American Petrichor

When a mysterious rider arrives in the frontier town of Bastion, Wyoming bearing a church bell and the promise of divine blessings to come, the townspeople see providence where they should see warning. The stranger is quick to insist that God has chosen Bastion to be his chosen land, a message happily received by the community’s desire for meaning against the swallowing plains that surround them.

But does something more insidious than prophecy lurk behind the visitor’s words? The question lingers in the minds of the town’s bartender, sheriff, and young deputy as storms both literal and allegorical fall upon them. Can they overcome a rising tide of illusion, misdirection, and mass-hysteria before the flames of conviction burn Bastion to ash?

Told in evocative yet focused prose, American Petrichor pulls inspiration from Germany’s 1534 Munster Rebellion to remind us just how easily man’s institutions—and the people that build them—can mistake malevolence for providence. It will appeal to readers of The Fisherman, Blood Meridian, and The Devil All the Time.