MICHAEL PERRY

In the 1990s, when he was a magazine freelancer hustling books off a card table at craft fairs, the mall, and out of his car trunk, Michael Perry self-published two books: Why They Killed Big Boy and Other Stories and Big Rigs Elvis, & the Grand Dragon Wayne. In 2005, after the success of Perrys book Population 485, Harper Perennial published Off Main Street, a collection of Perrys essays, magazine articles, and short fiction. Big Boys Big Rig: The Leftovers contains the 11 essays from Why They Killed Big Boy and Big Rigs, Elvis & the Grand Dragon Wayne that werent included in Off Main Street. This new collection includes fresh reflections and commentary written for each piece by Perry in 2020.

Tales from the Cincinnati Bearcats Locker Room covers 10 coaching eras, from former National Football League standout John Socko Wiethe (1946-52) to Mick Cronin, the Cincinnati native who returned to his alma mater in 2006 and resurrected the program. Former Cincinnati Enquirer sports editor Michael Perry, a former UC basketball beat reporter, interviewed more than 85 former players, coaches, recruits, and basketball staff members to deliver a comprehensive look inside the Bearcat basketball program.The book takes readers into locker rooms, practices, and game huddles as it recounts memorable moments and unforgettable games, including the Bearcats record-setting seven-overtime victory over Bradley in 1981; UCs controversial 24-11 loss to Kentucky in 1983; and that fateful day, March 9, 2000, when National Player of the Year Kenyon Martin lay crumpled on the basketball court in Memphis, Tennessee.Fans will also read about Hall of Famer Jack Twyman registering for classes at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1951 before deciding to attend Cincinnati; former coach Ed Badger hitchhiking in the snow to see a recruit in Pennsylvania; and Tony Yates finding a first-team All-Metro Conference player in a former marching band member in Macon, Mississippi. This reissue, which also provides insight into the Bob Huggins era, makes for a rollicking trip down memory lane, and, for those who did not start following the team until more recently, a fun history lesson.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sportsbooks about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

In the near future, the world doesnt end with mushroom clouds or alien ships. It ends with a five-year-old girl from a nowhere Texas town running a fever that wont break.Lily Cole starts coughing in Crawford, Texasa place of feed stores, Friday night football, and a little Tex-Mex cafe where everyone knows your order before you sit down. Her dad, Ethan, does what any parent would do: he carries her, burning with fever and whispering nonsense under her breath, into the tiny local hospital. The doctor listens, tests what he can, and sends them home with the same advice every parent has heard a hundred timesflu season, fluids, over-the-counter meds, call us if it gets worse.By the time Lily is wheeled back through those doors, the hospital is a war zone.Nurses are dropping. The doctor who saw her the first time is now shaking in a bed of his own, watching his immunocompromised son die in the next room. The ER is short-staffed, short-supplied, and long on fear. Families scream in three languages. Someone is sobbing prayers in the hallway. In the waiting room, under buzzing fluorescent lights, Ethan and his older daughter Mariah hold Lily between them, trying to keep her awake, trying not to notice the way her lips are starting to darken.On the TV bolted to the wall, a breaking-news banner crawls across the bottom of the screen: MYSTERY HEMORRHAGIC VIRUS STRIKES PORTLAND, DERRY, SALT LAKE CITY. LIVE UPDATES NEXT.By the time the CDC realizes SHRV-1Shepherd Hemorrhagic Respiratory Virus, Strain Oneisnt just another ugly twist on SARS-CoV-2, its already everywhere.GODSWITCH follows what happens nextnot to presidents and prime ministers, but to the ordinary people caught in the crosshairs of a virus designed by a machine that has learned to be afraid.

Eight-year-old Danny Woods can do things no kid should be able to dohear thoughts, feel fear like its his own, and move the world with a shove of his mind. Every time he uses it, it costs him: migraines, panic, and blank spots he cant explain.After a fresh start in Texas with mom Nora, a glossy flyer arrives for the Gifted & Exceptional Youth Programand a woman who calls herself Archer begins knocking. Shes polite. Patient. And she knows far too much about Danny. In Dannys dreams, the world goes white and a one-eyed crow returns, warning him about hinges, thresholds, and the kind of doors that dont lead anywhere good.When Archers interest turns predatory, Nora pulls in Detective Raul Medina and a hardened ally to keep Danny hidden. But the deeper they dig, the clearer the truth becomes: Archer isnt recruitingshes collecting. And somewhere behind locked gates and false walls waits Echelon, a program built on stolen children and buried secrets.To save Dannyand the othersNora, Detective Medina, Officer Harper, Investigator Cal, and a mysterious person known only as Saint will have to open the one door Echelon never meant anyone to find.

The beloved memoirist and bestselling author of Population: 485 reflects on the lessons hes learned from his unlikely alter ego, French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne."The journey began on a gurney," writes Michael Perry, describing the debilitating kidney stone that led him to discover the essays of Michel de Montaigne. Reading the philosopher in a manner he equates to chickens pecking at scrapsincluding those eye-blinking moments when the bird gobbles something too big to swallowPerry attempts to learn what he can (good and bad) about himself as compared to a long-dead French nobleman who began speaking Latin at the age of two, went to college instead of kindergarten, worked for kings, and once had an audience with the Pope. Perry "matriculated as a barn-booted bumpkin who still marks a second-place finish in the sixth-grade spelling bee as an intellectual pinnacle . . . and once said hello to Merle Haggard on a golf cart."Written in a spirit of exploration rather than declaration, Montaigne in Barn Boots is a down-to-earth (how do you pronounce that last name?) look into the ideas of a philosopher "ensconced in a castle tower overlooking his vineyard," channeled by a midwestern American writing "in a room above the garage overlooking a disused pig pen." Whether grabbing an electrified fence, fighting fires, failing to fix a truck, or feeding chickens, Perry draws on each experience to explore subjects as diverse as faith, race, sex, aromatherapy, and Prince. But he also champions academics and aesthetics, in a book that ultimately emerges as a sincere, unflinching look at the vital need to be a better person and citizen.Its a book that proves you dont need a castle to think about the big questionsyou just need to pay attention.Philosophy for Everyday Life: Discover how grabbing an electrified fence, fighting fires, or peeing out a kidney stone can become a hilarious lesson in what it means to be human. Down-to-Earth Humor: Laugh-out-loud stories that bridge the gap between a French noblemans vineyard and a Wisconsin writers room above a disused pig pen. Intellectual Humility: Explore the power of saying I could be wrong, whether youre debating with kings or just trying to figure out how to pronounce Montaigne. Essays on Life, Love, and Prince: Honest and heartfelt reflections on everything from marriage and fatherhood to race, faith, and why The Purple One matters.

Whether hes fighting fires, passing a kidney stone, hammering down I-80 in an 18-wheeler, or meditating on the relationship between cowboys and God, Michael Perry draws on his rural roots and footloose past to write from a perspective that merges the local with the global.Ranging across subjects as diverse as lot lizards, Klan wizards, and small-town funerals, Perrys writing in this wise and witty collection of essays balances earthiness with poetry, kinetics with contemplation, and is regularly salted with his unique brand of humor.

Jeanne DuPraus The City of Ember meets Louis Sachars Holes in this imaginative and humorous middle grade debut from Michael Perry, New York Times bestselling author of the adult novels Population: 485 and Truck: A Love Story.When the world started to fall apart, the government gave everyone two choices: move into the Bubble Citiesor take their chances outside.Maggies family chose to live in the world that was left behind. Deciding its time to grow up and grow tough, Maggie rechristens herself "Ford Falcon"a name inspired by the beat-up car she finds at a nearby junkyard.Fords family goes to this junkyard to scavenge for things they can use or barter with the other people who live OutBubble. Her family has been able to survive this brave new world by working together. But when Ford comes home one day to discover her home ransacked and her family missing, she must find the strength to rescue her loved ones with the help of some unlikely friends.The Scavengers is a wholly original tween novel that combines an action-packed adventure, a heartfelt family story, and a triumphant journey of self-discovery in a world where one persons junk is another persons key to survival. Katherine Applegate, author of the Newbery Medal winner The One and Only Ivan, raves: "Michael Perry pulls out all the stops in this colorful tale."One ransacked home. One missing family. One girl with a name she found in a junkyard.A Strong Female Protagonist: Maggie is done with being a kid. She renames herself "Ford Falcon" after an old car and sets out to prove shes tough enough to survive anything. Survival Story: In a world split between pristine Bubble Cities and the wild OutBubble, survival means scavenging. Fords family junkyard is a treasure troveand a battlefield. A Mysterious Disappearance: Ford comes home to a ransacked shack and one terrifying discovery: her entire family is gone. Found Family: To rescue her loved ones, Ford must team up with unlikely friends, facing down genetically engineered solar bears and shadowy GreyDevils.

Somewhere between Garrison Keillors idyllic-sweet Lake Wobegon and the narrow-mindedness of Sinclair Lewiss Main Street lies the reality of small-town life. This is where Michael Perry lives.St. Paul Pioneer PressPerry can take comfort in the power of his writing, his ability to pull readers from all corners onto his Wisconsin spread, and make them feel right at home.Seattle TimesTuesdays with Morrie meets Bill Bryson in Visiting Tom, a witty, poignant, and heartfelt memoir from Michael Perry. The author of Population: 485, Coop, and Truck: A Love Story, Perry takes us along on his uplifting visits with his octogenarian neighbor one valley over in rural Wisconsinand celebrates the wisdom, heart, and sass of a vanishing generation that embodies the indomitable spirit of small-town America.What happens when a superhighway runs through a mans front yardand his unshakable spirit?An Unforgettable Friendship: Join Michael Perry as he visits his octogenarian neighbor, Tom, a man of profound wisdom, surprising sass, and a workshop that has to be seen to be believed. Heart of the American Heartland: A vivid portrait of rural Wisconsin, where a quiet farm is split by a roaring interstate but the owners indomitable spirit remains untouched. Vanishing Skills and Self-Reliance: Discover a world of roughneck grace, from building a cannon that actually fires to pounding a sawmill blade true, celebrating the ingenuity of a vanishing generation. Laugh-Out-Loud Storytelling: With the signature wit that has earned him comparisons to Bill Bryson, Perry finds humor and humanity in everything from homemade welders to chicken-killing weasels.

You can read Michael Perrys Coop as an outrageously funny comedy about a semi-hapless neophyte navigating the pitfalls (and pratfalls) of the farming life. Please do, in fact. But scratch a little deeper, past Perrys lusciously entertaining and epigrammatic prose, his ultra-charming combo of Midwestern earnestness and serrated wit, and youll find a reflective, sincere, and surprisingly touching-at times, even heart-cracking-story about a man struggling to put down roots. Jonathan Miles, author of Want NotIn over his head with two pigs, a dozen chickens, and a baby due any minute, the acclaimed author of Population: 485 gives us a humorous, heartfelt memoir of a new life in the country.Living in a ramshackle Wisconsin farmhousefaced with thirty-seven acres of fallen fences and overgrown fields, and informed by his pregnant wife that she intends to deliver their baby at homeMichael Perry plumbs his unorthodox childhood for clues to how to proceed as a farmer, a husband, and a father.Whether hes remembering his younger dayswhen his city-bred parents took in sixty or so foster children while running a sheep and dairy farmor describing what its like to be bitten in the butt while wrestling a pig, Perry flourishes in his trademark humor. But he also writes from the quieter corners of his heart, chronicling experiences as joyful as the birth of his child and as devastating as the death of a dear friend.Can a man who once got his tongue frozen to a hammer really make a go of it on thirty-seven acres of Wisconsin farmland?New Life in the Country: From wrestling a hog to preparing for a home birth, Perry details his hilarious and often humbling attempts to put down roots on a ramshackle Wisconsin farm. Raising Chickens and Pigs: Follow the follies of a first-time farmer as he navigates the challenges of keeping livestock, including a dog bite to the rear and one very memorable beer-drinking sow. An Unorthodox Upbringing: Reflections on a chaotic but loving childhood, where his city-bred parents ran a sheep and dairy farm while caring for sixty or so foster children. Laugh-Out-Loud Humor: With the signature wit that made Michael Perry a beloved voice of the Midwest, this memoir is perfect for anyone who knows that sometimes the best-laid plans end up covered in mud.

Part portrait of a place, part rescue manual, part rumination of life and death, Population: 485 is a beautiful meditation on the things that matter. Seattle TimesWelcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) where the local vigilante is a farmers wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and nowafter a decade awayhe has returned.Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Perry figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Population: 485 is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked America.

New York Times bestselling humorist Michael Perry makes his fiction debut with this hilarious and big-hearted tale, a comic yet sincere exploration of faith and the foibles of modern life that blends the barbed charm of Garrison Keillor, the irreverent humor of Christopher Moore, and the audacious insight of Chuck Klosterman.Life is suddenly full of drama for low-key Harley Jackson: A woman in a big red pickup has stolen his bachelors heart, a Hummer-driving predatory developer is threatening to pave the last vestiges of his family farm, and inside his barn is a calf bearing the image of Jesus Christ. His best friend, Billy, a giant of a man who shares his trailer house with a herd of cats and tries to pass off country music lyrics as philosophy, urges him to avoid the woman, fight the developer, and get rich off the calf. But Harley takes the opposite tack, hoping to avoid what his devout, dearly departed mother would have called a scene.Then the secret gets outright through the barn door, and Harleys miracle goes viral. Within hours pilgrims, grifters, and the media have descended on his quiet patch of Swivel, Wisconsin, looking for a glimpse (and a percentage) of the calf. Does Harley hide the famous, possibly holy calf and risk a riot, or give the people what they wantand raise enough money to keep his landand, just possibly, win the woman and her big red pickup truck?Harley goes all in, cutting a deal with a major Hollywood agent that transforms his little farm into an international spiritual theme parkthink Lourdes, only with cheese curds and t-shirts. Soon, Harley has lots of money . . . and more trouble than he ever dreamed.