In the quiet little town of Fernley, where the desert wind whispers secrets to the sagebrush and a man can still lose a whole afternoon arguing with a fence post, the North Lyon County firefighters got called out one Friday… Continue reading

“Water, water everywhere, nigh a drop to drink,” the ancient mariner lamented. Salt traces empty the wind-swept patches of vegetation, while hardy species like saltbush and saltgrass thrive in this saline desert. Meanwhile, saltbush, with its rustling, papery seeds, flourishes… Continue reading

Nothing begets tears like campfire smoke or a thick salmon fillet. It arrived on a Tuesday, glistening like a silver bribe, and I received it with the solemn gratitude of a man who has just been handed the keys to… Continue reading

So, is Nevada empty? Barren? Desolate? Is all the action confined to the casinos, all the beauty with the haughty showgirls? Are the sage-filled valleys and blue mountains out yonder good only for the shepherd, cowman, trapper, and the miner… Continue reading

There is a reason they call it the Trees of Mystery, although I have never been entirely convinced that the reason is what the proprietors claim. My own theory is that the trees are embarrassed because they have forgotten their… Continue reading

The Arizona sun hung in a sky the color of bleached bone. Molly Carter had ridden these trails since she was old enough to sit a saddle, but never like this—on foot, half-blind from the glare, her canteen long empty… Continue reading

It has been a foolish day, the sort that settles over travelers once the miles have outrun the sense and the scenery has worn the mind down to a soft, agreeable pulp. Ordinary things stop being themselves and take up… Continue reading

Paul woke frightened inside, and his shouts did not bring him back to sleep was filled with demons and death, to which he was so near, the dark room spinning like a broken carousel under the cheap motel neon that… Continue reading

I pulled the battered Ford into the parking space, gravity tugging hard at the tires, aligning with the little green men in the spacecraft, while the screaming grew closer. The lot was a cracked concrete sea under sodium lamps that… Continue reading

I was still bleeding when the applause failed to materialize. Not the dramatic arterial spray of the movies, just a steady seep through the bandage on my ribs where the security goon’s baton had found its mark, and a deeper,… Continue reading