“A Desperado’s Daily Bread”
by Konrad Ventana
Ventana Throws Open a Window of High Drama, Dropping Breadcrumbs of Visionary Adventure; Riding with the Wind and the Thunder to our Emotional Rescue
LOS ANGELES, Calif., July 16 – Provocative! Illuminating! Romantic! In this first volume of the much-anticipated literary series, The Post-Lux Trilogy, Konrad Ventana (literally ‘Bold Counsel through a Window’) draws back the curtains of a modern Western drama with a depth of language that can only be described as symphonic. A Desperado’s Daily Bread is a riveting journey of discovery that follows the trail of a Western outlaw biochemist of the subterranean territories through the neo-shamanistic dystopia, neo-contemplative hoo-ha, and blatant neoteny of the 1970’s New Age movements on the hunt for more profound and sublime naturalistic roots. His name is Wade, and in his own outlandish ways – that is, free-solo rock climbing, genetic engineering, and medicinal pharmacology – he has somehow managed to accomplish things that had never been accomplished before. Blazing with eye-opening drama, keen psychological insights, and layers upon layers of linguistic pyrotechnics, this allegorical work of intellectual creativity cloaked as literary fiction has received Editor’s Choice and Rising Star distinctions.
Ventana’s Desperado drama is a romantic and tragic tale about the alienation of the visionary in a society that honors the robes of authority but not the “swink” of creativity per se. It is intended as a tonic for those sensitive souls who have been betrayed and/or abused by unsavory authorities in any coveted field of human endeavor—a Catcher in the Rye for the would-be artist in a postmodern world. But most of all, it is wonderfully reassuring: “Think of us in your time of need, whenever the torrents of darkness rage. Remember us as the gentle wind that moves across the prairie. Remember the outlaw desperado, riding with the wind and the thunder, riding beyond the boundaries of discretion, riding evermore to your emotional rescue.”
The overarching theme of A Desperado’s Daily Bread is the inestimable value of the inspired individual – as visionary, as artist, as dreamer – for a society that has been lulled into a state of non-participation in the life-of-the-mind and, thus, acts of meaningful creativity. It is a stunning work of social criticism, where the “inner darkness” of all mankind is manifest as an allegorical form of disease. The Desperado is haunted by a relentless horde of pitiable lepers, all seeking some form of healing and/or holy communion – although the exact nature of the disease is not spelled out. The romantic saga is intended as an elixir for a tragically-ill society: it harkens back to a time when Art and Poetry and Literature served as a guiding light for a society, as our Western civilization was wrought from the heroic sacrifices of such inspired individuals. But alas, we seem to have lost or conveniently forgotten this aspect of our history and our humanity along the desolate road to becoming modern.
