Why a Fantasy Western?
Why a fantasy western?
Welcome to my Writing Darkroom, the place where writing and photography collide. It’s no secret: my photography inspires my writing. Some people see a movie or read a book that sticks with them, and suddenly, an idea springs from that.
I find my stories in landscapes. I enjoy traveling to exotic places, scouting them with a camera, and using the resulting photos to develop my novels.
Few places inspire me more than the desert. Mountains are grand, oceans and lakes are peaceful…but the desert? It’s another planet, a mystery like none other. It demands exploration.
Perhaps Edward Abbey says it best in Desert Solitaire:
“The desert says nothing. Completely passive, acted upon but never acting, the desert lies there like the bare skeleton of Being, spare, sparse, austere, utterly worthless, inviting not love but contemplation…despite its clarity and simplicity, however, the desert wears at the same time, paradoxically, a veil of mystery. Motionless and silent it evokes in us an elusive hint of something unknown, unknowable, about to be revealed. Since the desert does not act it seems to be waiting—but waiting for what?”
Pages 300-301
I first experienced the American Southwest in 2019. With clothes, groceries, and hiking supplies filling my sedan, I road tripped from Virginia to Yosemite National Park in California. I’d dreamed of visiting Yosemite ever since I saw pictures of it in elementary school, and I was thrilled to see the formations of my childhood: Half Dome and El Capitan.
But I never expected the Southwest to be the region that stole my heart. It’s just a boring desert, right? Who would ever go there? But as I explored the canyons, the dunes, the grand mesas, I remembered another aspect of my childhood: the Western.
Be it a book or a movie, this genre has always captivated me. How can’t you like the gunslinger who finds a windswept, impoverished town and brings justice the cowardly sheriff won’t? Who doesn’t like the man or woman who comes from nowhere to bring order to a lawless land…just because they can?
And the characters themselves? They’re my favorites. They’re usually damaged, limping from a traumatic past. They often don’t play well with others, preferring to be alone. Their stories don’t always end happy or nice; they resemble something closer to real life. These characters are still wounded, but they find ways to endure, to survive and to hope. Their endings encourage me more than the picturesque family or the hero who finds the love of his life without struggle.
I want to know real characters who stagger through the dust and grit. I want to befriend people who don’t have all the answers, who wander the vast, desolate wilderness in search of their souls. I belive I'm on the same journey, and I don't think it ever ends.
Where else to put those characters but the desert? I’ve often heard it said that you meet God (or whatever else you’re searching for) in the quiet, undisturbed moments of life. I haven’t found anywhere that’s quieter and purer than the desert.
“Even after years of intimate contact and search this quality of strangeness in the desert remains undiminished. Transparent and intangible as sunlight, yet always and everywhere present, it lures a man on and on, from the red-walled canyons to the smoke-blue ranges beyond, in a futile but fascinating quest for the great, unimaginable treasure which the desert seems to promise. Once caught by this golden lure you become a prospector for life, condemned, doomed, exalted.”
Edward Abbey, “Desert Solitarie” (page 303)
I can’t explain the itch. I only know that the desert captivates me. My fantasy characters are slipping into western archetypes. Genres keep colliding, and I’ve finally decided to roll with it.
I’ve spent most of this year working on a Fantasy Western. I’m presently finishing revisions, meeting with a cover designer in a few weeks, and tentatively eyeing a launch date somewhere in January or February of 2023. The jury’s still out on whether this will be a standalone novel or part of a series.
All I know is that I’ve wanted to tackle a project like this for years…and I’m so excited with its development. I can’t wait to share more with you in the coming months!
