The Last Island Almanac by Bob Stevens

A Novel

The last year, the last island, the last man—new novel explores the landscapes of death

Traverse City, Michigan—Writers are often portrayed as quiet, aloof, perhaps even reclusive, toiling away for sometimes hours on end. Reticent to talk about their work in progress, they’re even less apt to share preliminary thoughts about future projects. Bob Stevens, author of The Last Island Almanac, Mission Point Press, (April 1, 2025), joked to a friend when he began writing that “my intention was to write a novel about a man dying that had a happy ending, in the first person. My friend rightfully thought this was a ridiculous idea. My strong inner contrarian was consequently engaged and the book poured forth.”

Stevens was originally inspired by the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac by American environmentalist Aldo Leopold, published in 1949. However, in short time, the structure and the voice grew to what he calls “a much different animal.” The Last Island Almanac chronicles the four seasons of the final year of an old man’s life. Alone, haunted, haunting, the fabric of the natural world around him slowly frays and evidence mounts that he is the last man, on the last island, in a departing world. As his life force weakens, essential island resources melt away. Hallucinogenic wildflowers bloom in the woods, visitors appear, then fade.

Follow the Cat . . . or Not-A-Cat

With few human characters in The Last Island Almanac, the natural world, real and imagined, figures prominently as an integral part of the story. “I’ve loved learning about local waterways, ecosystems, history and, as a librarian and bibliophile, I’ve collected and consumed a lot of writing about Michigan and the Great Lakes. Learning about existing mythologies inspires me to create my own.” Those inspirations are apparent with elusive yet integral characters, including a surprising companion, Lady Grimalkin, a cat and not a cat, who mysteriously saunters in and out of the book.

Stevens is presently at work on two upcoming novels that will join The Last Island Almanac to tell the story of a collapsed world or what he refers to as “The Great Unraveling.” The Last Academic Library documents a small group of survivors on an abandoned college campus while The Last Inland Seas Unraveling follows a married couple traveling through the changing landscapes.

Advance Praise for The Last Island Almanac

From Dave Dempsey, Michigan Author Award 2009, Michigan Notable Book recipient:

“Bob Stevens applies a master’s touch to The Last Island Almanac. The reader enters an unsettling world of strange beauty, described in the words of a poetic spirit making a last stand. The braiding of real and unreal in this enigmatic place will haunt readers long after they put the book down.”

The Author

Bob Stevens is a librarian at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan. His previous titles include two works of fiction, Dark Tales of Elsewhere and Dark Tales of the Inland Seas Region, two works of poetry, Dark Poems of the Inland Seas Region and Dark Poems of Elsewhere, as well as Devil in the Pines by the Bottoms Family.

The Book

The Last Island Almanac

Bob Stevens

184 pages, 6 x 9 inches, B/W

Fiction, World Literature, 21st Century, Nature & the Environment, Psychological

ISBN: 978-1-965278-26-0, $16.95 (Softcover)

ISBN: 978-1-965278-29-1, $26.95 (Hardcover)

Mission Point Press, April 1, 2025

Copies are available for preorder at Bookshop.org, Amazon, and other online retailers. On its April 1 publication date, it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold. For information or to arrange for signings and events, contact the author at rsteven5@emich.edu.