UTAH AUTHOR TAKES ON MORMON POLYGAMY

Ferry Woman Author turns from tragedy to comedy in a fundamentalist Mormon polygamist community in his second novel, The Wives of Short Creek

Limberlost Press Matrix Editions

The Wives of Short Creek

www.wivesofshortcreek.com

wiveshortcreek@infowest.com

lmpe@infowest.com

Limberlost Press

Publishers since 1976

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 9, 2003

CONTACT: Dr. T. O. McCallister-DBA 435-632-6706

UTAH AUTHOR TAKES ON MORMON POLYGAMY

The Wives of Short Creek, a Novel of Polygamy & Prophecy, is author Gerald Grimmett's second novel from the highly regarded publisher, Limberlost Press. Moving from the tragedy of his first novel about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, The Ferry Woman, Grimmett has written a biting comedy about Mormon fundamentalist polygamy from the point of view of a seasick, love-starved sailor-the intrepid Heber Dean Smith. Heber Dean inherits a patch of Mojave Desert in the town of Short Creek, and thinks he is headed for a dry paradise with sex for the asking. Not likely.

Grimmetts first novel, The Ferry Woman, a novel John D. Lee and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, (Limberlost Press-2001) received critical acclaim, and was selected by the Salt Lake Tribune as the Best Book of 2001 from and about the west. A second edition is forthcoming.

In The Wives of Short Creek, Heber eventually gains the trust of the secretive community, and marries Bishop Reuben Alldred-Prices widowed daughter Zinny. Heber and Zinny are happy until the Bishop decides it is time for Heber to take more wives to bring some balance to the demographics.

The Bishop selects for Heber two prospective wives who are so bizarre in their behavior Heber Dean feels like the weddings would more like a hanging. Heber really loves Zinny and monogamy, but he also needs a lot of help from his hidden whisky still to get through his trials. Central to this bittersweet comedy, is a search and chase for a secret last prophecy, which it is hoped, will legitimize the ongoing practice of plural wives, and in which the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. foresees the main streaming apostasy of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City.

The church in Salt Lake would like nothing better than to burn and bury this purported prophecy, so they send their minions to thwart Hebers mission by any means necessary. To complicate Sheriff Heber Deans life, the fictional Arizona Womens Alliance (AWA) instigates a cunning infiltration of Short Creek by the beautiful Rose Lee, a bitter, recently excommunicated Mormon who was railroaded by a devious husband. She turns to radical feminism, and her mission is to pave the way to free the wives of Short Creek from their slavery and degradation, and to bring to them the breathy zest of freedom from their bondage in the strictly closed society of Short Creek.

This leads to the novels climax in the infamous War of the Sticks, with not a sober combatant left standing. Grimmetts sharp, but sly pen, skewers many of the foibles of men and women and religion without fear or favor. The implicit condemnation of polygamy and hypocrisy is self-evident, but so is the fun. A review copy is available immediately upon request.

Gerald Grimmett is a published poet and free-lance writer, an award winning journalist, widely traveled adventure guide (including Antarctica), and camp-manager who lives with his wife Cynthia in the red rock country of Southern Utah.

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