NONFICTION | AVAILABLE MARCH 16, 2027
SECURING THE SHADOWS
Essays on Mountains, Danger, and Loss
"Like any good climb, Stevenson's narratives become mysterious, ghostly. Out of solid rock comes magic."
—CRAIG CHILDS, The Wild Dark
A fearless quest to understand what we risk when we heed the call of the wild.
Mountaineer David Stevenson considers the dangers of a life spent climbing in his lyrical, deeply felt memoir-in-essays, shaped by the mysterious drowning of his adventurous twenty-two-year-old son in the Alaskan backcountry. Moving across an eclectic range of styles, Stevenson recounts adventures throughout the American West and examines photographs, literature, and memory as he searches for meaning in the relentless pursuit of adrenaline and the devastation of loss. This indelible chronicle grapples with mortality, remembrance, and the enduring questions of what makes us human.
Trade Paper Original | ISBN: 9798890920508 | Nonfiction | $17.95 | 160 pp | Trim: 5.25 x 8” | March 2027
“These expertly crafted essays transport us into a rarefied world of rock and ice, then through the gauzy veil that flutters between life and death. Just a few pages into his sublime storytelling, I knew I’d follow Stevenson anywhere.”
—AMY IRVINE, Desert Cabal and Almost Animal
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVID STEVENSON is the award-winning author of five books, including Points of Astonishment and Letters from Chamonix, which won the Banff Mountain Book Award. His nonfiction has been featured in The Best American Essays series. Stevenson holds a PhD from the University of Utah, taught at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and is the book reviews editor for the American Alpine Journal. He lives on the central coast of Oregon with his wife.
PRAISE FOR SECURING THE SHADOWS
“Stevenson plays his essays like a rope taut with the weight of human lives. You sense every subtle slackening and sudden pull. Like any good climb, his narratives become mysterious, ghostly. Out of solid rock comes magic.”
—CRAIG CHILDS, The Wild Dark and Tracing Time
“These expertly crafted essays transport us into a rarefied world of rock and ice, then through the gauzy veil that flutters between life and death. On the other side we find rugged, unmapped terrain built on tectonic plates of loss and love, and it is here that we are most grateful for Stevenson’s keen sense of direction and surefootedness. Just a few pages into his sublime storytelling, I knew I’d follow him anywhere.”
—AMY IRVINE, Desert Cabal and Almost Animal
“Stevenson demonstrates his ability as one of the great prose stylists of modern climbing literature.”
—KATIE IVES, Imaginary Peaks
“Beginners or seasoned hardmen alike will pump their fists to Stevenson’s honesty, humility and thoughtfulness.”
—JON WATERMAN, Into the Thaw
“Securing the Shadows proves Stevenson has joined the ranks of a rare breed: an excellent mountaineering writer.”
—STEVE ROPER, Camp 4
“It’s in these ethereal interstices of the stories that Stevenson explores the heady themes we all experience . . . isolation, solitude, joy, danger, and pain.”
—CAMERON M. BURNS, The American Alpine Journal
“A love letter from father to son through grief and the wilderness of precious memories—Securing the Shadows is an understated and quiet meditation. Stevenson reminds us of surrounding beauty if we are willing to see it and treats his readers to the absurdities of youth and the elation of hope.”
—VERED R. MARES, The Writer’s Block Bookstore
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“In the shadows some call the thin places, Stevenson expands on the memories those shadows trigger, and for brief moments breathes life back into those who have moved on. I identified immediately with this writing. I'm about the same age as the author, I lost my son too soon in his twenties, and I've had the privilege to reflect on my risks as a survivor. I'm thankful that Stevenson's collection of thoughts is shared with us all.”
—TODD MILLER, Arcadia Books
“No pat conclusions or comforting platitudes to be found here; the caprices of fate remain unknowable and bewildering, survivable only through humble submission to the mystery.”
—Edward Sung, IndieReader
“There are only a handful of writers that exhibit Stevenson’s mastery of tenderness with such harsh and heavy subjects. Of those writers, not one of them is as vulnerable, or bleeds as much humility.”
—Nicholas Dighiera, www/wordsworthing.com
“An extraordinary literary achievement.”
—TONY WHITTOME, Rock, Paper, Fire
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“With this collection, Stevenson has made it clear that he is a man as dedicated to the craft of writing as he is to climbing. A boon for mountain fiction.”
—ANIK SEE, Banff Book Competition Jury
