Colorado's literary landscape is as dramatic and varied as its geography. It is a state of vast, soul-searching plains and rugged, isolating mountains, a place where the myths of the Old West collide with the anxieties of the new. For the writers who set their stories here, Colorado is more than just a location; it's a force that shapes character, drives plot, and haunts the imagination. From epic historical sagas of the frontier to chilling tales of supernatural dread in the Rockies, these novels capture the unique, high-altitude soul of the Centennial State.
These novels are deeply rooted in the soil and history of Colorado, telling epic stories of the pioneers, ranchers, and dreamers who shaped the state. They explore the immense challenges of the land, the clash of cultures, and the enduring spirit of the American West.
This monumental epic chronicles the history of a fictional town on the Colorado plains, from its geological formation to the 1970s. Michener weaves together the stories of Arapaho tribes, French trappers, cattle ranchers, and homesteaders to create a grand, sweeping portrait of how the West was settled, fought over, and transformed.
In the fictional small town of Holt, on the high plains of eastern Colorado, a group of quiet lives intersect in profound ways. A high school teacher is abandoned by his wife, a pregnant teenager is taken in by two elderly bachelor brothers, and others navigate the quiet dramas of life. It is a spare, beautiful, and deeply humane novel about community and compassion.
A young man from Boston drops out of Harvard in the 1870s to seek an authentic experience in the West. He joins a small, obsessive crew on a massive buffalo hunt deep in the Colorado Rockies. This anti-western is a stark, brutal, and unforgettable novel about the destructive nature of obsession and the harsh reality behind the myth of the frontier.
A wheelchair-bound historian pieces together the story of his pioneer grandparents, an East Coast artist and a mining engineer. A significant part of their story unfolds in the rough-and-tumble mining camps of Leadville, painting a vivid portrait of the sacrifices and hardships of trying to build a civilized life on the rugged frontier.
The majestic beauty of the Rocky Mountains holds a darker side—a profound, snow-swept isolation that can breed madness and awaken ancient evils. These novels use the high-country setting to create an atmosphere of creeping dread, psychological terror, and supernatural horror.
The definitive Colorado horror story. Jack Torrance, a recovering alcoholic and aspiring writer, takes a job as the winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel, high in the Rockies. As snow cuts them off from the world, the hotel's malevolent spirits begin to work on Jack's sanity, while his psychic son, Danny, sees the true horror of the place.
In King's apocalyptic epic, after a superflu wipes out most of humanity, the survivors are drawn to two opposing forces. The forces of good, led by the benevolent Mother Abagail, gather in Boulder to try and rebuild civilization. The city becomes a crucial sanctuary and the front line in the ultimate battle against the evil Randall Flagg.
Set in a small, fictional town during the Great Depression, this raw and powerful novel follows the Bandini family. The story is a bleak and poetic portrait of an Italian-American family struggling with poverty, infidelity, and the harsh realities of a Rocky Mountain winter, all seen through the eyes of the teenage son, Arturo.
Two intense and imaginative siblings spend their summers at their uncle's ranch in the mountains. This psychologically acute novel explores their difficult coming-of-age as they confront the often brutal realities of the adult world and the natural world, leading to a shocking and tragic climax in the untamed wilderness.
These novels capture a more contemporary Colorado, a place of vibrant cities, intellectual hubs, and new kinds of pioneers. They are stories of self-discovery, artistic creation, and the search for meaning in a state that continues to attract seekers and dreamers.
The definitive novel of the Beat Generation. While it famously crisscrosses America, Denver is a crucial hub in the frenetic journeys of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty. The city is a place of jazz, poetry, wild parties, and restless energy, a key stopping point in their spiritual and geographical quest for kicks and transcendence.
This novel follows Thea Kronborg, a minister's daughter from a small Colorado town who possesses an extraordinary artistic gift. The story charts her journey from her childhood in the high desert to her development as a world-renowned opera singer, with the stark, powerful landscape of her home state serving as a profound source of her artistic inspiration.
After a pandemic has wiped out most of the population, a man named Hig lives in an abandoned airport hangar near the mountains with his dog and a gun-toting survivalist. This beautiful, lyrical, and hopeful post-apocalyptic novel is a story of survival, loss, and one man's decision to fly his small plane out over the empty landscape in search of human connection.
One of the most powerful anti-war novels ever written. A young soldier from Shale City, Colorado, is catastrophically wounded in WWI, losing his limbs and his face. A prisoner in his own mind, he flashes back to his idyllic childhood in Colorado as he desperately tries to communicate. His memories of home become a symbol of everything the war has destroyed.
From hard-boiled detective stories to satirical thrillers, Colorado's cities and resort towns provide a unique setting for tales of crime and conspiracy. These novels use the state's landscape to heighten suspense and explore the dark deeds that can happen at a mile high.
When his homicide detective brother dies in an apparent suicide, Denver crime reporter Jack McEvoy refuses to believe the official story. His investigation uncovers a chilling pattern of similar deaths across the country, putting him on the trail of a brilliant and ruthless serial killer who targets detectives and uses the words of Edgar Allan Poe.
A witty and charming romantic comedy set at a corporate research facility in Boulder. A sociologist studying fads finds her work constantly disrupted by a chaotic biologist and a series of misdelivered sheep. It is a hilarious look at chaos theory, corporate culture, and the unpredictable nature of human behavior (and fads).
A classic Western adventure set in a booming Colorado mining town. A man arrives in High Vermilion only to find himself in the middle of a violent conflict over competing gold claims. The novel is a fast-paced story of shootouts, shifting allegiances, and survival in the high-stakes, lawless world of a mountain boomtown.
In this massive philosophical novel, when the world's greatest innovators and industrialists go on strike, they retreat to a secret, hidden valley in the Colorado mountains called Galt's Gulch. This utopian refuge becomes the symbol of individualism and creative freedom, the rational heart of a world collapsing under collectivism.
From the epic historical sweep of Centennial to the intimate terror of The Shining, the novels of Colorado offer a literary journey as breathtaking as a drive through the Rockies. They showcase a state of profound contrasts—a place of quiet beauty and brutal hardship, of frontier myths and modern anxieties. Whether you're drawn to a tale of survival on the high plains or a psychological thriller in an isolated hotel, the stories of the Centennial State are waiting to be discovered.