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- A REVIEW OF THREE SPECULATIVE NOVELS
- Frank Kaminski takes an in depth look a two novels by Mud City Press' Dan Armstrong, PRAIRIE FIRE and TAMING THE DRAGON, and one by Sarah Hall, THE CARHULLAN ARMY. "I like Armstrong's two novels a lot," writes Kaminski. "Set concurrently in the near future, but on opposite sides of the globe, they tell two halves of the same story. It's a complex, sharply written, melodramatic suspense yarn that manages to be at once as entertaining as any kind of Jason Bourne/Ethan Hunt adventure and as serious a treatment of today's issues as an exposé by Upton Sinclair."
- BEANS, GRAINS, SOIL BIOLOGY, AND COMPOST TEA: An Interview with Harry MacCormack
- Mud City Press went to up to Sunbow Farm outside Corvallis, Oregon on January 23, 2009 to interview Harry MacCormack. These are selected portions from that interview.
- USDA AGRICULTURAL PROJECTIONS TO 2018
- "This report provides longrun projections for the agricultural sector through 2018. Major forces and uncertainties affecting future agricultural markets are discussed, such as prospects for long-term global economic growth and population trends. Projections cover production and consumption for agricultural commodities, global agricultural trade and U.S. exports, commodity prices, and aggregate indicators of the sector, such as farm income and food prices."
- NO-TILL: The Quiet Revolution
- "The age-old practice of turning the soil before planting a new crop is a leading cause of farmland degradation. Many farmers are thus looking to make plowing a thing of the past." David R. Huggins and John P. Reganold explore conservation tillage in SCIENCE MAGAZINE.
- RELOCALIZING EDEN
- A region's capacity to produce, process, and distribute some significant portion of its own food has always been a measure of social and economic stability, but as we face the unknowns of peak oil and climate change, securing local food resources will become one of our highest priorities. Oregon's Willamette Valley provides an apt case-study for addressing this situation.
- THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEAN AND GRAIN PROJECT
- We hear the slogan "eat local" over and over again, but what does it really mean? It's more than just eating fresher food. It's about preserving local food systems. It's about food security and common sense management of the pantry. Here in Oregon's Willamette Valley we have the agricultural potential to feed the valley residents twice over. And yet we grow rye grass and fescue for grass seed and ninety-five percent of what we eat in this fertile valley is imported. With the price of all fossil fuels on the rise, this makes no agricultural or economic sense at all. Harry MacCormack of Sunbow Farm in Corvallis, Oregon has conceived a plan to turn this around. The Southern Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project is a step by step strategy to rebuild a local food system, using organic beans and grains as the foundation.
- STIMULATING LOCAL AGRICULTURE
- Jody Woodruff writes about the work of Mud City Press editor Dan Armstrong and organic farmer Harry MacCormack in this article from The Sentient Times.
- BIG MELT MEETS BIG EMPTY: RETHINKING THE IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND PEAK OIL
- This excellent article by Richard Heinberg provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship of climate change to peak oil and how various proposed plans to deal with one effect the other.
- THE FORTUNE TELLER'S FORTUNE
- Read this provocative new addition to our short story collection, written by Dan Armstrong and beautifully illustrated with the visionary artwork of Martina Hoffmann.
- THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY: THROUGH THE LENS OF PEAK OIL
- The price of a barrel of petroleum topped $145 in June of 2008, but dropped below $40 by the first week of 2009. Now as the summer begins, it's back over $60. What does this volatility mean? It's the limits of growth beginning to show. We are witnessing the first tremors of economic adjustment. An age of extravagant waste is coming to an end. We are entering a period of economic recession directly connected to long-term natural resource mismanagement. What does this mean to those of us who live in Oregon's Willamette Valley? What can we do individually and collectively to prepare for the inevitable socio-economic changes? This portion of the Mud City Press website contains a collection of essays and articles that try to answer these questions.
- REVISITING THE LIMITS OF GROWTH: Could the Club of Rome have been correct, after all?
- This is an energy policy white paper written in October of 2000 by Matthew R. Simmons. In the next year, Simmons would be a member of the Bush-Cheney Energy Transition Advisory Committee and the Independent Task Force on Strategic Energy Policy. Let there be no doubt that peak oil was a critical part of all energy discussions in the Cheney-Bush White House and a central factor behind the invasion of Iraq. Video Clip: Matthew Simmons on CNBC 3/7/2008
- THE GREEN WHITE HOUSE
- Can you imagine a White House with solar panels, organic gardens, and passive heating and cooling? What if the White Houe went green? What if President Obama turned the White House into a model of sustainability, a demonstration of what all the rest of the world must do? Here's a drawing of what it might look like!
Table of Contents
- A SLEEP AT THE WHEEL OF SPACESHIP EARTH
- This is the core of the Mud City Press website. It contains a series of overviews on the basics of planet management followed by several in depth articles on climate, energy, community, global food resources, and economics.
- BUY A BOOK
- Mud City Press is a Print-on-Demand electronic publisher. Check out these exciting novels by Dan Armstrong. The best way to support this website is to buy a book. Do it today!
- PRAIRIE FIRE: It's a few years from now, and the human and environmental costs of industrial farming have finally caught up with America's family farmers. Instead of throwing in the hoe, farmers across the Heartland rise up against the combine, threatening to burn their crops rather than continue the petrochemical assault on the land. AVAILABLE NOW $25.95 at iUniverse and Amazon.com.
- PUDDLE OF LOVE: A New Novel by Dan Armstrong! At times comic, at times desperately serious, this psycho-thriller pushes the edge with a haunting grope into human sexuality. No holds barred pulp fiction with a dark Freudian twist. PUDDLE OF LOVE (R) AVAILABLE NOW $23.95 at iUniverse or Amazon.com.
- TAMING THE DRAGON: When a warm winter cuts deeply into the Himalayan snowpack, water shortages stress all of Asia; but in no place is the situation more problematic than at China's Three Gorges Dam. AVAILABLE NOW $13.95 at iUniverse and Amazon.com.
- MUD BLOG
- Mud City Press adds more hot air to the blogosphere. Current blog: WHAT DOES FOOD SECURITY MEAN?
- SHORT STORIES
- In-house writer Dan Armstrong offers readers five pieces of short fiction.
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Our literary editor takes a look at books old and new, hoping to inspire a read or offer a new perspective.
- THE WORK OF WILLIAM H. KÖTKE
- Mud City Press provides access to the visionary work of William H. Kötke, including reviews of his books and several of his most recent articles.
- CATHERINE AUSTIN FITTS
- Mud City Press offers five of Ms. Fitts best articles, including our interview with her, THE REAL DEAL ABOUT ENRON.
- MUD CITY PRESS ARCHIVES
- Mud City Press's online magazine maintains an archive of past articles, stories, book reviews, and blogs.
- CONTACT MUD CITY PRESS
- Send us an e-mail. Pat us on the back. Straighten us out. Tells us your thoughts.
- WHAT OUR READERS ARE SAYING
- Read comments by our readers. Try their suggested reading. Visit webistes they recommend.
- SPECIAL THANKS TO MARK HENSON AND SACRED LIGHT STUDIOS
- Mud City Press has included six excellent paintings by Mark to enhance the ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL OF SPACESHIP EARTH section of this website.
- SPECIAL THANKS TO MARTINA HOFFMAN
- Mud City Press has used four of Martina's visionary paintings to illustrate THE FORTUNE TELLER'S FORTUNE, a short story by Dan Armstrong
Many of the essays, stories, and reviews at Mud City Press are formated as ADOBE PDF files. If you don't have ADOBE's Acrobat Reader on your computer, you may download their free software at the ADOBE website.
