As some of you may have noticed, because of my numerous stories about Deep Springs College, I have a deep personal interest in the unique school, as well as a professional interest,. In November of 2005, when I began writing my first science fiction/fantasy novel, called “Moon Shadows: The Genesis Doctrine“, the strange little school, and one of its fictional instructors, were the main subjects of the beginning of the book. I had researched the school and odd events that have actually occurred there and in the nearby mountainous country near the school’s name sake, the Deep Springs themselves. I used that knowledge to begin what turned out to be two novels in four parts, and two thousand pages. The ‘Moon Shadows” titles of these two novels and the three to follow collectively called “Sophy’s Way: Parallel Worlds of the Moon” with individual titles, which form a loosely connected anthology or series, all originated from one strange imaginary night at Deep Springs College at the beginning of the first book.
In late 2007 I made a field trip to research the school’s physical layout (with binoculars, for I would never have been allowed access to actually visit the school) and its mysterious geographical and geological surroundings, and I fell in love, not so much with the school or the strange landscape nearby, but the small town of Bishop, about 40 miles northwest of Deep Springs, and the towering mountains, including Mt. Whitney, west of Lone Pine, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States. I have revisited Bishop and surrounds many times over the past few years.
Now that these two novels are in what is hopefully their late stages of editing iterations, I have become attached to the history and future of the odd little school that has earned so much prestige over the years despite its controversial history.
You will be hearing more from me about Deep Springs, Bishop, and these two novels as time goes by. They are near and dear to my heart. ~llaw