Not every story I wrote during THE LOW DESERT period ended up making it into the final draft of the book, for any number of reasons…but the main thing was that I realized, about 3/4 of the way through, I was writing a collection of interconnected stories, most of which were taking place in and around the desert and were in my “Gangsterland” universe. So this story, “Summer of ’86” ended up getting put aside, since it’s sort of a classic comic noir with a real beach vibe…which ended up being perfect for the anthology THE SILVER WAVES OF SUMMER, which came out last summer….but not quite right for a book of desert gangsters.
If books put out Director’s Cuts, I’d probably include “Summer of ’86” as bonus footage, a vestigial tale from the same creative period, but, alas…no such luck. So you get it here instead.
Read: “Summer of ’86” here.Â
