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

In Nevada, there’s nothing more certain than the arrival of another traffic study. Give a committee a highway, a growing industrial park, and sufficient automobiles. And before long there will be maps on tables, arrows pointing in several directions, and… Continue reading

You can travel across Nevada without encountering another human, yet may come across a free-range horse at any time. It is one of the state’s peculiar arrangements with nature: civilization builds a highway, nature supplies the horses, and everybody trusts… Continue reading

There are many ways to improve a neighborhood, but hiding four stolen automobiles on your property is not among them. This useful principle was apparently overlooked in Silver Springs last week, when detectives with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Special… Continue reading

I woke up in a motel room on the edge of Virginia City with the sun punching through the blinds like a personal grudge. The air conditioner spat warm air. My mouth tasted like roadkill left out in the rain.… Continue reading

Father McBride’s mind was full, and he’d seen enough of the church for that week. Though his knees ached, he knew he had to get out and do some chukar hunting. He knew he’d find himself in confession for all… Continue reading

It’s been a silly day, the kind that comes naturally to travelers after enough miles, enough meals, and enough roadside scenery to make the brain resign its post and leave the body to fend for itself. We have reached that… Continue reading