Gabriel Urza’s previous works of fiction have focused on the murder of a politician in a small Spanish town (“All That Followed”), a 14-year-old magician who died under mysterious circumstances (“The White Death: An Illusion”) and a death row inmate who might be innocent (“The Silver State”).
His latest release, “An Incomplete History of the American West,” is a collection of 12 interconnected short stories set in the Great Basin.
Neon: What’s your connection to Nevada?
Gabriel Urza: Nevada’s history and landscape are huge influences on who I am and what I write about. I was raised in Reno and have spent a lot of time in the Sierras and in the deserts of the Great Basin — I didn’t realize until after leaving how unique it is to be able to explore for days at a time without seeing another person. I went to UNR for my undergraduate degree, and after going away to law school, I came back to Reno, where I worked as a public defender for five years. In 2016, I had the chance to live in Las Vegas as a fellow at UNLV’s Black Mountain Institute and to explore Southern Nevada’s incredible outdoors. I’ve been living in Oregon for the past 10 years now, but I very much consider myself a Nevadan and still get back to Nevada a few times a year.
What should potential readers know about “An Incomplete History of the American West”?
The book is a collection of short stories told in a chronological order that spans 150 years. All the stories are set in the Great Basin, and so there are connections in themes and landscapes. But I also tried to write stories that are really different from each other, that are about different characters or take a different form or have unique narrators. There are a couple mystery stories, a couple quieter dramas, some adventure stories set in the outdoors, a few stories that I hope are funny. I hope readers have a sense of surprise with each story and that the stories as a whole capture how diverse and unpredictable and beautiful the West can be.
What inspired you to write these stories?
I found inspiration in different places and experiences, depending on the story. There’s a murder mystery that’s set at a festival that looks a lot like Burning Man, because I thought it was such a surreal and unexpected place for a detective story to take place. I was inspired to write about a parasitic infection caused by bacteria found in hot springs, because I have a hypochondriac streak, and I’ve also had the displeasure of getting bitten by hot spring mites. I wrote a story about a magician in the Old West after I attended a magic school and convention called Magic Live in Las Vegas for an article I was writing, and I fell into a research wormhole on early American magicians. There’s no shortage of stories or characters to draw inspiration from in Nevada, thankfully!
What do you hope readers take away from them?
Mostly, I hope readers find these stories to be entertaining and surprising. But I also hope the collection as a whole makes an argument that the West is a place that’s always changing, often filled with danger and violence, and that is spectacular in its uncommon beauty and wildness.
What’s next for you?
For the past several years, I’ve been researching a nonfiction book about a controversial explorer who established his own religion in Northern Nevada, which I hope to complete soon. I’ve also started a newer fiction project this summer, but I don’t know enough about it to talk about it in a coherent way yet — it’s still very much in the gestational phase.
I’m also a professor of creative writing at Portland State University, which is a very rewarding but demanding job. One other side project that I’ve been excited about: Together with my wife, Raija, I’ve been working with the administrations of UNR and the Boyd Law School at UNLV to explore the possibility of creating a new dual graduate program in law and creative writing. It would be the first program of its kind and would create really unique opportunities for students at the intersection of law and creative work.