The Dirt

Get the e-book

A new title, The Dirt:The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is now available from Giddings Street Press. Set in the Four Corner region of the American Southwest, this novel is a departure for me. Most of what I write is science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, mystery and horror. With The Dirt, I’ve chosen to explore mysticism.

The story follows Yale Forestall, a cowhand with some pretty severe deficits that defy diagnosis. He doesn’t speak in terms the rest of us can easily understand. Using uncommon meanings for ordinary terms, it’s apparent to anyone who encounters Yale that he suffers from a language disorder. When he tries to rescue a child abandoned in a Wal-Mart parking lot, his expressive language disability prevents him from adequately defending himself. The end result is a petition to have the State declared his guardian.

Enter Miles Holland, a refugee from Chicago who’s hung out his shingle to practice counseling in a small-town. He hung a different shingle and was a counselor of a different kind back East, where a high-profile criminal case went horribly wrong, costing him his career. Yale wants Miles to act as his lawyer as well as his expert witness, and the case takes unexpected twists from there. Miles believes that Yale has a special gift for mystical experience.

Is Yale putting his lawyer on? Is Miles conning himself? To find out, read this novel of mainstream- contemporary fiction which chronicles the changing way of life down in the Four Corners ofthe American Southwest.

© 2022 by Michael C. Just

Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.

You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23

Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002

Four of his short stories have recently been published online:

Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)

The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW

I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October

Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within