edited by spitball fury
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Dear Editor ~
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I’m seeking publication for a short novel I wrote, entitled The Road Princess & Eternity. It’s a little piece of magic realism set in the Arizona outback of 1973. Though it stands alone, it is the central volume in a loose trilogy of short novels that wander the sometimes grueling, sometimes dangerous, mythic roads of the American Southwest.
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The story bumps into gear as a young woman, a go-go dancer, Ruthie Root Beer, hitch-hikes through the desert. She manages a ride with an old fortune-teller. The old lady tells her that she, Ruthie, is going to heaven. Great, but later in the midst of violent adventure, Ms. Root Beer realizes she has to die to get there. When an outlaw finds this beautiful young woman staggering along a dirt road in rough terrain, sleep deprived, seeing things that are not there, he slyly tells her that his name is Eternity. Literally, she figures she is already dead. Then, in a motel room with this rascal, guess where the road princess goes. Heaven! And she is more alive than ever. And the outlaw is in more trouble than he has ever been.
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What bumps along is a pulp tale of gnostic mischief and rural magic — a period piece populated with road‑pirate hippies, Indians, a relentless county sheriff, and a vaquero in the sky. It’s a story some readers may resist, and from which others may glean gnosis, and that all will enjoy reading unto the final word.
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I studied fiction writing etc. for six years at San Diego State University and served four years as a photo‑journalist in the U.S. Army. In 1973 I paid a printer to print my first short novel, Road’s Cannon. Then I sold paperback copies of it for two dollars each ~ earning myself the nickname “2‑Dollar Clyde” amongst some friends. Later I did a small run, about 50, of The Road Princess & Eternity. A first draft of the third piece Gun 2013 is buried on an internet blog.
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Thank you for your time and consideration. I will be honored if you take a look at The Road Princess & Eternity, buffed and polished and, I believe, in need of no re-write. I believe it will find a home with a press that appreciates pulp, hot and dusty, with a twist of mystic flair.
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Sincerely
Clyde Collins
Yuma Arizona
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Old Timer Chronicle III 