From the publisher: “All I wanted to do,” says Michael Perry, “was get my old pickup truck running.  That, and plant a little vegetable garden.  Then I got distracted by this woman…”  

From the opening sentence – The story begins on a pile of sheep manure the size of a yurt – Perry turns TRUCK into an offbeat jaunt in which the author struggles to grow his own food (“Seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Penthouse combined”), live peaceably with his neighbors (one test-fires his black powder rifle in the alley; another’s best Sunday shirt reads 100 PERCENT WHUP-ASS) and sort out his love life.  Along the way, he starts his hair on fire, is attacked by wild turkeys, takes a date to the fire department chicken dinner, and proposes marriage to a woman in New Orleans .  

As with Population: 485, much of the spirit of Truck lives in the characters Perry meets: a one-eyed land surveyor; a paraplegic biker who rigs a sidecar so his quadriplegic pal can ride along; a bartender who refuses to sell light beer; an enchanting woman who existed only on the inside flap of a cookbook, and half the staff of National Public Radio.  

Paperback PS edition signed by author - $14.00  [includes new essay updating events since the hardcover and two b&w photos ("before" and "after" of Irma the truck]

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From the book jacket:  "...A collection of essays about life in small towns, on the road, and around the world.  Whether he's passing a kidney stone, hammering down I-80 in an 18-wheeler, or meditating on the relationship between cowboys and God, 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, Perry's writing balances earthiness with poetry, kinetics with contemplation, and is regularly salted with humor...showcasing essays on butchers, Elvis, and the downside of bunking next door to a Central American prostitute."

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From the book jacket:  "After a twelve-year absence, a real-life prodigal son returns to his hometown -- New Auburn, Wisconsin, population: 485 -- and joins the volunteer fire and rescue department.  In a place where men post claims of manhood on their truck bumpers, where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, and where the most senior firefighter is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), writer Michael Perry sets out "to meet my neighbors at the invitation of the fire siren."  The emergencies are real, the setting are surreal, and with each foray into the boondocks, we piece together the history of a people and a place.  By turns fiery and funny, violent and gentle, Population:485 is the true account of a search for rootedness in a place from the past.

Also Available in audiobook format - click here.

reviews/blurbs/links

HARDCOVER SOLD OUT Hardcover signed by author - $22.00

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A live-audience recording of Mike addressing issues including high culture in low places, Fightin' Frogs football, parade floats gone bad, the fine art of manure spreader maintenance, coon dogs and the people who own them, things you should never say in an ambulance, Mavis Turner's Love Guide, the truth about deer hunting in Wisconsin, and, of course, this business about the cow.
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AUDIO SAMPLES (and order direct from CD Baby if you wish).

A live-audience recording of Mike searching for truth in everything from the perfect cow to clogged sewer lines.  Tracks include: "The Bull Catalog"; "The Perfect Cow"; "Explaining the Nurse Thing to Dad"; "The Dew is on the Beer Tent"; "Faux Pas Avec Monster Truck"; "Holy Bumpersticker"; "Zed Sets Me Straight"; "Freaked at the Conoco"; and "Just Say Whoa."

                                                                                                                       more info/complete track listing

Ten-song album (on CD) of original songs written by Mike and recorded with his band the Long Beds.  Not sure how to describe the music other than some have called it roughneck folk, and it honors the spirit of folks like John Prine, Waylon Jennings, James McMurtry, and so on.  One lady in New Auburn said it was "like Gordon Lightfoot, only zippier."  We'll accept that.

Headwinded is available on iTunes, but you can also listen and order (hard copies or download digital) at CDBaby.

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From the book jacket: "Collected from publications as diverse as Esquire, Salon, Utne Reader, Orion, Troika and Road King, the essays in Big Rigs, Elvis & The Grand Dragon Wayne range through territory stretching from the Wyoming plains to the heart of Budapest.  The itinerary includes stops in the basement of a burning building, a bunk room adjacent to a tenacious Central American prostitute, and a gospel shout in a granary.  This is life observed from a country musician's tour bus, the cab of a careening Belizian sugarcane truck, and the back of a runaway cutting horse.  Whether hitchhiking with truckers or simply writing to decline a handwritten invitation to a Ku Klux Klan rally, Michael Perry tells stories that are deceptively simple and abundantly wise." 

A collection of essays, humor and nonfiction by Michael Perry.  Reviewer comments: "Rural America is changing fast, and Perry is one of the funniest, most astute chroniclers of those changes...perceptive, witty, unpretentious writing...he creates characters worth remembering, takes you on journeys you'll not easily forget...Perry is an emerging writer who brings fun to the emerging genre of creative nonfiction."

NOTE: Nine of the 16 essays in this book were subsequently re-published in Off Main Street.

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Spread the truth and the warning in a 100% cotton Fruit of the Loom black t-shirt.  T-shirts are black with "athletic gold" print.   T-shirt reads, "www.sneezingcow.com" across chest; back features polka-dot cow on yield sign, over the message, "Never Stand Behind A Sneezing Cow."  View shirt art here.

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This is a six-CD audiobook.  Michael Perry reads Population 485 (abridged to fit format) and eight essays from Off Main Street.  Also included: Three live-audience tracks of Mike discussing humorous elements of small-town life.

  NOTE - CD VERSION OF AUDIOBOOK CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT - WE ARE LOOKING INTO OUR OPTIONS AND MAY RE-RELEASE IT.  AS FAR AS WE KNOW THE DOWNLOADABLE VERSION IS STILL AVAILABLE (SEE "downloadable" LINKS DIRECTLY BELOW)

Click here for downloadable eBook version from Audible.com

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