On Mile Marker Zero
I have to say it. William McKeen is really a writer. There’s no other word for it. All that interest in so many topics, and the way he brings it together into a story. Never a hesitation for which words to use, never a reach too deep to find the next association or slant on it. And I’ve just started the book! Had read Outlaw Journalist, which was compelling, but then so was the topic. I didn’t expect to be so grabbed by the start of this book, about a topic and people that weren’t in the very center of my must-know list. But now I must know about them. Bill McKeen makes it so. I must keep turning the pages, finding out what he has to say about this “bleached rock.” Right there, you know he is a writer, a “bleached rock” indeed. I am sure I will have more to say about this later, on the pages ahead, though I’d better reduce the ratio, because I’ve many chapters to go. Fun on the way. I began reading, sitting at the computer, telling myself to just open the book, break the ice – read a page to get the tone. But from the very first word I was forced to keep reading. What was going to happen next? I was caught up by the story of it, the sweeping background that he zeroed in on to tell his tale, the – as Hunter liked to say – “Grain of Sand” of it that led him on. Who knows where this journey will go? Can he keep it up? I am sure he can.
