Basilisco

Dissatisfied with his job as an engineer, the protagonist of "Basilisk" moves to California, where he meets two people who will change his life: Katharina, a young woman who will eventually become his wife, and John Dunbar, a trapper, Civil War veteran, and occasional gunfighter who has been dead for over a century. Dunbar embodies the true essence of the Old West. Sullen and feared, he earns the nickname "Basilisk" and takes us by the hand through the gold rush in Virginia City, a paleontological expedition to Mormon territory, and his escape from a gang of murderers. Meanwhile, the disillusioned engineer, now a writer, delves into the responsibilities and frustrations of middle age. "Basilisk" is thus organized into a series of self-contained chapters, alternating those that take place in the present with those that take place a century ago in the landscapes of Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, and proposing a dialogue between reality and fiction. With his haunting and powerful prose, Jon Bilbao crosses the boundaries between genres, blending the classics with popular culture. Masked as a twilight Western, "Basilisco" challenges our reality.