Desert Oracle Volume 1: Strange True Tales from the American Southwest [Ken Layne]

[Weird Southwest] [Desert Vortices] [It’s Not All Joshua Tree]

Desert Oracle Volume 1: Strange True Tales from the American Southwest

Ken Layne

FSG, New York, 2020. First Edition. Octavo.

Like new. Beautiful bright yellow boards.

From the publisher: “…straight out of Joshua Tree, California, Desert Oracle is “The Voice of the Desert”: a field guide to the strange tales, singing sand dunes, sagebrush trails, artists and aliens, authors and oddballs, ghost towns and modern legends, musicians and mystics, scorpions and saguaros, out there in the sand. Desert Oracle is your companion at a roadside diner, around a campfire, in your tent or cabin (or high-rise apartment or suburban living room) as the wind and the coyotes howl outside at night.”

It took me a while to vibe with the Desert Oracle podcast. The reason? I am a hater of all things California. I refuse to even step foot in that weird state/country. Nothing personal, just the result of growing up in New Jersey. Regardless! I will not deny their cultural production and Ken Layne does a masterful job developing a homey, warm “voice” which translates perfectly into this collection of weird tales. Very fun, very southwest, and full of strange tales I’ve never heard before. A beautiful addition to the bibliography of southwest weirdness.