Interview with Ken Wilkerson conducted via email, Darvey-Raignes, Publishers
Adrian Raignes: Good morning, Ken. The Beckoning Sands is scheduled for release soon, so I believe this is an ideal time for an interview. To begin, tell us about Cody and Rio, the book’s primary characters.
KW: To be brief, Cody and Rio first appeared in a few stories in the Adobe Flats collection; The Beckoning Sands is a continuation of their experiences in the deserts. Cody grew up in Joshua Tree, Rio in a small Baja town—they met in Los Angeles, bonded, and eventually left in search of a free life. They live in an old camper van, work odd jobs and wander from one place to another. Their search takes them into remote, haunted locations, paradoxical situations, other realities.
AR: How did the collection begin?
KW: I was moved to write a series of stories describing the journey of two individuals who escape contemporary culture/civilization/society and seek more fulfilling lives. As Rio says to a character in one of the stories, “Remember the Indians who would not stay on the reservations? That’s Cody and me.” The stories are set in locations I frequent—backroads, remote hamlets, wilderness areas—and many involve supernatural occurrences. A few have the feel of campfire tales, like being with friends in the badlands at night, sitting around a lantern, drinking wine, watching shooting stars, listening to the sounds of night.
AR: Are the Cody and Rio characters based on yourself and a friend?
KW: To some degree, although a lot of the occurrences in the stories are fictional.
AR: You’ve been keenly in-tune with your environment, which is reflected in your lyrical descriptions of it. Readers feel transported into your story locations. Do you describe a locale’s features the way they appear in present day or before?
KW: If Cody and Rio enter a desert locale that’s been encroached upon, I describe the features as they were a few or several years previous.
AR: Does that place a story in a different time setting? Which brings to mind the fact that the stories generally have a timeless quality, or offer a sense that Cody and Rio are experiencing a slowly-fading world.
KW: The time period of the stories is contemporary yet ambiguous. Some California desert-related things I describe are from past years but now changed—buildings, types of people, even a landscape or two—so that naturally imbues a story with an aura of being in a fading world. The Beckoning Sands occasionally has elegiac moments, such as near the end of one story, when Cody says, “Just think, Rio, the things we experience in our lives now won’t happen to others later. This will become a lost world. Civilization spreads and the magic is killed.”
AR: What are some of the things affecting the desert Southwest?
KW: A lot of the same things that are changing everyone’s environment. I’ll mention one that’s specific to the desert regions though: industrial-scale energy plants. The solar plants in particular are abominations, 45 story “power towers,” hundreds of thousands of heliostat mirrors spread over once-pristine lands, destroying wildlife, ecosystems, migration corridors, Native American sites, drawing water from aquifers. It’s all unnecessary and some of the technology is already becoming obsolete. Rather than have extensive placement of solar panels throughout cities—the logical form of sun energy throughout Europe and elsewhere—opportunists in US government, utility and development companies scheme together to destroy large parts of this nation’s sacred heritage. It’s a tragedy and a disgrace.
AR: The information you just provided relates to one of the stories, Rising Wind. I suppose our hands are tied regarding any mention of The Beckoning Sands storylines. Are there any uncanny experiences you can relate from your own life?
KW: I related a few in Adobe Flats, which partly led me into writing The Beckoning Sands. One of my early experiences though occurred in Baja, in mid-summer, when a friend and I were traveling a two-lane road south of Santo Tomas. We were crossing a desert plateau very late at night, no villages or cars for many miles. The sky glistened with stars and we decided to pull over to get a quiet look at them. The asphalt was warm from the day’s heat so we reclined on our backs in the center of the road. After a while we began hearing muffled voices and cries, sounds of old vehicles, as if the road was haunted with spirits of the past. The following day we learned that the region’s inhabitants avoided traveling the road at night, believing it was cursed.
AR: Sounds like a scene in a Cody and Rio tale. The supernatural is just one element of the collection though. Some others are friendship, steadfastness, having a code of honor. Although Cody and Rio share the same perspectives, there is quite a contrast between their personalities. Are Anglo/Hispanic friendships fairly common in Southern California?
KW: From the days of the Spanish land grants and the Jesuit mission system, Southern California has been Hispanic-influenced. Anglos and Hispanics here live in relative harmony, guys from both cultures hang out together. Cody and Rio are unique individuals but fairly typical cross-cultural friends.
AR: One of The Beckoning Sands stories is about “Sara,” the somewhat mystical camper van. Offer a bit of background please.
KW: Sara is a 1969 Volkswagon van that was originally purchased by a Barstow couple during a visit to Germany. They shipped her to the States and kept her for nearly two decades before selling her to me when they retired. Since then I’ve camped, traveled and written in Sara in many parts of the California deserts.
AR: In a previous interview you mentioned doing a lot of your writing in the desert backcountry. Where did you write The Beckoning Sands?
KW: I wrote all the stories camped in a remote area of the southern desert, which occurred during visits over a period of several months. The 17 stories in the collection are in the exact order I wrote them. And I had a great time writing them, so much that I’ve been continuing on with Cody and Rio’s journey. I enjoy being with those guys.
AR: I certainly found them thoroughly engaging, amicable fellows. The Beckoning Sands is a work of enchantment, full of surprises. And I know readers will agree.
KW: I’m always obliged to you for your support, Adrian.