New novel by native Texan set in Dell City, features El Paso landmarks
EL PASO, Texas -- Sid Balman Jr. is a fourth generation Texan and Pulitzer nominee, and he's celebrating the release of his new novel with a signing on November 15 in El Paso.
Sid is a veteran reporter who covered four major wars and traveled with two presidents and four secretaries of war during his career. On Oct. 8, he made his debut as an author with "Seventh Flag." The book follows a white family and a Muslim family in the small West Texas town of Dell City, in a vivid saga that analyzes how each subsequent generation deals with its own inner turmoil and trauma. As America itself grows, these two families grow with it -- observing the country's increasing radicalization following events like the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, and 9/11. Even though the book is fiction, its themes are very much present in today's headlines.
The University of Texas at El Paso is a prominent setting in the book, and its football team a prominent theme. The heart of the book is in Dell City, just 80 miles east of El Paso. Balman worked closely with the Muslim community in El Paso to write the book, particularly the Islamic Center of El Paso. Weaving personal experiences into historical fiction, as a veteran war correspondent, diplomatic reporter and fourth-generation Texan, many of the characters are based on people from West Texas, including the Laws family, which is the fictionalized version of the Lynch Family, who settled Dell City.
Other topics include the Texas water wars, a landmark Texas Supreme Court case and why diminishing natural resources/climate change fuel migration; the case had profound national implications Terrorism, radicalization leading to violent extremism across the ideological spectrum, Web-based recruitment and alternative approaches to rehabilitation, a presidential initiative in the mid-1800s that created the U.S. Army Camel Corps and led to Texas becoming the state with the largest Muslim population, and the evolution of division and radicalism in the West since World War II.
The book chat, reading and signing is taking place at the Doris Van Doren branch of the El Paso Public Library, 551 E. Redd Road, Friday, November 15 from 6 to 8 p.m.
