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WORK TITLE: Lost in the Woods: Building a Life Up North
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Hill, Richard Noel
BIRTHDATE: 12/25/1952
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE: MI
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born December 25, 1952; married.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author. Worked variously as a retail owner, apple picker, zookeeper, house painter, and freighter deckhand.
AVOCATIONS:Pickup basketball, log house building, tennis, drumming, snow shoveling, kayaking, reading.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Writer Richard Hill has lived a colorful life, filled predominantly with outdoor-oriented work and pastimes. He has worked a myriad of careers, from managing a store to picking apples. Some of his more notable careers, however, came to inform three of his books.
Lake Effect
Lake Effect: A Deckhand’s Journey on the Great Lakes Freighters, the first book published by Hill, deals with Hill’s time working on various freighters. During this period of his life, Hill was able to witness much of the landscape of the Great Lakes. It is this information, as well as the general responsibilities expected of a deckhand, that Hill shares throughout the book. He also touches upon the factors that influenced him to take up working on a freighter in the first place, and how his experiences there came to shape him as a person. However, there is also a historical element to the work.
Hill embarked upon his freighter work throughout the ’70s, when all manners of political and social change were unfolding. Hill touches upon these events, detailing how they affected his life and work. Tonya Thul-Theis, a writer for Reviewer’s Bookwatch, called the book “smart, humorous, [and] delightfully detailed.”
Hitchhiking After Dark
Hitchhiking After Dark: Offbeat Stories from a Small Town continues to follow the events of Hill’s life, pulling further back to examine his youth. Hill spent his early years residing in the area of Sault Sainte Marie. However, his upbringing was not entirely traditional. He was never quite able to stay in one place while growing up, as his parents found owning a home to be less than practical. Instead, they preferred to rent, which meant that their place of residence constantly shifted. Hitchhiking After Dark is, as a result, comprised of several short stories revolving around Hill’s experiences with moving. He discusses unique happenings he had to deal with, as well as the interesting people Hill came across along the way. For instance, in one story, Hill details the events following his father’s decision to step down from his career with the local newspaper, as well as the Army. He illustrates several facets of his home life in the process, including his family nickname, as well as how his parents’ relationship with one another. Hill also profiles several other aspects of his upbringing, as well as the general experience of living in a small, close-knit area.
Foreword Reviews writer Barry Silverstein said: “It is Richard Hill’s ability to spin each amusing tale so well that makes this book enjoyable reading.” A contributor to the Midwest Book Review website called the book “a fine collection, very highly recommended.”
Lost in the Woods
Lost in the Woods: Building a Life Up North also follows a more autobiographical framework. It deals specifically with Hill’s decision to move out to the wilderness with his family to seek a more rustic lifestyle. This goal took them two decades to fulfill, starting with the construction of a cabin made entirely out of logs. Hill details each setback he and his family had to overcome along the way, including adjusting to the harsh climate of their new home, as well as professional contractors who at times seemed to cause more trouble. Hill also contends with other struggles throughout his efforts to build and secure his cabin home. In addition to constructing a house, he also puts in work on launching his own business. His sons mature into grown men, and one of his parents passes on.
All throughout these events, Hill never loses focus on building the type of life he wants. He extensively details all of the steps necessary to constructing his home from start to finish. One Publishers Weekly contributor remarked: “Anyone contemplating building a home can learn much from the author’s experience.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2017, review of Lost in the Woods: Building a Life Up North, p. 53.
Reviewer’s Bookwatch, November, 2008, Tonya Thul-Theis, review of Lake Effect: A Deckhand’s Journey on the Great Lakes Freighters.
ONLINE
Foreword Reviews, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (November 11, 2010), Barry Silverstein, review of Hitchhiking After Dark: Offbeat Stories from a Small Town.
Midwest Book Review, http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ (October 1, 2010), review of Hitchhiking After Dark.
Born on Christmas Day in 1952, Rich Hill grew up in Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula. He lives along the southeastern shores of Lake Superior with his wife and a cocker spaniel named Maxwell. In his free time, he works on his log house, jams with fellow musicians (drums), reads, kayaks, shovels snow, plays tennis and pickup basketball. Over the years, Rich has worked at a variety of unusual jobs from apple picker and deckhand on various Great Lakes freighters to house painter, zookeeper, and retail store owner.
Lost in the Woods: Building a Life Up
North
Publishers Weekly.
264.48 (Nov. 27, 2017): p53.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Lost in the Woods: Building a Life Up North
Richard Hill. Gale Force, $19.95 trade paper
(210p) ISBN 978-0-9817371-4-0
In painstaking detail, Hill (Hitchhiking After Dark) describes how he and his wife ditched their suburban
existence and moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to build a log home. Every step of the 20-year process
is meticulously described, sometimes to a fault, as Hill calls on sisu (the "strength of will and perseverance"
exhibited by his Finnish ancestors) to battle flaky subcontractors, shoddy work, and nature itself in the form
of brutal winters, "mysterious looking forms of mold," and dry rot. The tight focus on carpentry, plumbing,
masonry, and other construction activities overshadows the lives of the humans orchestrating the project--
Hill suffers the loss of an elderly parent, raises two boys to adulthood, and establishes a fledgling furniture
business--as the narrative tends to skate past anything not construction related. Still, anyone contemplating
building a home can learn much from the author's experience, perhaps most importantly how to summon the
sisu to see the project through. (BookLife)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Lost in the Woods: Building a Life Up North." Publishers Weekly, 27 Nov. 2017, p. 53. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517575702/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a702fdfa.
Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A517575702
4/22/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1524431588553 2/2
Lake Effect: A Deckhand's Journey on
the Great Lakes Freighters
Tonya Thul-Theis
Reviewer's Bookwatch.
(Nov. 2008):
COPYRIGHT 2008 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
Lake Effect: A Deckhand's Journey on the Great Lakes Freighters
Richard Hill
Gale Force Press
PO Box 374, Sault Ste. Marie, MI 49783-0374
9780981737188, $17.95, pgs. 224, www.GaleForcePress.com
Knowing what it is like to work on the Great Lakes aboard those enormous freighter ships is an area in
which there is limited information for the non-specialist general reader--until now. In "Lake Effect: A
Deckhand's Journey on the Great Lakes Freighters", author Richard Hill takes his readers on an informed
and informative journey into the daily life and work of a freighter ship deckhand. In this intelligent and
candid memoir, readers will learn of the social and political turbulence of the early 1970's. "Lake Effect"
also provides an insightful look into the world of the sailor, what makes them tick, and why they follow the
sometimes hazardous work on a Great Lake freighter as a their career--for better and worse. Smart,
humorous, delightfully detailed this personal account is a great addition to any collection or supplemental
reading list concerning the Great Lakes, commercial sailing, and the life of a contemporary deck hand.
Thul-Theis, Tonya
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Thul-Theis, Tonya. "Lake Effect: A Deckhand's Journey on the Great Lakes Freighters." Reviewer's
Bookwatch, Nov. 2008. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A188848045/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1c53e913. Accessed 22 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A188848045
Hitchhiking After Dark: Offbeat Stories from a Small TownRichard HillGale Force Press (October 2010)Softcover $17.95 (192pp)978-0-9817371-9-5Richard Hill’s memories of his childhood growing up in northern Michigan’s Sault Sainte Marie are the basis for this entertaining and engaging book. Hill’s mother and father believed that renting a house was preferable to buying one. As a result, they moved their family every few years to a new home, making for a life of continuous upheaval.What kept the author sane? “In some respects, storytelling was our main defense, our way of dealing with some of the rude jolts and random disappointments of daily life,” he writes. “By laughing at ourselves, we were able to rise above any uncomfortable situation.”Indeed, Richard Hill does laugh at himself, his family, and his friends—in fact, he laughs at just about everyone he meets and everything that happens to him. Armed with this abundant sense of humor and keen observation, he weaves stories that are at times poignant and often laugh-out-loud funny.“Fred’s Brother,” for example, is a classic tale of life in the Hill household after Richard’s father retires from the Army and a local newspaper job. The author’s mother made a shopping list for his father, specifying that she wanted him to buy “three pounds of Maxwell House coffee, not that cheap Eight O’Clock crap.”The author says he watched his father unload the groceries one morning. “He was dumping a bag of Eight O’Clock coffee into an old Maxwell House can, and had just thrown the empty bag in the trash as Mom walked in the room. She spied the large can of Maxwell House and nodded her approval. Dad looked over at me, winked, and moseyed off to do his puzzle.”The title of the story, “Fred’s Brother,” by the way, comes from the fact that Hill’s father seemed incapable of remembering his name, since there were five children in the household. He’d simply address Richard as “Fred’s brother.” But Hill takes it in stride. “By referring to me as Fred’s brother,” he writes, “at least he knew I was still a member of the family.”Hitchhiking After Dark is essentially a collection of humorous vignettes, with a dose of good old-fashioned philosophy sprinkled in, that focus on the quaintness of small-town life. No, this is not a unique approach. But it is Richard Hill’s ability to spin each amusing tale so well that makes this book enjoyable reading.BARRY SILVERSTEIN (November 19, 2010)Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The author of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the author will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.Source: https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/hitchhiking-after-dark/
Hitchhiking After Dark
Richard Hill
Gale Force Press
PO Box 374, Sault Ste. Maria, MI 49783
9780981737195, $17.95, www.galeforcepress.com
Separated from the world, people make their own thoughts and customs for the world. "Hitchhiking After Dark: Offbeat Stories from a Small Town" is a collection of stories from Richard Hill looking at the small town life and the intriguing characters one encounters through their small town life. From bootlegging, piracy, fatalists, and more, Hill brings an entertaining brand of humor that any Michiganite or Small town liver will recognize and enjoy. "Hitchhiking After Dark" is a fine collection, very highly recommended.