I don’t know the exact origins of this story, but it’s idea floated around for a while. It was initially a chapter that began, “There are twelve roads leading into the valley,” and it went on to describe those. I think, somewhere in this one there is a reference to that: “Only two of them are paved.” How we got to that, i don’t recall. But i do remember pondering where it went from there, because it did not gain legs with what was written.

That also got discarded. I discovered that when i went to look for that passage with the intent to incorporate it. As it was gone, very little of that idea was brought into the story: I looked, found momentary disappointment and so it goes…

But i had considered following each road and finding who was at the end of them, and that’s where Rally, Annie, the mine, and the development all originated, but i still didn’t know what tied this all together, nor it’s purpose. It remained just pieces and many didn’t go together well.

Fester: become worse or more intense, especially through long-term neglect or indifference.

Usually, ideas that hang around but don’t gain legs eventually rot and fall entirely off the vine. Especially when several attempts are made to give them life. But you know – i do have a thing for the valleys. And this valley kept sitting in the mind.

A couple of times the story was re-started from varying perspectives. Originally all the Remingtons were a single character. They became the child in the hovel, and that was smeared into the person that led the nation. Those two ends never quite connected and it led to deliberations on how, and why, and eventually led to experience in the city. How all that came together never fell, and eventually i got the idea to tell it like i did and it finally found direction – not saying it’s a good one…

This is the first story i’ve written in over a year. A lot’s happened during that time, and of major events, all of them were negatives. Writing this story was a positive despite it probably isn’t. But it’s nice, short, and sweet and was a lot of fun to write:

The story primarily focuses on two characters named Remington. They narrate us through an explanation of who they are, and who we’ve stumbled on, and that is a community living in the forest under open skies. They explain why it’s best to turn around if you accidently cross their path.

The calls kept coming: Message after message left, but return calls didn’t connect. And then – coincidence: A bottle of bourbon from a distillery in the region. Curiosity leads the doctor down a path that always felt like it was paved by others. With some help, he’ll explain that.

From the author of Borrean Nation, Psalm of the passing stranger dives into the deep woods of a once, rural community that is pushing back against the encroachment of modern civilization.