Music that meant a lot to me during the writing of (and probably influenced) BALLARD the republic of dogs:

Bob Dylan—Thunder on the Mountain

Morton Feldman—Rothko Chapel

Bob Dylan—High Water

Gyorgy Ligeti—Viola Sonata (Tabea Zimmerman)

Bob Dylan—Lonesome Day Blues

J.S. Bach—Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould, ’82 recording)

Rolling Stones—Sympathy for the Devil (Live, ’69)

Rolling Stones—Sway

Bill Evans—Live at The Top of the Gate

“An underground chapel hidden beneath the desert floor …

A stranger who produces fourteen masterpieces …

An apocalyptic flood whose impact reaches across generations …

An endless civil war whose combatants live shattered, shiftless lives …

And a man who may finally find peace at the end of a very long road …

Spanning three generations, and set amidst the unforgiving heat of the California desert, BALLARD the republic of dogs attempts to divine meaning from the intersection of life and art.”

Chapter 1 of BALLARD the republic of dogs now available as a free PDF.

FIRST

Joe locks up for the day. Walks across the street into the town square. Sits down on a wooden bench beneath an olive tree. Looks up through the tree’s branches at the night’s first stars.

People come and go. Murmurs, conversations, a car horn, some muted music from the bar down the street. Mexican music. Joe closes his eyes, leans his head back, tries to let the night wash over him. Still so hot.

And she is there, then, standing right in front of him. Pamela.

***

Excerpt continues here.