Joshua Skye on The Singing Wind

The Singing Wind was a novel nearly a decade in the making. The first draft took a long five years to write and clocked in at over 500 pages long. Containing lengthy chapters detailing hallucinations, the magical aspects of time travel mixed with scientific theory, and a host of other arcane and cryptic ponderings, it was so bizarre and esoteric that people didn’t understand it at all. From that epic tome I created The Singing Wind, which took another three years of research and work.

The title of the story comes from the character of Grandmother Singing Wind, a creation inspired by a real-life Native American shaman I met. Many of our discussions found their way into my novel; some of her stories gave credence to various aspects of my plot in a fascinatingly cathartic way. The shapeshifters of my story have a curious genesis in Native American folklore that I hadn’t known before meeting her. She is a remarkable woman. I learned much from her.

The Singing Wind was chosen as a 2012 selection for Dark Media City’s Dark Book Club and the response has been phenomenal. I couldn’t be happier with the complimentary feedback. I’m thrilled people are reading and enjoying my novel. A lot of work went into it so it means a great deal to me.