“Every day is the rainy season/every night is a full moon/whenever I’m with you…love is a monsoon”

Back from a weekend in the Gila Wilderness–or on the edge of same–doing setting research for the new book–specifically Raven’s Butte Visitor’s Center, Raven Rock Wilderness Reserve (both invented) and various stretches of the Gila River (real, and much of this book’s inspiration). Realized I’d forgotten more than I realized, and very much needed some setting immersion. And hey–the Gila Wilderness is the nearest-to-home setting I’ve written in ages (specifically, since the Phantom Rider trilogy), so I have the luxury of being able to do multiple visits, which is pretty cool, and useful for plotting as well as setting.

Pictures to come, maybe. In the meantime, here’s something from Raven Book’s playlist, set as it is some days or weeks (still working that out) before the Southwest’s rainy season–Luka Bloom’s “Love is a Monsoon”:

I wanted to link also link to Richard Shindell covering Jeffrey Foucault’s “Northbound 35,” which is on said playlist as well, but couldn’t find a decent enough recording quality to do that haunting song justice. But it’s on Shindell’s South of Delia album and worth looking up:

Mustang horses
Champagne glasses
Anything frail
Anything wild
It’s the price of living motion
What’s beautiful is broken
And grace is just a measure of the fall …

Okay. Back into the virtual wilderness. Later!