In The Joshua Sea

<p>   In the spring of 1932 the U.S. is in drought and depression. With little confidence in the banking system there is renewed interest in gold and a resurgence in mining. Unlike the mules and wagons of previous gold rushes the availability of automobiles and trucks brings a mobile group of adventurers to the mountains and deserts of California.</p><p>    Captain Joe Haberman 42 a disabled veteran of the Great War is in the Mojave on a doctor's suggestion trying to distance himself from a battle with a German submarine and a murky leviathan. 27-year-old William Quine a peacetime Navy veteran has returned to his oasis origins to reconnect with the Native American cultures that comprise half his heritage. Leif Stan Stanicek 23 was an engineering student in Chicago when his schooling was interrupted and he took to the road. The youngest of the crew 20-year-old Jem Parker had been a budding farmer in Texas but unproductive land drought and bank failure bring him to other fields. </p><p>    IN THE JOSHUA SEA takes place in areas that are now almost a century later part of Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave Trails National Monument and in nearby towns like Twentynine Palms and Indio. Third-person viewpoints of multiple characters including the flora and fauna of the desert narrate this fully immersive novel.</p>