[7] Cottonwood earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis, in 1970, majoring in English "with a heavy dose of science.
Since 1976 Cottonwood has worked in the building trades as a carpenter, plumber, and electrician and eventually became a general contractor doing house repairs.
La Honda is no longer the Acid Tests / Hells Angels hangout of the sixties, but it is still full of cranks, dreamers, and a few astonishing outlaws".
[10] Cottonwood is the co-host of a La Honda tradition known as Lit Night, which is a monthly literary gathering in a bar with an open mic for locals to read their own or other people's works before a live, somewhat lubricated audience.
It turned into a three-day botch, but in the process he became friends with the woman's boyfriend (John Daniel) who wanted to be a book editor.
[12] Cottonwood's novels for younger readers have been commended by educators for their content and tone and by youngsters for their plot and characters: Quake!
[25][26] Cottonwood's 2013 memoir, 99 Jobs: Blood, Sweat, and Houses, based on his experiences as a contractor, carpenter, plumber, and electrician, is available electronically and in print.
(Scholastic 1995) Babcock (The San Puerco Trilogy) (Scholastic 1996) Four Dog Riot (ebook, 2011) The Naked Computer (Black Dragon Books 1974) Famous Potatoes (No Dead Lines Press 1978) Famous Potatoes (Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence 1979) Frank City (Goodbye) (Delacorte/Seymour Lawrence 1981) Clear Heart (audiobook: Podiobooks.com 2007, winner of the 2008 Founders Choice Award;[36] BookSurge Publishing 2008).