John Murnane Author
Blowing in the Wind
"Huckleberry Finn in the desert"
Available on Amazon/Kindle
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Three boys head out into the desert in search of scorpions. Not just any scorpions–scorpions that are renowned for their prowess in their scorpion wars. It is the summer of 1968. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King have just been assassinated and the Vietnam war is raging. The boys decide to explore an abandoned gold mine and become lost. When they emerge, they are in a part of the desert they have never been before. They meet a hermit and a prospector, spend the night in an abandoned Japanese internment camp, and are taken prisoner by a psychopath and his sons. They escape, and rescue an injured test pilot with the aid of an Indian and Vietnam veterans recovering from the trauma of the war. The story explores the relationship of the boys with their fathers, who come looking for them. On their journey, the boys learn about courage, racial prejudice, the value of friendship, and collect clues to help them discover the location of a famed lost gold mine
Background
This novel is a composite of many of my experiences as a boy growing up in the desert. The desert was my playground and I have spent many days exploring the desert as an adult. For the sake of the story, I have combined different locations that are in reality far apart. The overhang that the boys slept in was taken from a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon. Desperate to find a place to camp that was flat enough for our sleeping bags, a friend and I spied an overhang high above. Climbing up, we found an ancient campsite with petroglyphs on the ceiling, similar to the one in the novel. The lost gold mine in the story was taken from the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountains near where I lived in Mesa Arizona. The gold was a draw for many men who were determined to make it rich, often with fatal consequences. Seldom Seen Slim and the ghost town named Ballarat where he lived, was the model for the Slim in my novel. My father knew Slim (see photo) and used to take him beer to get stories for his newspaper. Trona California, where my parents were married and my sister was born, was the inspiration for the small town in my novel. There really was a policeman named Tiny in Trona, who made sure that the high stakes poker games ran smoothly. I heard many stories about the injustice of Manzanar as a boy from my parents, who took food and clothing to the internees during the war. The test pilot in the story was part of my fascination with Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert close to my home in Lancaster California where they tested all the new fighter jets. Sonic booms from them breaking the sound barrier were a daily occurrence. Charlie and his sons was modeled after Charles Manson who in the early years lived with his cult in the California desert.
My mother with orphans at Manzanar
My father with Seldom Seen Slim
Kirkus Review
When three teenagers get lost in the desert, dangerous conditions, animals, and people test their mettle in this debut YA novel.
It’s 1968, and for 13-year-old tanned friends Max, Eddie, and Daniel, one of their few pastimes in the high desert is staging scorpion battles in a mock arena. Daniel’s canyon-bred gladiators are the toughest, so the friends arrange a camping trip to find some more, emboldened by his knowledge of desert survival. After catching several scorpions, the friends decide to explore one of the nearby mines. Maybe they’ll even find the legendary Lost Randolph Mine or run across a missing test pilot. Although the boys take careful precautions, they get badly lost. The three emerge into unknown territory where they must fight for survival, and not just against the elements. More than once, the boys must escape from unsavory or criminal desert dwellers, though they also find some unusual allies. The experience brings the friends many new understandings of themselves, the world they live in, and their families. Murnane writes an exciting adventure story with risky scenarios that give his characters many chances to show their courage and considerable resourcefulness in matters like orienteering, handling a rattlesnake, and finding water. The dramatic, eerie desert setting is a greatly effective backdrop that’s described with vivid authenticity. More than that, the novel also explores thorny issues like the Vietnam War, assassinations, and racism. In one episode, for example, the boys investigate a deserted Manzanar—a kind of shameful ghost town. Also thorny, and central to the book, are fraught father-and-son relationships and cultural expectations around masculinity, leading to emotional rapprochements. The ending indulges in some wish-fulfillment rewards, but it’s a feel-good conclusion that readers will enjoy.
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A thoughtful and entertaining coming-of-age tale with a vibrant setting.