Books

The Brokedown River

A forthcoming novel

When dirtbag river guides on the Deschutes take on a hyperscale AI data center, a rookie guide discovers the only way to save the drought-stressed river is to betray everything his father built.

The summer Eaton “Auggie” Dunbar Jr. graduates from Reed College, he follows his cousin Amber Guthrie to Maupin, Oregon, to become a whitewater guide on the Deschutes River instead of following his father’s plan. With soft hands and new Chacos, he must earn his place among a community of guides, ranchers, and tribal members fighting to save the same river his father’s agency is quietly preparing to destroy.

The Brokedown River is a novel about the American West, the struggle between wilderness and the steady march of industrial progress, and what is gained and lost working for and defending a place you love. It is a heartbreaking story of the love that pulls a family apart and holds it together, the camaraderie of guides, grief for what’s lost, and the power of reconciliation. Set in a rural Oregon town perched on the rim of an ancient canyon, it is a testing ground in the high desert, where a cold emerald river cuts through the searing basalt, indifferent to it all.