for the nonprofit NY Writers Coalition. He lives in Brooklyn and works in The Bronx. More about Frank’s writing can be found on his website www.frankhaberle.com
A Q&A WITH THE AUTHOR OF DOWNLANDERS, FRANK HABERLE
Read an essay by the author about how Downlanders came about in Necessary Fiction
A portion of the proceeds of Downlanders will be donated to the Creative Center for Health and Healing at University Settlement, dedicated to bringing the arts to people with cancer and chronic illnesses, as well as their families and medical staff.