The most ancient rocks in the state of Utah stand just north of Salt Lake City in a range that includes the Sessions Mountains, named after a Mormon pioneer who led wagon trains, married eight women, and helped to build what was hoped to be a holy settlement that would speed the earthly arrival of certain Biblical figures now consigned to the realm of myth.

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More than a century later, a few miles from these mountains, a descendant of this pioneer was born and raised, very much in the residue of the turbocharged religious atmosphere of the frontier settlement. Daniel attended the University of Utah and wrote for the school newspaper; he was particularly pleased to do a story on local Iraqi exiles, some of whom nearly overthrew Saddam Hussein in a revolt following Operation Desert Storm. Daniel graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

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His debut novel is the product of more than a decade of vision and revision, costing the author something of a nervous breakdown about five years into the effort, his brain simply declaring a writer’s strike. Major influences on the book include Kafka, Chomsky, the Bible, and hundreds of hikes on the ancient rocks along the Sessions Mountains.

 

Follow him at: www.danielsessions.com