The man carrying the gasoline was nicknamed What-the-Fuck Chuck. Not that a sobriquet is necessarily an indicator of one’s judgment or lack thereof, especially here in Portland, where open-minded people like Paul Regan are disinclined to judge. But t

The attempted murder happened on an ordinary spring day at the Carmel artist colony in 1914. The novelist Alice MacGowan went to get something to eat from the cooler on the back porch of her home overlooking the bay. When she took a bite of leftover

Recommendations for the best of California and the West CALICO BASIN, LAS VEGAS, NEVADA A mere 20 miles from Sin City lies another alluring place to test your luck: Calico Basin. The geographic marvel features gorgeous sandstone walls where rock jock

I first laid eyes on Leaves when it was on view at the Seattle Art Museum in 2007. The dynamic patterning and implied motion within the lateral expanse of the painting were mesmerizing. It called to something deep within me to explore further, drawin

Editor & Publisher William R. Hearst III Editorial Director: Blaise Zerega Creative Director: John Goecke Editor at Large: Mary Melton Books Editor: David L. Ulin Digital Editor: Beth Spotswood California Book Club Editor: Anita Felicelli Newsletter

In the bullring, she twisted at the waist, stretched both hamstrings, and rolled her right wrist to loosen it up. She had broken her wrist almost two years earlier, and it still had not healed properly. The pain flared up every time she rolled the pa

The moment Bill Broyles dug up the plastic water container he had buried under the palo verde tree, he realized he was in serious trouble. It was midmorning in early August 1980, and daytime temperatures on the Arizona-Mexico border were well over 10