The Valley of Shadows
by Rudy Ruiz
GENRE: Western Horror Mystery
PUBLICATION DATE: 09/20/2022
DESCRIPTION:
A visionary neo-Western blend of magical realism, mystery, and horror, Valley of Shadows sheds light on the dark past of injustice, isolation, and suffering along the US-Mexico border.
Solitario Cisneros thought his life was over long ago. He lost his wife, his family, even his country in the late 1870s when the Rio Grande shifted course, stranding the Mexican town of Olvido on the Texas side of the border. He’d made his brooding peace with retiring his gun and badge, hiding out on his ranch, and communing with horses and ghosts. But when a gruesome string of murders and kidnappings ravages the town, pushing its volatile mix of Anglo, Mexican, and Apache settlers to the brink of self-destruction, he feels reluctantly compelled to confront both life, and the much more likely possibility of death, yet again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Rudy Ruiz is an American author, advocate and social entrepreneur. The son and grandson of Mexican immigrants, Rudy Ruiz was born in Brownsville, Texas, and raised along the US-Mexico border, living in Matamoros, Mexico for extensive periods of time. He did not speak English until he entered school at the age of five. Once in school, he excelled and dreamt of growing up to be a writer, an entrepreneur, and a contributor to the wellbeing of immigrants and minorities, as well as to positive relations between diverse cultures and nations. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Harvard. Ruiz now resides in San Antonio with his wife, Heather, and their two children, Paloma and Lorenzo.
REVIEWS:
"Ruiz offers an engrossing blend of historical fiction, ghost story, and mystery...He employs elements of magic realism to haunting effect, and the depictions of human cruelty and injustice are unflinching...This has its rewards."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Ruiz's engaging tale, peppered generously with Spanish words and smoldering with racial tension and classism, is immersive and atmospheric and features an interesting cast of characters with rich backstories. Ruiz deftly combines elements of romance, historical mystery, horror, and magical realism to deliver a richly satisfying adventure."
-- Booklist (starred review)
COMPARATIVE FILM/BOOK:
Valley of Shadows is a unique blend of literary genres. Think Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude meets Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men in the Old West. That said, when envisioning it on screen, the author drew inspiration from Nordic Noir mysteries, transposing the remote and evocative settings to the similarly isolated and surreal deserts of West Texas. The overarching relationships of the protagonists could evolve over various seasons of a TV series, while each season could focus on the hero and his partners solving a specific mystery or set of crimes.
CASTING:
VALLEY OF SHADOWS WOULD CALL FOR A DIVERSE CAST OF MEXICAN-AMERICAN, NATIVE AMERICAN, AND ANGLO-AMERICAN ACTORS ACROSS VARIOUS AGE RANGES, INCLUDING ADULTS, YOUNG ADULTS AND CHILDREN. THE TWO PRINICPALS WOULD BE A MEXICAN OR MEXICAN-AMERICAN LAWMAN IN HIS MID-30’S AND A MEXICAN-NATIVE AMERICAN HEALER IN HER MID-20’S. ONE OF THE ACTORS SO FAR CONSIDERED AS A PRIME CANDIDATE FOR THE LEAD ROLE IS TONY DALTON FROM BETTER CALL SAUL.
PRIMARY VENUES/LOCATIONS WITHIN THE BOOK:
WEST TEXAS, NORTHERN MEXICO, RIO GRANDE RIVER BORDER REGION, CHIHUAHUAN DESERT
BOOK EXCERPT:
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