Desert Oracle

The cult-y pocket-size field guide to the strange and intriguing secrets of the Mojave—its myths and legends, outcasts and oddballs, flora, fauna, and UFOs—becomes the definitive, oracular book of the desert For the past five years, Desert Oracle has existed as a quasi-mythical, quarterly periodical available to the very determined only by subscription or at the odd desert-town gas station or the occasional hipster boutique, its canary-yellow-covered, forty-four-page issues handed from one curious desert zealot to the next, word spreading faster than the printers could keep up with. It became a radio show, a podcast, a live performance. Now, for the first time—and including both classic and new, never-before-seen revelations—Desert Oracle has been bound between two hard covers and is available to you. 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. From journal entries of long-deceased adventurers to stray railroad ad copy, and musings on everything from desert flora, rumored cryptid sightings, and other paranormal phenomena, Ken Layne's Desert Oracle collects the weird and the wonderful of the American Southwest into a single, essential volume.

This memoir of life in the American desert by the author of The Monkey Wrench Gang is a nature writing classic on par with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. In Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey recounts his many escapades, adventures, and epiphanies as an Arches National Park ranger outside Moab, Utah. Brimming with arresting insights, impassioned arguments for wilderness conservation, and a raconteur’s wit, it is one of Abbey’s most critically acclaimed works. Through stories and philosophical musings, Abbey reflects on the condition of our remaining wilderness, the future of a civilization, and his own internal struggle with morality. As the world continues its rapid development, Abbey’s cry to maintain the natural beauty of the West remains just as relevant today as when this book first appeared in 1968.

Two former friends seek a powerful ancient oracle—one for good; one for evil—in this fourth Prism Pentad novel that explores the harsh world of Dark Sun The Dark Lens is an ancient oracle that can harvest the magic of the sun, hidden by the last dwarven knights for the sake of a new world. With it, Tithian of Tyr can evolve into a true sorcerer-king. Only Agis of Asticles, who covets the lens to destroy the Dragon Borys, stands between Tithian and his desire. For either man to survive the quest, the hatred between them must be vanquished. If not, they risk falling prey to the beast-headed giants who guard the Obsidian Oracle.

Composed as a collection of letters from a character called "N," Dignity is set in the ruined housing tracts and bountiful desert of the American Southwest. The housing crisis has emptied the subdivisions, and the economic collapse has filled the cities with chaos and despair. In the midst of this apocalypse, a few resourceful people form self-reliant desert communities in their region's foreclosed houses and abandoned strip malls. From the shells of this collapsing civilization comes a new way of life: The citizens of these new communities grow their food, school their children, create art, take long walks through their gardens and the surrounding wilderness, and enjoy a sane and balanced relationship with their natural surroundings, themselves and each other.

"This main character has echoes of Rylee Adamson, yet still holds her own flare, the world building is unique and the book has some beautiful snarky humor that left me gobbling it up! The author has a deft hand at bringing bad ass women to life, I can't wait for book two!"~~ReviewerThe Witch's Reign...a land of unnatural hellish cold ruled over by the Ice Witch herself, who is in turn guarded by three creatures-Wolf, Bear, and Raven. Those lovely beasts derive their power directly from their mistress and just happen to kill any who cross their paths. To get THERE, you first must pass through the Dragon's Ground. Full of, you guessed it, dragons who for the record, also do not like trespassers.Sounds like a fun place to go, doesn't it? Yeah, not so much. You see the thing is my best friend, Darcy was sent with a team into the Witch's Reign to recover a powerful jewel that belongs to our mentor, and they are long overdue to come back. That leaves me, Zamira "Reckless" Wilson to go after my friend because no one else will. Somehow, I get saddled with a human-a male no less!-tagging along for the ride. A human that is as weak and useless as my shifting abilities. Throw in a weapon that might be trying to kill me, and a small dragon that has a penchant for Shakespearean insults, and you've got my life in a nutshell.May the sands of the desert swallow me whole because this is going to be a friggin bumpy ride.

True tales of the mysterious desert, from Desert Oracle in Joshua Tree, California. This is the 10th collection, published in Spring 2023.

Palm Springs now joins Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley in California’s Noir Series arena. "Contrary to popular belief, noir doesn’t require a bleak city street for its setting. Nor water, for that matter. Noir thrives on secrets, lies and lust, all flowing plentifully through the jewel in the Coachella Valley’s fragile crown...For all the playfulness of the genre and the location, the wisecracks and the kidney-shaped pools, there is an unmanageable darkness waiting to seep in, like so much blood in the pool water." --Los Angeles Times "Conjure up images of Palm Springs and you’ll probably think of pastel-colored pool floaties, midcentury chic architecture, a gigantic Marilyn Monroe that watches over the city like its guardian angel. But you don’t need to scratch deep to find darkness in the desert--and even Palm Springs, with its endless well of pools, violently colored cocktails, and impossibly green lawns, is no exception." --Los Angeles Review of Books "An appealing anthology of 14 stories about life and crime in the Mojave Desert's playground to the stars." --MysteryScene Magazine "Palm Springs Noir features a collection of short stories set in a cross-section of desert cities and written primarily by authors with Coachella Valley ties." --Palm Springs Life "This compilation is a roller coaster ride that's filled with loads of suspense, mystery, and steamy sexiness. Brilliantly conceived, DeMarco-Barrett and the other contributing authors effortlessly transport the reader to the edgy, moody, and sleazier side of one of Southern California's most renowned and iconic locales. A sure thing bestseller and a must-have summer read, Palm Springs Noir unquestionably brings the heat." --New York Journal of Books Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each book comprises all new stories, each one set in a distinct location within the geographic area of the book. Palm Springs Noir features brand-new stories by: T. Jefferson Parker, Janet Fitch, Eric Beetner, Kelly Shire, Tod Goldberg, Michael Craft, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Rob Roberge, J.D. Horn, Eduardo Santiago, Rob Bowman, Chris J. Bahnsen, Ken Layne, and Alex Espinoza. From the introduction: The best noir writers make us feel the heat of the sun, the touch of a lover. Setting can be gritty but can also be sublime, no longer relegated to urban locales and seedy hotel rooms but also mansions and swimming pools. Hence, Palm Springs, which may seem like an odd setting for a collection of dark short stories--it’s so sunny and bright here. The quality of light is unlike anywhere else, and with an average of three hundred sunny days a year, what could go wrong?... The stories in this collection come on like the wicked dust storms common to the area. More than half are by writers who live here full-time; all have homes in Southern California. They know this place in ways visitors and outsiders never will. These are not stories you'll read in the glossy coffee-table books that feature Palm Springs's good life. There is indeed a lush life to be found here, but for the characters in these stories, it’s often just out of reach.