Tule Town: A Memoir of Hellraising Redemption

By Terry C Winckler

"There are worlds that can only be seen through the eyes of a wounded heart..." So begins Tule Town, a memoir for these troubled times as politics deepens the divide between rural and urban America. It is the true story of a big-city liberal falling out of grace into a conservative farm town and discovering his roots along a river where character (and characters) matter more than politics.

Described as "a delicious read" by one reviewer, Tule Town is told through the eyes and heart of 30-year-old Terry Winckler as he comes to Porterville to start his broken life over on a tiny newspaper. Once he wrote about world leaders for the nation's most prestigious magazine; now, he wonders, will I write about cows? His bitterness dissolves when the doors of a cafe open to a world of "spectacularly ordinary" people whose lives inspire Terry and help him rebuild his. They include Chuck the poet laureate of outhouses, ol' Willis who beats sense into him with a frying pan, Frank an alcoholic ex-Hollywood star who drags him toward despair, and fence post-Jim who stands tall against drought, flood, and tragedy. Terry discovers most of them along the Tule River where he seeks solace and mythical trout after chasing horrific news events.

On his seven-year quest upriver, he confronts alcoholism, lost love, questions about religion versus spirituality, and the most haunting question-who am I? It all comes together atop the High Sierra overlooking California's vast Central Valley.

"The book is terrific. Also engaging, lively, entertaining, fascinating, and a dozen other adjectives," says Tom Turner, author of Wild By Law. "Terry Winckler is a master of storytelling and lyrical at descriptions... a lovely read " writes Mike Meenan, editor at the former San Mateo County Times. "The reader gets emotionally involved and begins to root for Terry as he wrestles with demons and is rescued by knights that don't wear flashy armor," says Maureen Entera, psychic artist.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0CBD6DXCT
• ISBN13: 9798988144922
• Release Date: August 2023
• Publisher: Terwin Publishing LLC
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Tule Town is the tonic we need in these crazy times

If understanding "flyover country" is the goal, Tule Town is a way to get there. Set in the Central California town of Porterville in the late 1970s and early 1980s, journalist Terry Winckler moved there to resurrect his career and confront his alcoholism. It's the rural swath of the country the coastal elites sail over on their way from sea to shining sea, looking down on the peons literally and figuratively. It's Trump Country and back in the day of this book, Reagan backers, and no matter the labels, the progressive crowd can't understand how they got that way. Tule Town is a way to grasp what's happening as Winckler brilliantly chronicles the stories of these forgotten. At times they come across as crazy, but no crazier than the author who's firing a pistol into the air on the book's cover. Winckler is not one to judge, he's just jotting down their moving tales brought on by poverty, drugs and other misfortunes. While the two sides of our political divide can't seem to agree on much, Winckler's everyman prose bridges that chasm with empathy and logic. He's one hell of a writer as well, though the elites might prefer "eloquent." Whatever your taste, Tule Town is the kind of read we need in these troubled times, a way to understand each other without getting at each other's throats.