{"id":34435,"date":"2023-03-01T01:20:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T08:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/scott-graham-launches-new-book\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:18:24","slug":"scott-graham-launches-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/scott-graham-launches-new-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Graham launches new book"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scott
Scott Graham\u2019s novel, \u201cSaquaro Sanction,\u201d released March 2023.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Author Scott Graham\u2019s newest book, \u201cSaguaro Sanction,\u201d explores not only Saguaro National Park in southern Arizona, but also the controversy and dangers of immigrants attempting to cross the harsh landscape of the Sonoran Desert in order to seek asylum in the United States.<\/p>\n

The book, published by Torrey House Press, is the eighth book in Graham\u2019s National Park Mystery Series. Graham\u2019s last several books have also been set in national parks in the Four Corners, at Mesa Verde, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks, and have addressed social and environmental issues related to the parks.<\/p>\n

Graham will kick off his book launch tour with a book signing at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, at Maria\u2019s bookshop in his native Durango. Midway through his book launch tour, Graham will also hold a reading and book signing at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 18, at Amy\u2019s Bookcase in Farmington.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaguaro Sanction\u201d follows the familiar characters of Chuck Bender, Janelle Ortega and their two daughters. They not only learn about the archaeological features of the area, but are forced to confront complex family relationships and the dangers of the border dispute.<\/p>\n

A highlight of \u201cSaguaro Sanction\u201d is the petroglyphs of the ancient Hohokam people, which are found throughout the Sonoran Desert. Graham mixes fact with fiction, setting scenes in actual petroglyph locations such as Baboquivari Peak on the Tohono O\u2019odham reservation and creating fictional sites such as a petroglyph-covered monument containing a hidden message.<\/p>\n

Before writing this book, Graham said he spent time in Saguaro National Park to familiarize himself with the area. As helpful as Google maps might be, Graham said there is nothing like visiting and experiencing the area so that he can express details on a more complete level.<\/p>\n

Graham said visiting the parks helps him \u201cgive folks a real sense of that place in as real a manner as I possible can.\u201d He hopes the descriptions inspire people to visit locations in the books and learn more about the areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaguaro Sanction\u201d also takes on social issues of the region, digging into the personal side of immigration across the border between the U.S. and Mexico.<\/p>\n

Two teenage family members of the character Janelle Ortega attempt to cross into the United States through the Sonoran Desert with the intention of seeking asylum. The trip proves deadly, and the characters become embroiled in a murder investigation and a race to save the lives of the survivors.<\/p>\n

\"Scott
Scott Graham 's new novel, \u201cSaguaro Sanction,\u201d is set in the Sonoran Desert near Tucson. (Journal file photo)<\/span>Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Graham said that he doesn\u2019t shy away from social and environmental issues in his books because he not only wants to introduce people to the national parks, he wants readers to understand that these are real places facing real issues.<\/p>\n

In 2019, the Tucson area saw 20 to 100 asylum-seekers per day, but rates rose to around 400 per day<\/a> in December 2022, Pima County Communications Director Mark Evans said in a recent interview. Humane Borders\u2019<\/a> website reports that 3,790 immigrants have died attempting to cross the Sonoran Desert since November 2021. In fiscal year 2021, the Pima County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office recovered 226 sets of skeletal remains<\/a> from the Sonoran Desert, a record number for the department. Immigrant deaths is an escalating problem for the area with few long-term solutions.<\/p>\n

Graham became more familiar with immigration issues of southern Arizona several years ago after reading a New York Times <\/em>article about an immigrant who died attempting to cross the border through the Tohono O\u2019odham reservation. The journalist retraced the man\u2019s journey back to his relatives in Guatemala, highlighting the dangerous conditions immigrants face.<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s interest was further piqued by his son\u2019s work in southern Texas several years ago. He worked as a paralegal at the Texas-Mexico border with children who were seeking asylum. Hearing their stories reinforced for Graham that the struggles immigrants face need to be discussed and made him more aware of the organizations working on both sides of the issue.<\/p>\n

When Graham and his wife visited the park before he wrote the book, they saw water stations provided for immigrants by Humane Borders. Similar stations are set up throughout the border states, but they are not universally supported and are frequently vandalized.<\/p>\n

Water stations are a point of contention in \u201cSaguaro Sanction\u201d as well. One such station serves as the site of a murder in the book, providing opportunities for the characters to express a variety of views on the practice. Graham said he uses the characters\u2019 different opinions to provide, what he hopes, is a balanced view of the issue.<\/p>\n

Research, stories of immigrants and his own visits to the park to experience the brutal conditions and see the efforts of organizations to both help and hinder immigrants\u2019 journeys put real faces to the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was absolutely the most personal story I\u2019ve written so far,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

One of Graham\u2019s goals in writing this series is to speak to the \u201creal parts of our lives that affect all of us \u2026 through the power of story. I think it\u2019s such a wonderful way to learn and a wonderful way to challenge ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Signings planned for Durango, Farmington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1060,639,364,1443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-34435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-book","tag-community","tag-literature"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82610,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34435\/revisions\/82610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34435"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=34435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}