Author pens 'comical Gold Rush novel' centered in town of Rough and Ready

Born in Queens, New York, Clark Casey says he is "an unlikely western writer." However, two unrelated forms of entertainment sparked an idea. "About a dozen years ago, I was reading Robert B. Parker's 'Appaloosa' series while I was on vacation in Italy," Casey said in an email to the Auburn Journal. "I had never been into westerns before, but it was really fast-moving with great characters. The show 'True Blood' was still on HBO, and I thought it would be great if I combined the two, so I wrote 'Dawn in Damnation,' a paranormal western novel that's set in the afterlife with vampires and werewolves." His new book "The Ruins of Rough and Ready," released June 15, however, is taking a new turn within the western genre. After his old editor asked if he could write a "straight western with a comical slant," Casey said he was up for the challenge, and a recent visit to the Sierra foothills introduced him to the town of Rough and Ready. "When I read about its history, I knew it was ripe for a comical Gold Rush novel," he said. "The town briefly seceded from the United States in 1850. I figured it would be fun to hang out with the sort of people who would form their own country just to avoid paying a mining tax." According to a White Bird Publications, LLC news release, Casey's newest project is a western comedy that "reimagines the three months when (Rough and Ready) was a sovereign republic" and features, "The town drunkard falls asleep in a cave and wakes up during an earthquake to find a giant gold boulder. To get the motherlode to market, he enlists a ragtag group of failed miners and oddball mountain men, including a priest who tends bar and a sheriff who's afraid of guns." Although he researched the town's history and some characters are inspired by its founders, Casey said the book is "more of an act of imagination." "Auburn shares the same rich history of Placer mining," Casey said. "It was a ravine where a French prospector found gold, and the town was settled at around the same time as Rough and Ready. Auburn's forefathers might have brushed elbows with early Rough and Readians at local gaming halls while on the way to the diggings." Casey said he hopes readers get a laugh out of his newest project and recognize the humor in our shared agendas. "I just hope they don't take it too seriously and get a laugh since everyone could use one right now," he said. "If they gain a little appreciation for the struggles of the people that came before them, that's great, too. But we're all just bumbling humans looking for our next grubstake or trying to get our payload to market, and we should recognize the humor in our situation." Although the book was just released, there may be more to come from the town of Rough and Ready. "I had intended for this to be a one-shot deal, but you never know," Casey said. "If the town of Rough and Ready ever decides to form their own country again, maybe I'll write a sequel: 'The Return of Rough and Ready'." "The Ruins of Rough and Ready" is available for $7.99 as a Kindle e-book or $20.99 for a paperback copy on Amazon.