This year, the book, which has been reprinted several times, remains a popular and enduring read, and is now being discovered by a whole new generation of both desert readers and true-crime enthusiasts. In 2020, it was optioned as a film by Anthony Mastromauro, who produced “The Old Man & the Gun” with Robert Redford, and recently, singer songwriter Tony Gilkyson (formerly of X and Dave Alvin) has written some beautiful new songs based on the story’s events. Thompson called “A strange and brilliant story by an important American writer.” The Los Angeles Times named it Best Book of the Year 2001. Over the past two decades, “29 Palms: A True Story of Murder, the Marines, and the Mojave,” has grown into cult classic status that legendary writer Hunter S. A book that took Stillman down a 10-year road of deep research conducted with locals, law enforcement and the legal system, a persistent journey that sometimes put her own safety in jeopardy. It’s also the story of a difficult search for justice in a rural county that historically has overlooked the rights of women and those living in poverty and along the margins of society. It’s the story of two girls who were killed in 1991 by a Marine after the Gulf War, their diverse circle of friends, the promise of California and the giant earthquake amid live fire exercises following the incident. So begin the opening pages of acclaimed desert/western writer Deanne Stillman’s “ 29 Palms: A True Story of Murder, the Marines, and the Mojave.” First published in 2001, it shook the small desert town of Twentynine Palms to its core. “Have a nice day!” the Mojave Desert tells the crossing parade - the Donner Party, the seekers of buried treasure, the cowboys, the ranchers, the people who rush for Hollywood gold-“Good luck! Think positive!” Ruth Nolan grew up in the Mojave Desert and now teaches creative writing at College of the Desert. It takes a big, white-hearted desert to fuel the pursuit of happiness, vast stretches of emptiness to suggest that the world can be possessed like an oyster, extreme tableaux of beauty to obliterate all memory of bad news. “The concern here is the Mojave Desert, the dry, baptismal font of national consciousness, mythological birthplace of America.
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