Praise for Hotshot:
Winner of the Gerald Ensley Developing Writer Award
Amazon Editors Pick: Best Biographies & Memoirs of August
A Kirkus Best Book of the Month
A Most Anticipated Book by Autostraddle and featured in the New York Times and NPRs Books of the Summer
An intimate memoir of trauma and gender dynamics and a researched history of wildfires and those who fight them.NPR.org
A fiery take on the American Western . . . An exhilarating and heartrending exploration of the cycles of creation and destruction that govern both the natural world and our worlds within . . . a thrilling read that nonetheless asks the reader to engage with challenging questions. How do we coexist with natures creative and destructive cycles? How do we coexist with our many selves, across time, across place, across memory, within the creative and destructive cycles that looking back affords us? As we enter wildfire season under an administration particularly hostile to environmental conservation efforts, womens bodily autonomy, and nonconforming gender identities, this book is a fierce, compelling riposte to the fear and destruction were living through.Sarah Bess Jaffe, Electric Literature
Riveting . . .Its rare for a first-time author to manage such a perfect balance of her personal story . . . and her awareness of the challenges climate change has brought to the firefighting community today. Hotshot nails it.Jane Ciabattari, Literary Hub
A worthy book for adventurers, and for readers who wonder what its like for a woman in a deeply-swaggering world. Hotshot may rankle you, it may inspire you, it may open your eyes to your own soul, so find it and read.Terri Schlichenmeyer, Out SFL
Hotshot exposes harassment, hardship, and hope in wildland firefighting . . . Absorbing.Jessica Zack, San Francisco Chronicle
Intimately reveals the humans behind the wildland firefighting workforce their personal problems, messy home lives and the sacrifices they had to make to do this grueling job . . . raw and honest.High Country News
Cinematic, meditative, and profoundly intimate.Sarah Rosenethal, Hippocampus Magazine
Far more than a tale of female struggle against adversity . . . [ Hotshot] is a deeply-researched account of fire history, indigenous ecological knowledge, land management and beautiful, affecting scenes that follow their relationship with a cruel, unstable mother. The combination of firefighting action, personal memoir, and rich scientific context makes this a powerful read.Electric Literature
Tremendously smart . . . this book spans ecosystems and legacies of land management and stewardship on this continent [ and] one persons incredibly moving life . . . Hotshot does something magical. Not only could I not put it down, but Im smarter, and more empathetic, for having read it.Kasey Peters, Barrelhouse Magazine
A fascinating hybrid of memoir, natural and political history, and social and environmental justice . . . devoted to confronting the challenge of surviving in many different traumatic contextswhether catastrophic fire, sexual harassment, environmental degradation, or social injustice . . . Illuminating and humanizing . . . Keenly observed and gracefully written, Hotshot deserves a place on every thinking persons bookshelf.Barbara Lloyd McMichael, Discover Our Coast
Selby molds personal and ecological acceptance into a moving narrative about fire and humanity . . . With visceral prose, they bring readers directly to the heat and intensity of the front lines day and night . . . Shot through with their own challenges of bulimia, alcoholism, and relationships, the story is one of power and resilience, of someone struggling to make a life for themself in the inhospitable and challenging career of wildland firefighting. Spliced within it are historical and scientific examinations of firefighting in the American West. Deeply researched, these segments provide context for the book, but it is the narrative that is most gripping. With fortitude and admirable vulnerability, Selby brings readers directly into a tumultuous time and place. Like fire, this book burns hot.Kirkus Reviews, starred review
A fierce examination of identity, climate change, and the shortcomings of U.S. fire policy . . . Poetic, wise, and haunting, this seamless blend of memoir and science writing leaves a mark.Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"What a wonderful, compassionate, sharply observed, beautifully researched, open-hearted book. Selby has lived a big, courageous life, and that largesse is evident on every page, in the form of the rigor and curiosity of the narrative voice. Ostensibly about fire-fighting, Hotshot turns out to be a beautiful reflection on justice, the environment, the self, and much more.George Saunders, Booker Prize-winning and #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Lincoln in the Bardo
Writing is a core reflex in a direct sense. River Selby observes, speaks, and conveys from their core experience that is the soul of revelation and story. I am surprised and amazed it can be done in words that are the reflex of experience one gets from life. To me, it is the impact of any and all experience we live and share. What can I say but Thank you with love.Simon J. Ortiz, author of Light as Light
River Selby is the real deal. A writer who seems fearless, who is honest and fierceand this stunning memoir of fighting wildfires is spectacular . . . and alive with grit and action and poetry.Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize-finalist and New York Times Bestselling author of Good Night, Irene
Hotshot is that rare species: a memoir of young adulthood and a clear-eyed take on wildland preservation from a naturalist who learned on the job. And what a job it was: the kind where a colleague tells you unironically to keep going, because youre not dead yet. You can smell the smoke and feel the grit on the back of your neck, and the lessonsof which there are manyfeel hard won and very timely. Selbys road was harder than most, which makes their arrival as such an accomplished and thoughtful writer all the more satisfying.Nate Blakeslee, author of Tulia
Hotshot is a brave, powerful, deeply moving memoir of survival and strength. It is also a timely, urgent history of fire, climate change, and our complex, fraught relationship to land stewardship. River Selbys story is inspiring in its spiritual and emotional inventory. Selby is a wonderfully gifted writer about nature, about the complexities of trauma, and the hard-won possibilities of healing.Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward
Hotshot is the story of a life forged through crucible. In this wonderous memoir Selbys life reminds us courage can be grown, the self can be found and anything can change. A writer of shining talent and tenacity.Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, New York Times bestselling author of Friday Black and Chain Gang All-Stars
