In 1995 Johnson Books of Boulder, Colorado, published a collection of my essays titled The Lightning Field: Travels in and around New Mexico. The book is a series of portraits of people and out-of-the-way places in New Mexico and, occasionally, neighboring states. It is also vaguely autobiographical, as it traces my life in the American Southwest over a period of fifteen years. I wrote the book over a period of eight or nine years, as I was making my way through graduate school and law school and beginning my career as a lawyer. During that time I wrote whenever I had the time and energy—that is, whenever the demands of my life and primary occupation allowed—so the circumstances of my writing varied greatly. After starting to work full-time, I often wrote late at night, slowly drinking a bottle of beer or glass of wine and listening to strange, evocative music—albums like Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way or Brian Eno’s Another Green World. I was relatively young then, and those sessions could be fervent. I often stayed up way too late.
The original 1995 edition of the book was out of print for a number of years, but I recently reprinted it, with minor corrections and edits, through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing and IngramSpark. It is now available in various formats from Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Field-Travels-around-Mexico-ebook/dp/B0CHQVV8YH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2A9ZDDQV69BJG&keywords=eaton%2C+lightning+ield&qid=1694712343&sprefix=eaton%2C+lightning+field%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-1; from IngramSpark at https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?hgbwsd53rp58hncoYWTUqSIk7xp7ps6L3ePOJFmrwGU (hardcover) or https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?H7mYe299UMayQol39YzXEbWx3D0fqtMeU9gppYsa8Mb (paperback); or from other online or brick-and-mortar booksellers.
On this site I will post, on a rotating basis, sample chapters from the book. If you enjoy the posted chapters, of course I hope you’ll consider buying a digital or print copy of the entire book.
Chapter 1 – The Lightning Field
Chapter 2 – Chaco Canyon
Chapter 3 – Four Corners
Chapter 4 – Angel Fire
Chapter 5 – Christ in the Desert
I originally wrote this chapter in January-February 1988 for a writing workshop at the University of New Mexico taught by an English professor (and accomplished writer) named Tom Mayer. I had persuaded the law school dean to allow me to take Tom’s workshop on UNM’s “main campus” for credit during my last semester in law school. Tom was a well-known figure in the Albuquerque literary scene, and his workshop, which he always offered at night, attracted a diverse group of serious avocational writers. My classmates that semester included graduate students in English, an emergency room doctor, a paralegal, and an older woman who was a prominent local politica. The ER doc, in particular, was an exceptional writer, producing Raymond Carveresque short stories that were brutal and beautiful at the same time. I don’t know what became of him. Now, many years later, I find myself thinking about him and hoping that, wherever he is, he continues to write.
Chapter 6 – Navajo Country
Chapter 7 – Dog Canyon
A car-camping trip to the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas frames this chapter, which portrays a curmudgeonly ranger who worked at Guadalupe Mountains National Park for most of his career. In the essay I call him Emmett; in reality he was a man named Roger Reisch. Before the book was published, I sent Roger a copy of the essay and asked him what he thought. He never responded, and at the last minute, in a half-hearted (or half-assed) attempt to disguise his identity, I changed his name and some of the details of his life. Roger passed away in Edmond, Oklahoma, on February 12, 2013, at the age of 89. I don’t know whether he ever read my little essay, but I like to think that if he did, he was pleased—and maybe even flattered—by what I wrote.
Chapter 8 – The Adobe Plains
Chapter 9 – Gallup
Chapter 10 – The Boot Heel
I stumbled across this excellent essay [Dog Canyon] on Roger Reisch (Emmett). I’ve known him since 1970 when as a teenager I participated in an archeological survey prior to the park opening. I frequented the park in the mid 70’s while an undergraduate at Texas Tech. The “visitor center” was a trailer at Frjiole. Once I led a group of students to hike McKittrick Canyon, and later that evening at the camp ground he bawled me out because we drove too fast on the road to the canyon and that some of the girls in the group were wearing shorts (snake danger). I returned to Tech in ’82 to finish a degree, and camped many weekends at Dog Canyon, often being the only one there besides Roger. We chatted a lot and he clued me into a lot of beautiful places within the park and in the adjacent Lincoln NF. He was a wonderful, unique character and Robert captures him perfectly. I can’t wait to get the book to see what other gems it contains on my home state of New Mexico.