The Loon Counters: Short Stories

In the fictional Adirondack towns of Silver Lake and Lost River, a colorful cast of residents coexist, sometimes unharmoniously, with seasonal visitors, travelers, hikers, and hermits. With vivid descriptions, Roger Sheffer chronicles both the ordinary and the odd events in this rural community. Olympic torch bearers, a mysteriously unseen-but-often-heard violinist, pushy hikers, and brooding art museum security guards dapple the lives of the wealthy Silver Lake and working-class Lost River folk. Familiar characters recur across stories, seasons, and locations, finely illustrating the subtle shifts in the life of an isolated Adirondack enclave. In these sixteen brilliantly crafted stories, Sheffer reveals the complex charm of the region, the sublime beauty found in quotidian details of everyday life, and the potent lure of the small places people carve for themselves in nature.