Colin Meloy's new novel

COLIN IN POWELL’S: Decemberists auteur Colin Meloy has put the band on indefinite hiatus partly in order to devote himself to another medium—books. The first evidence of Meloy’s transition is the young adult fantasy novel Wildwood, created in collaboration with his wife, artist/illustrator Carson Ellis, and “set in a fantastical version of Portland, Oregon,” writes Jill Owens on the website of Portland institution Powell’s Books, introducing a lively Q&A with the couple. “The first in a series, Wildwood details the journeys of 12-year-olds Prue and Curtis into the Impassable Wilderness (which is based on the real-life Forest Park),” Owens explains. “They're trying to rescue Prue's baby brother, Mac, who was abruptly kidnapped by crows. Along the way, they meet up with a coyote army, a kingdom of birds, a tangle of bureaucracy, bandits, mystics, and even a rickshaw-driving badger. Michael Chabon lauds, ‘Dark and whimsical, with a true and uncanny sense of otherworldliness, Wildwood is the heir to a great tradition of stories of wild childhood adventure. It snatched me up and carried me off into a world I didn't want to leave.’" Meloy is the author of a 33 1/3 Series book about The Replacements’ Let It Be. (9/7a)