From the secrets of wildland firefighting to Indigenous land management to persevering through sexist harassment, River Selby’s incredible memoir, Hotshot: A Life on Fire, forthcoming on August 12, takes us on a fascinating tour of the American West, the human body, and forest ecosystems.
I am grateful for receiving an ARC (advance copy) of Hotshot via NetGalley, and had the amazing experience of reading the book while camping near Yosemite and in the Eastern Sierras. I've recently walked in many of the places Selby describes in such vivid detail!
But I have been interested in the ecology of the American West for a long time, even before I started spending months camping. Fire suppression, what the land looked like before colonial control, forests vs. meadows vs. chaparral, and the danger of wildfires fascinated me.
I've been fascinated by River Selby's work and experience for a long time - years? I jumped at the opportunity to beta read their manuscript. So am I an impartial reviewer of this book? Nope, I'm definitely a fan. But it's important and a joy to promote our friends' work, especially within marginalized communities!
I learned so much about wildland firefighting from Selby - who knew fire suppression involves so many intentionally lit fires! - and about the natural cycles of wildfires burning in a mosaic pattern so habitats can regrow.
Selby shares such vivid and gripping descriptions of working on the hotshot crews. I felt scared for them immersed in smoke, digging line through the forest, but impressed by their strength and tenacity.
Firefighting is such a visceral experience, not separate from the body at all. Selby had an eating disorder and struggled with body image, suffering through difficult working conditions made more challenging by coworkers’ unwarranted judgements.
Grief for what might have been is tenderly woven throughout the narrative. What might have been if Indigenous people had kept maintaining their homeland, rather than violently forced out. What might have been if women and men and trans and non-binary people were supported equally in their firefighting careers and in their relationships. And the overwhelming grief of family tragedy.
But this is not a sad book. This narrative is about regrowth and a researched, respectful, inclusive understanding of the ecosystems we all live in. I learned so much from Selby's experience.
Hotshot is not specifically a book about being queer. I imagine many people may see it as the story of a female firefighter. But the understated queerness of the narrative resonated strongly with me as a non-binary person. Because that's what being non-binary is like, for many people. We are assumed to be women or men and treated accordingly.
Selby chose to use their old names and descriptions when recounting their experience on the hotshot crews. I really like how this represents accurately how their life was. Gender dysphoria, body dysmorphia, and same-sex attraction are featured prominently.
Queerness resonates with ecology in Hotshot. We need to understand the long term impacts of our actions on wild land, by learning from Indigenous traditions and observing the ecosystem for ourselves, rather than take as fact the profit-motivated, colonial fire suppression dogma. This message of acknowledging and taking responsibility for our own actions parallels queer people finding our own way to express our gender and who we are attracted to. A lot of what we see as gender non-conforming traditions come from Indigenous communities as well.
This book changed my whole perspective on the forests and grasslands I have spent many months camping in. I highly recommend reading River Selby's memoir Hotshot! (Consider pre-ordering or requesting from your local library)
