Local author Tom Miller's Revenge of the Saguaro hit shelves last month in what critics have called a "delightful and quirky" account of the American Southwest.
Miller, a native of Washington, D.C., moved to Tucson at 21 and immediately became fascinated with the culture, history and lifestyle of the Southwest. Since then, he has produced a number of works that chronicle life along the U.S.-Mexico border region, Central America, and even South America and Cuba.
Revenge of the Saguaro is an updated and expanded version of Jack Ruby's Kitchen Sink, his previous work published in 2000 by Adventure Press after being featured in National Geographic.
After nine years of publication, Cinco Puntos Press decided to work with Miller and update the book.
Cinco Puntos wanted to specifically feature the book's most popular story as its own chapter. Eventually, it became the name of the refreshed work in Revenge of the Saguaro.
The chapter "draws on the frightening story of a double homicide in which a majestic 125-year-old saguaro kills its assassin," Miller's website says.
This is just one of many stories featured in the book that takes an untraditional approach to the people and lifestyle of the Southwest. Unlike other travel books, Miller's offers a first-person account of his experience that allow the reader to get an unfiltered perspective of the people and culture he encounters.
"It's a personal narrative, an accumulation of a lot of things I've experienced based purely on observation over the years," Miller says.
"It's about who's in the kitchen, the camera shop, the cantina," he says.
Miller aims to explain what sparked his interests in the subject, which he says he coincidentally came upon when he decided to move to Tucson.
"I jumped through the window of opportunity and landed here," says Miller on his move to Tucson. "Before I moved, the only thing I knew about Arizona was that Barry Goldwater and marijuana were from here," Miller says with a laugh.
Miller says people who currently live in the Southwest or are interested in moving or traveling there should read his new book.
"I think people who already live here will enjoy the stories that they can relate to or never knew about. And people who are interested in visiting or moving here will read it and either move here right away or stay away forever," he says.
Miller will be the opening act for The Sisters Morales, a local music group, May 15, at the Old Town Artisans in downtown Tucson where he will speak and read passages from his works, including Revenge of the Saguaro.
