Welcome! And thanks for dropping by. In my first newsletter, I thought I’d share why I wrote Bone Hash, a novel I set in the American Southwest.

It’s late afternoon and we’re driving down a dirt road from the Kane Gulch Ranger Station heading for Grand Gulch, a vast serpentine canyon in southeast Utah. Grand Gulch is a Wilderness Study Area rife with Ancestral Puebloan cliff ruins and rock art where hikers and backpackers experience ancient Native American cultures in their natural settings. It’s late spring, and the cactuses are blooming, adding a touch of pinks and yellows to the sandstone landscape.

We arrive at the camping area close to dinner time and set up camp. It’s quiet here, as only desert wilderness can be, and we breathe a collective sigh after our long drive from Colorado.

After enjoying travels throughout the U. S., Europe and South America, I realized this is one of the places on earth I like visiting most. Ever since my first trip to Mesa Verde, an extensive archaeological site in southwestern Colorado, I’ve held a fascination for the people who once walked the high desert of the Four Corners Region, the people whom we now identify as Ancestral Puebloan. Most archaeologists believe they are the ancestors of modern-day Pueblo people now living in New Mexico and Arizona.

These prehistoric Native American people once populated much of the American Southwest. They created hundreds of villages from the only building materials available—rocks and mud. At Mesa Verde I learned of their dry land farming on the mesa tops, their well-thought-out irrigation systems and how they’d managed to thrive in an environment both harsh and beautiful. Then between 1275 and 1300 CE, they abandoned everything and moved south. Scientists still contemplate the reasons for their migrations, and most point to evidence of severe drought. Some scientists also speculate about the impact of increased violence and cultural collapse brought on by environmental devastation.

After visiting Mesa Verde I hiked back-country canyons and visited archaeological sites throughout Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona to learn more about the ancient ones who’d walked the land before the arrival of Europeans. I explored their former dwellings, visited museums where I studied the every-day items they’d abandoned and sought out the petroglyphs and pictographs they’d made on canyon walls that told of their migrations.

Then I began to consider what challenges a modern-day archaeologist might face while she examined the material culture of prehistoric people who’d left their homes behind—a devastating loss—while she came to grips with her own loss after witnessing the violent death of her husband.

One-by-one the characters in Bone Hash began to reveal themselves, and my novel began to take shape.

“Griffith has created a riveting work that successfully blends a chilling mystery and a revealing character study into a potent whole.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS

Since leaving the Midwest and living in Colorado, I’ve become a true Chili Head and love the distinctive taste of red chili made with chili powder from Chimayo, New Mexico. Smother it on your breakfast eggs, home made enchiladas, pinto beans and other dishes that call for the kick that only red chili can provide. To buy Chimayo Red chili powder check out the specialty aisle in your local grocery or order it online.

The Denver Art Museum, one of my favorite cultural places, is now presenting a fabulous exhibit I’ve already visited twice: Sustained: The Persistent Genius of Indigenous Art.

It features art of indigenous people from across America that spans the last 100 years plus fascinating and informative videos by contemporary Native American artists who talk about their processes and how their art relates to their cultures.

Thanks for your visit! Until next time.

Skye