When a family looking to escape the corporate pressures and gas shortages of a crowded 1979 Houston makes a break for Hardrock, Colorado — a tiny town supporting a winter population of less than a dozen — what could they possibly hope to find? 

Adventure! And outfitting the neglected Quartz Creek Inn with an operational café, saloon, trading post and motel in preparation for a hectic summer tourist season is where the story of Hardrock begins. 

Hardrock’s pronounced lack of amenities, unforgiving conditions and well-defined, likeable characters set the stage for hilarious situations in a primitive place where people make up the happily out-populated minority.

Join the handful of Hardrock locals in the remote wilderness of the Colorado Rockies, where 14,000-foot peaks and the rustic setting of the Quartz Creek Inn conspire to provoke memorable misadventures and might just inspire you to stay. 

HARDROCK: Crazy Jake’s Fish Bomb is a fun, fast-paced and engaging read leaving you wishing your virtual vacation to Hardrock could last a little longer.

Introduction to The Following Excerpt

           Despite his being wanted on a questionable charge, Crazy Jake is one of Hardrock’s most defining and loveable characters. Without means, but certainly not without method while subsisting in an abandoned house a quarter-mile from the inn, Crazy Jake devises a homemade fish bomb by which he hopes to secure a summer food supply. In the following scene, he has failed to properly detonate his illegal fish-catching device which has resulted in a mild injury and inadvertent swim in the icy waters of Muskrat Lake. Unbeknownst to Jake, the Division of Wildlife (D.O.W.) stock truck has just pulled up to release a load of fish into the lake. As Jake soon discovers, ruining his device and wrangling captured trout are about to be the least of his problems…

 From the title story: “Crazy Jake’s Fish Bomb”, page: 120

             Temporarily deafened by the explosion, Jake hadn’t heard the rumble of the D.O.W. truck approach. Just as he began to climb out onto the ledge, he caught sight of the huge white tank and Lloyd, the game warden, getting out to hook up the transfer hose.

             Immediately sinking back into the cold water and hoping the warden wouldn’t look up and notice his hat floating in the middle of the lake, Jake’s eyes peered just above the surface.

             “Cripes, I’m f-freeeeezing to death!” Jake chattered as he slowly made his way toward shallower water. Finally, the transfer was finished, and the warden packed up the truck and headed back into town.

             Scrambling out of the water, Jake slogged as quickly as he could toward the dumping area and waded out to the pool of stunned fishes loitering about the surface. Shivering madly, Jake grabbed a fish only to have it vibrate out of his hands.

             Then he remembered his bag hanging in the tree across the lake.

             “D-d-d-dang it all...” With numb fingers, Jake jammed his shirt into his pants and furiously stuffed listless trout down its front.

             Hurrying down the road toward home with his sides, back and belly bulging with violently flipping fish, Jake wriggled through the woods, trying to avoid the business end of needle-sharp dorsal fins.

             “Quit your squirmin’ around, d-d-d-dang it. Yeeeeeee heeeeheeehee, d-d-damn fish, YEEhee YOW!”

             Jake had nearly made it to his front door when he looked up and saw the game warden standing on his porch.

 Read More… 

We'll let you be surprised by what happens to Crazy Jake in the book, but right now you can get to know many of Hardrock's main characters through the stories, here, and even nose around town on a walking tour...

You can leave a comment for us to post on the reviews page, or join the HARDROCK community on Facebook (search "Hardrock Books") and share tales of your own high-country adventures!
 

Just click the links below to read more.
You can get started with Rocky Mountain Bound or skip around as you like.
 

Rocky Mountain Bound

Quartz Creek Inn

The Hardrock Welcoming Committee… as it were

The Gamblers

Coyote Blind

Cooking With Joe and Al

Myth or Mystery…

Crazy Jake’s Fish Bomb

The Legend of the Rat Man

The Ladies’ Society of Diamond Hills Luncheon

Amy Wilson’s Pool Party

Peevil’s Revenge

Bear Feet and Bare Ass

Turkey Run

A Tale of Two Deer

A Hardrock Thanksgiving

Tic’s Addiction

Christmas Eve Miracle at the Church of Hardrock

Sadie Hawkin’s Dance

Winter Hazards