Mark the Date! September 21, 2024 for Desert Steve and Nuff Sed.

My historical fiction novel, four years in the making, will be released on September 21, 2024.

The date is symbolic, because the main character, Desert Steve Ragsdale, founded the town of Desert Center on September 21, 1921. One hundred and three years later, you can read an historical fiction novel about this clever, indefatigable, and quirky man who contributed to the growth of the America West and the community of desert rats in the Colorado Desert of California.

In an earlier novel, To and Fro Upon the Earth, I placed a scene in the cafe in the town of Desert Center, located about halfway between Palm Springs and Blythe. I knew it was a ghost town, but didn’t know a lot else about it. It was a convenient location for the plot and character of the novel.

Years later, I was driving from Phoenix to Los Angeles, and I stopped in the town to check it out, just from curiosity. Abandoned buildings, preserved in the desert heat. A cafe, gas stations, markets, neighborhoods, houses—all abandoned for decades. As I stood in the front of the cafe, I took some pictures and videos and sent them to some of my best friends in Texas. One of them text back, “What’s t he background to that town? Why was it abandoned?” I had no idea, so I grabbed my iPad and immediately began researching.

What I found was the fascinating story of Steve Ragsdale and Desert Center, a testament to the human spirit and toughness, as well as a place where so many important events in American history during the twentieth century. It immediately occurred to me that the story would make a wonderful historical fiction novel.

As I researched, I discovered that there was no definitive works or books about Ragsdale and the town. Instead, information about him was spread about in bits and pieces in magazines, newspapers, his own sparse writings, recollections of others, government records, and recollections of people who knew him (he died in 1971.) I spent over three years gathering everything I could find, then another year organizing and outlining the story. Wonderful themes emerged, and an outline suggested itself. After almost five years, the novel is complete.

Published by Riversong Books, you can preorder the eBook now, and paperback preorders coming soon. Join my newsletter here, or check back regularly for updates. (I will also be doing a series of posts on each chapter, describing more of the background material and historical underpinnings of the novel, if you are interested in a deeper dive into this subject of the history of the American West.