About Natural Stories

"Mr. Clayton writes with clarity, passion and insight." —Wall Street Journal

“Clayton uses entertaining anecdotes, thorough research, and vivid storytelling.” —Big Sky Journal

Natural Stories is the weekly email newsletter of Montana writer John Clayton. Like John’s books and articles, it explores nature through people, in story format. Its slogan is: nature is story, stories are our nature. Nature is story; although it’s often about science, politics, spirituality, and more, at heart there’s always a story. Stories are our nature; the human brain perceives the world through story. Each week, here, a new story.

John Clayton is the author of books including Wonderlandscape, The Cowboy Girl, and Natural Rivals, along with hundreds of essays and articles, as described at www.johnclaytonbooks.com. A native of Massachusetts and graduate of Williams College, John has lived fulltime in Montana since 1990.

For more on John’s aims and motivations for the publication, see its opening manifesto and his personal note.

What readers are saying

"What a brilliant idea. In a world surrounded by people and their stories, I’m looking forward to reading more about what people are or were surrounded by, maybe even before people came along." -Stephen K.

"John is one of the outstanding writers of stories related to the natural world, combining colorful human stories with insights regarding the ways we interact with wild places." -Don R.

“I appreciate your in-depth research and intriguing angles.” –John M.

“You reveal aspects of nature that I’ve never encountered before, and for more well-known aspects of nature, you have a unique perspective.” –Dave S.

Your stories are always thoughtful, well-written, and enjoyable to read, and I always learn something!” –Martha B.

"John Clayton is an insightful and entertaining writer. " -Jim S.

Why subscribe

When you subscribe, you’ll get a new issue of Natural Stories every Tuesday at 5pm MT. Subscribing is easy and safe, just enter your email address. To support this work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.