The Many Worlds of Mauch Chunk

"Mauch Chunk" means Bear Place in the Lenape (Delaware) Indian language. The former Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, is now called Jim Thorpe. (It's a long story. But it is interesting.) It's the seat of Carbon County, the site of the trial of some Molly McGuires, the site of the 1860s Asa Packer mansion, and of a particularly grim-looking calaboose. The restaurant across from the county courthouse makes edible but not spectacular Shepherd's Pie.

Mauch Chunk is also the setting for a sometimes loosely interconnected series of books by Fred Pruitt. Set in the green and gold beauty of the Pocono Mountains, you can follow the adventures of Allen Peterson and Cazzie Wright and their dog, diOggi; Dick Whittington and Alice Montoya and their two cats and one very large doggy; Elliott Collins and Andi Maggiore and Schrödinger's Cat; Asmodeus J. Jones and the lovely Nevianne, Witch of Sandy Isle, and her coven; Quincy Holmes and Nellie Moriarty; and a host of others.


Asmodeus J. Jones is Summoned, under a pretty witch's mistaken impression he's a demon
Andi Maggiore meets the love of her life, and five more copies of him.
An abused young woman meets the Phantom of the Freeway, who lives in The Old Dark House
Dolly's boyfriend gets her stupid cousin pregnant. Her best friend gets her a job on a ranch in Texas. One morniing she wakes up naked in a cheap motel with Nate. The airconditioner is freezing them.
Cornelia takes much more damage than the average heroine. Her husband dumps her. Then she meets Quincy.
Alicia flees an abusive life in California, hitchhikes across the country, and gets a job shoveling out stables. 		Cazzie's boyfriend's uncle needs some help renovating the stables (with a nod to Bret Harte)
 Cazzie is out of school! She's free at last! Now, about those guys who shot her husband...

A girl with one of the world's worst mothers meets a guy who's thinking of restarting a dead furniture factory
A young fellow fresh out of officer's academy walks into an interstellar invasion